Overcoming: "That Won't work!" & "That's Illegal!"

We’ve all heard something along these lines: Those are Illegal, Sounds like a scam, That won’t work here

If you haven’t been told no, it’s illegal, you can’t do that, etc….You are not doing enough. Get out there and TAKE ACTION!

Now when someone tells you no, or it’s illegal or even “what the crap are you talking about”

You have 2 options…

1. You can just move on and talk to someone else. Depending on your circumstances and who it is you’re talking to this could be a good option. For example, you have a realtor that tells you this…you have nothing invested in that agent and you know that there are tons of other agents out there. You can simply say thank you for your time. I’ll make a few more calls and find an agent that wants my business. Sadly when it comes to realtors you may have to also apply the 25 – 1 scenario. Yes, there may be 24 not so good agents for every rock star. Don’t limit yourself.
2. You can explain what you are trying to do to the person. For example, my first double closing…We had 2 deals locked up at $50k each (A-B) and we had 2 secondary contracts (B-C) at $75k and we asked our title agent to set up a double closing. She responded by saying you cannot do Double Closings in MN. Instead of panicking, we calming explained what we are trying to do. “We want to close on the first two contracts at 10am on the 10th and we want to close on the second two contracts at 11am that same day. We’ll need you to do up to settlement statements and file the paperwork in the correct order. Is that something you can help us with?” She responded “Oh, you want to do a simultaneous closing…I can do that.” Notice that it wasn’t that you cannot do it in MN it was that she didn’t understand what we are trying to do. Sometimes there is a breakdown in communication/vocabulary or sometimes they just do not know what you want to do.

For me whenever I’m working with any member of my power team or picking people for my power team I have two main criteria…

1. Open Minded
2. Creative

If they are both of these then there isn’t a problem we cannot work through. Instead of it being a “I can’t” scenario is becomes a “How Can I” Those are the people that I want to work with and surround myself with!

Realtors are a big issue….Now it isn’t because they are bad people. Most realtors are decent people, but they do not have the same education and tools that you’re receiving here and from Dean’s various programs. They did have to get education and pass and board exam, but that exam is not on creative strategies it is based on contract law, real estate land law, and basic legal vocabulary. In their day to day business they spend hours finding the one perfect home for a family, not several homes that meet a specific criteria. The idea that you want to make more than one offer at a time is foreign to them. Once you understand this, it helps you give them a break – understanding where they are coming from. However, that doesn’t mean they won’t have to work.

That being said I require that my realtors are open minded and creative. If they want to constantly tell me how hard the market is or that I cannot do something – I cut my losses and move on. I have enough negative people in my life, I’m not going to add others. Usually the same agents that are ranting and raving about how much competition there is right now and how “high” I have to offer to get any deals, are the same agents that told me how bad the economy was 4 years ago and I shouldn’t waste my time. My favorite was one agent kept telling me that I was “swimming with sharks.” I still have no idea what he meant by that but he said it over and over again.

Here are a couple solutions for agents that are pushing back about making multiple offers:

1. Let’s Template the offers. I’ll come in to your office and we can sit down and go through the contract. I’ve got a couple things that I like to add to the contract to make sure I’m protected. Once we’ve gone through the contract once we don’t have to do it every time. When I’m making multiple offers you can just change the date, the seller’s name, the address and the offer amount. That should allow you to do it in 5 minutes or so – will that help? I’ll also make sure you have a proof of funds and a copy of an earnest money check. Hopefully, that solves the time constraints so you can make several offers for me.
2. I know this system sounds aggressive…Making multiple aggressive offers is a bit overwhelming. This system is working for several people across the US and I think it could be a great option for the both of us to make some consistent money. Why don’t we at least give it a try…let’s make 50 offers and see how we do. If the system doesn’t work and we don’t get a deal after 50 I’m open to adjusting my strategy, but I want to give this a shot first.

Another way that gets an agent on board is to be a little more general about my investment strategy. I explain that I’m an investor and I invest one of three ways:

1. I buy, fix and resell for a profit
2. I buy, fix and hold for rent
3. I quick flip to another investor

That being said I mention that I’m going to wholesale (quick flip), but without putting too much focus on it so they do not dwell. Also, I’ve presented that this is something common and standard which often doesn’t give them much of an option to argue with me and my strategies.

Okay, enough about agents….here’s another scenario that I run into quite often:

When I’m doing a Double Closing, because it is a bank owned property (and the bank does not allow assignments)….in most cases the bank picks the title company or the attorney. So I don’t know right off the bat whether they will do creative deals or not. So I always plan to have some push back on a double closing.

Here is how I handle that situation….

First I get the two contracts signed. Once I have them both signed and in hand I go to the title company/attorney (depending on your state) or send/call the title company. I then explain that I am going to be doing a double closing/simultaneous closing. Before I give them a chance to tell me yes or no, I tell them that I do them all the time and my agent/attorney at x title or attorney’s office said they’d be happy to help you out with it if needed. This has a two fold effect – 1. If someone else can do it, then they want to be as good as anyone else. 2. They have a resource to call if they run into any issues or are not certain on how to make the transaction happen.

Also sometimes it just isn’t what you know, it is who you know. One of my questions the other day was from a student that saw one of our videos about a deal in MN. They had been told that Double Closings are Illegal. I just replied and said you’re talking to the wrong people and gave her our contacts….So keep calling and asking for referrals until you get the right power team members.

Remember you and your team members always need to be thinking: Not Can’t, but How Can We!