All Forum Posts by: Mark Johnson

@Carrie Shillin

Sorry that you're getting frustrated finding a good agent.  One thing you might want to try is searching Zillow for the type of listings you're looking for.  Call up those listing agents and see if they work with investor buyers.  If so, go through the rest of your interview questions to see if their a good fit.  

I would agree with the agent about narrowing down your geographic area, especially for your first deal.  That way you really get to know that market and you'll feel more confident pulling the trigger once you find the right property.  IMO, when buyers (both retail & investor) have too large of a search area, they tend to have a difficult time making a decision.  Once you get more experience, expand you net and your agent should be good with this since you've proven that you're a serious buyer.

I'm not sure why the agent wouldn't be willing to work with foreclosures unless she was referring to "auction" properties. Those are not difficult but they can be annoying. You usually have to sit at your computer and submit sever offers until you win the property. I would advise staying away from those until you have experience. However, ones listed on the MLS are much easier to deal with and you can actually get in the property to see them. If you are good with taking on a major project, then I don't see this being a problem.

Hope this helps!

@Michael J Scanlon Do you know any good hard money lenders that work in the area? If they know the market and it really is a deal, there's a good chance they'll give you 100% financing. That way you can just purchase it, close in 7~10 days, and put it on the MLS the day you close on the property.

@Holly Hudson Not sure if you have this handled already but if you like your agent and would prefer to continue using them, ask them to find an experienced commercial agent to bring in and help him out on the deal to make sure that everything is handled properly.  They can split the commission and your agent gets to learn from someone with more experience.   

@Account Closed The best thing you can do for an agent is send them referrals and introduce them to other potential referral partners.  If you are a social guy and do a lot of networking both online and at live events, then you should come across a decent amount of opportunities to send both of these to the agent you're trying to build a relationship with.  

@Mark Baird a good agent will have their interests aligned with yours.  The difference between a $200,000  and a $175,000 sales price is a lot of money to you but it does not really change the agent's commission that much.  At a 2.7% commission, which is the norm here in St. Louis, it would be a $675 difference before the split and expenses being taken out.

The agent is much more motivated to get you the best deal so that you will use them again in the future and, more importantly, refer them to your friends and family.  That is how agents build up their businesses.  If they are only focusing on closing the deal so that they can get the commission, they will not last long because their business will not be built on repeats and referrals.

@Joseph A Henke I agree with @Melvina Fredson-Cole about joining a larger team as a buyer's agent.  Most successful teams will be able to get you up and running in 30~45 days so you should have at least 3 months of expenses saved up or even more if you want to be conservative.  

You might also want to consider joining a larger office that promotes/allows agents to hold other agent's listing open.  Finding buyers at open houses is a great way for part time agents to start generating some business.  I'm at Keller Williams in Kirkwood and there is never a shortage of houses to hold open.  Most of the brokerages here should allow to do this.  It is more a matter of how many listings the office has and will the listing agent allow you to hold it open.   

Shoot me a PM if you ever want to talk.  I promise that I am not one of those KW recruiting agents.  It's never been my thing.  I was lucky enough to have experienced agents help me out when I started in 2011 and would love to return the favor.  

@Jack Medford Thanks for the amazing information!  I am going to pull that info for my St. Louis market and see how it compares.  

@Angel G. I think the 3 items you mentioned in your post are perfect.  As a real estate agent, if you contacted me out of the blue and approached me like that, I would feel very confident about working with you.  Make sure you are able to verify your financing in writing with a pre approval letter or proof of funds.  I would also have a list of questions for the agent so that you can verify their experience with investment properties. 

This will vary from market to market but I do agree with what @Anthony Dooley said about the other 5% providing you with the best deals. Here in St. Louis, we are in a very strong seller's market so most investors will not find deals that match their criteria on the MLS. The ones that do are typically purchasing properties that needs lots of work.

@Juaneka Brim The best way to find a good one is through referrals from other investors.  

If you're looking to purchase multi-family properties, try reaching out to agents that have multi-family listings.  Check out their Zillow profile and see what their ratings are like and how much business they've done over the last year.  You should be able to see their sales history.  If they are consistently working with the types of properties you're interested in, then they might be a good fit.

If you're looking to flip, try reaching out to agents that have newly renovated listings (This was not my idea but I saw this on another post and thought it made sense).  Ask them if their client is a flipper and/or do they have a lot of experience working with flippers.  Then check out their online profile just like I described above.  

Hope this helps!

@Jim Peret I would start right away.  By the time the estate goes to Probate court, the family has had their time to grieve.  It tends to be 3+ months after the owner has passed away.  

There are getting a ton of mail from investors.  Some will hold onto them and some won't.  I probably get 1 or 2 calls per month from my mailings.  

The phone calls will get you the best results.  No one is calling and the people are generally pretty receptive to my calls.  This is especially true for the ones that actually need an agent or investor to help them with the property.  The other people that don't need our help can be rude at times but generally just say no thanks and thats it.  

The biggest fear I assume most people have is that people will yell at you for being a vulture and trying to profit off of someone's death.  This has happened to me 3 times over the last 2 1/2 years.  It sucks and you feel guilty but I just focus on the other people that want to talk  with me and actually need my help.  

Let me know if you have any other questions.