All Forum Posts by: Stephanie Flores

Hi Stephanie, thanks for the insight! I will consider looking into these roles, especially because of how important networking is in REI. I'd love to connect further to hear some of your experiences if you have time.

@Austin Johnson  I just signed up with BP Featured Agent leads so I will definitely be tracking the quality of the leads.  I totally understand that once I get the lead I need to follow up immediately and I also have to do the best job  to convince that lead to work with me.  That same lead could be contacting other agents, so speed of follow up and making the best first impression is imperative.  I work in Orange and Los Angeles counties and each city will have a different price, which is dependent on several factors like Average/Median Sales Price, Population, City Size, etc.   Depending on those same factors, Bigger Pockets will only sell "a fixed number of spots" to BP Featured Agents.  For example, if you were to pick the city of Los Angeles (which is huge in size and population) Bigger Pockets may only allow a total of 10 BP Agents.  If you were to pick a smaller city, say Bakersfield (which is significantly smaller in population and average price) then that city may only allow up to 6 agents. 

The other good thing is that (in my opinion) you will be receiving "quality leads" .  You will typically get people from Bigger Pockets who more than likely read the posts, the forums, the books, listen to the podcasts, etc and therefore they are a little more "educated or experienced" in the home buying process.  These leads would be very different than say "Zillow Leads" <--which I would never recommend--> because Zillow will give you all the "Looky Lou's" that click on their click-bait banners.  So with the Bigger Pockets leads one would hope that the leads are a little more on the "serious side" of buying. Like I said, I just got started with a city in Orange County and I will be monitoring it to see how it goes.  If it goes well, I will definitely sign up for more cities.

@Stephanie Lopez

Would be interested in seeing what you have

 Easiest way to get your investor buyer clients inventory is connecting with all the wholesale shops in your area, and connect buyers to sellers.

Some of the seasoned buyers will already be on the wholesalers' mailing list, and thats fine, but there will be many that have no idea what wholesaling is and you're bringing them value by exposing offmarket inventory to them. 

Quote from @Stephanie Flores:

Hello I am new to the investing industry and have been reading/listening to podcast and reading forums. I went on Craigslist today and found the post attached. I decided to reach out. He responded with

“Hello this is Felipe wholesaler in Orange County
Nice to hear from you hope your event went well

I have motivated cash buyers
That love places in distress or properties that aren’t listed in the market”

I’m wondering how legit this is if he is a wholesaler and truly has buyers he is working with. Should I meet this person over coffee? Any advice would be appreciated..before I meet a stranger from Craigslist 

 Hey,

I have connected with a lot of random investors on the internet and would encourage to jump on the phone with them first and ensure as best as possible they are legit and not a scammer. I would absolutely encourage you to get out to local investor meetups. 

Regarding if this is legit. Maybe, but It is most likely just a fishing post from an inexperienced investor, to add to their list of deal suppliers. Maybe they learned of this CL technique in an investing program or something. This is not how most reputable, experienced investors do it though. They already have the connections or reach out directly to agents to make connections. They also know how to source deals themselves. Your best source of connections in the real estate investing world are right here on BP, through other realtor referrals, and from meetups and investment groups. 

As a newbie, it is easy, and common, to head down multiple paths chasing shiny bright objects, with many of those paths just leading to time wasting and increased experience in learning what you don't want to do. Best advice is to keep exploring aspects of the RE investing world and decide which feels right and best for what you want to pursue. Then focus on those aspects and learn as much as you can about those. And do your best not to let the lack of resources dictate your focus or goals. I have done many deals with my experience alone and little or none of my own cash. "If you find it, they will come." Meaning, the most important part of a deal, is the deal itself, if you have a deal, the money will appear. I know that's simplistic, but it is true.

By, the way, that CL post was from an Anchor Loans deal in Sherman Oaks back in 2017. It is very unlikely it has anything to do with the person who posted in CL. Very easily found with a Google Image search.  https://www.instagram.com/p/B-xDg-Kj8T6/

I would advice against it.  There's a higher risk of being scammed on deals like that.  Even meeting in person, they can act like a straight up investor until they hook you in and take your money.  Acting like a good person is easy for scammers. 

In my business, as a kitchen contractor, I meet "investors" who want to partner up all the time. More horror stories than success stories. Luckily I kept my distance and focus more on the traditional ways of making money.

There are several ways to add value to RE investors.  One is talking to investors at RE meetings, reading what investors say they look for in an agent here on BP.  

An important thing I consider is an agent's knowledge of the communities I'm looking into.  Things like the demographics of the area, crime, ages of property, history of the area, known property disputes, etc all help.  Often agents have been in many of the homes in the area this can be helpful sometimes.

Basically you are looking for how to add value and how are different from other agents.  Later when you have begun investing yourself you may have other ways to help investors.