How to Get a Free, Smart, Deal Finding Real Estate Bird Dog

You’re about to see one of the best ways to get a free bird dog to do a ton of legwork for you. And some of you are going to use this and make a lot of money and some of you won’t. Personally, I don’t use this method (I’ll tell you why in a moment). But since there are a million ways to make a million dollars in this business I thought I’d share it with you.

First off, the bird dog I’m referring to are Realtors. And the reason I don’t use this method is because I never, ever do a deal involving Realtors. I always cut out the middleman. But if you’re a rehabber or a buy and hold landlord this method could work for you.

Here’s what you do: Go find a neighborhood where you want to invest.

Drive around and find the perfect bread and butter area where you want to rehab or where you want to buy and hold houses for the next 30 years.

Next, go to the closest Realtor’s office and explain to them that you’re an investor and are looking to pick up several properties this year. Most importantly, you tell them in great detail the formulas you use to buy houses and make sure they understand you’re an investor and will not be paying anywhere close to retail.

Also, you’re going to have to visit multiple offices and talk to multiple Realtor’s before you find a quality person who is going to hustle for you and start sending you potential deals. Just like every profession, 80% of people are “worthless” and 20% are the movers and shakers. Make sure you find a Realtor in that 20%.

Remind them often…

You’re probably going to have to remind this person often what your criteria are for buying houses so they don’t send you crappy leads to evaluate. But after awhile they’ll get the hang of it.

But before you go out and do this make sure you’re serious. Don’t go wasting someone’s time if you’re a tire kicker and have no plan to actually purchase a property. However, if you’re serious, this is a good way to pick up a few deals if you have a full time job and know you won’t do any other type of marketing.

How to take it to the next level…

And if you want to take this to an even higher level, why not find four or five different zip codes and have five Realtors searching for properties for you.

Just remember to have your hard money lender, or your cash, or however you’re going to pay for these properties already in place.

By the way, all of this is very easy to do. The reason I’m writing about it today is because I just helped a new investor get a bird dog and it only took him one weekend to find someone who’s already sending him deals.

Photo: pocketwiley

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.