realtor wants $100 per comp sale or no sale

[singh 0]

Hello everybody,

 

Just another lurker ready to come out of the woodwork. I have been absorbing the

information in the forums for a month now and am ready to start putting it into action. I really enjoy this forum and enjoy the different people who frequent it. Thank you Doug for turning me on to this site and thank you Michael for the warm welcome and the manual.

 

So to get over my paralysis of analysis I decided to just do it. I started cold calling fsbo's. I didn't call but 10 people before a man said he would be interested to RTO. I was so excited I just got his name and cell phone number and told him I would drive by the place then hung up. He has 2-3 properties and seemed open to the idea of renting them to own.

 

I am in shock. I didn't know what to do next. So after a few deep breaths I thought i would need comps. I called my Realtor contact only to find out she was out of town until sometime in January! So my next step was to call a Realtor who I approached a few months ago when I was trying to build up my network. I asked her if she would be interested in doing something outside of the box. She asked "like what"? So I told her I was contacting fsbo's and needed to get comps to know if the houses were priced fairly. I told her I would give her $500 per comp that led to a sale. Then she tried to pull me back inside the box. She started with the whole the seller pays the Realtor fees and $500 is not a lot and yada yada yada.

 

But I explained to her that in one way or another that I would eventually be paying her fee and as a novice investor I just couldn't afford something like that.

Anyways I gave her the address of the place and the asking price and she said she would run the comps for me.

 

Then I instantly regretted giving her that info. What if she tries to flip my fsbo owner to her side? What if she contacts him and mucks it all up for me? Well Nothing I can do now but hope and wait.

 

She called back 5 min later and suggested I sign a contract with her so her interests would be protected. She suggested $100 per comp sale or no sale. I told her that I could only pay her if I get paid. $100 per comp is ridiculous.

 

So she said we can work out the details of our partnership later and that she would do the comps for that house for now. WOW are all Realtors that slick.

 

I feel nervous and excited at the same time. So many things running through my mind. I haven't even got my forms looked over by a lawyer to make sure they are good for Canada and my province.(just got the manual a few days ago) I did contact one but he wants me to come after the new year. I think I will contact another one. Also he is going to charge $75 per 1/2 hour. Is that normal? high/low? Should I get all the contracts looked at because I don't know which ones I will need? I which case it will be more that 1/2 an hour.

 

My head hurts, he he he.

 

Singh

[Doug Pretorius (ON) 9]

Couple of things.

 

1. Get to know your market well enough that you don't need comps for every house, because you WILL wear out your welcome with even the most accommodating agent.

 

2. You shouldn't have to pay for comps at all. There are agents out there who will give you comps with no expectations.

 

3. Don't even think about signing a buyer agency agreement with any agent. You will owe them a commission for every house you buy, private or otherwise.

 

4. I wouldn't worry about this agent trying to go behind your back to the FSBO. FSBOs hate agents so she has to get through that first, then she has to convince them to list and to list with her, then she has to successfully sell the house. That's a lot of maybes. Anywhere along the line you can still do an RTO with the seller.

 

5. $150/hour is low for a real estate attorney in Ontario. I would question how good he is at that price.

 

6. MC's contracts can be used as-is in Ontario. Of course that's just my opinion, I'm not a lawyer, so don't sue me

[MichaelC 160]

Hello Singh, and welcome to The Naked Investor! We're glad you found us.

In addition to all that Doug said, let me add a few things. Being in Florida I'm sure there are some noteable differences in how we conduct business. This might have been covered previously, but aren't there any services online where you can access real estate sales data? Either free or for a small fee?

Regarding the paperwork, it's always a good idea to have it checked out by a knowledgeable local real estate attorney. You might want to check with fellow member Rahul. He's up your way, I believe, and I recall him having the paperwork reviewed. He may be able to answer some questions for you.

Also, here in the states we can call the State Bar Association and ask for a referral for a lawyer in a particular branch of law. You'll be given several names and when you call and mention the State Bar referral service you will be entitled to a discount. Usually along the lines of a free 30 minute consultation or something similar.

[singh 0]

Thanks guys for the input.

I am not going to sign anything with the Realtor but until I am able to learn my market I might need to rely one. So I might approach a few so I don't bother the same one all the time.

I think I will get the forms looked at by a lawyer just to be safe. It looks like Rahul is over by Doug (Ontario) and I am in Alberta.

I'm not sure about a online service for re data, I will look in to this as I would gladly pay. And I did find a free lawyer referral service.

[Jason (AL) 1]

Wowee Zowee!

We've got us yet another Canuck amongst us?

I betcha Doug must be gettin' some kinda kick-back

for brangin' the fine folks that reside north of the border.

 

Welcome to the forum.

 

Tell that agent to take a hike.

I'm not one to knock the hustle, but I reckon

she's charging per comp cuz she's not selling

any houses, eh?

 

Good luck.

[zerggross 0]

Hello singh.

 

that Realtor is wasting your time, break up with her, find another one. one thing we have plenty in Canada, Realtors.

 

unfortunately for Canadian investors, there are no free data available online to compare sales. (i did some good search, but I am hoping someone can prove me wrong on this)

This is the one thing that makes conducting business in the United States superior to Canada----INFORMATION. IMO at least.

 

 

for Ontario though, there is an inefficient way...

if you are a property owner or know someone who does, log on to http://www.assessmentontario.com/

there is a ABOUTMYPROPERTY service.

log in account and password is mailed to you in your property assessment letter. In there you can check a specific house for past sales price, comparable etc.. It gets expensive depends on what you want to know, so Realtors are a better way to approach things.

 

lol haha i just realized Alberta is not a city in Ontario. oops. oh well see if you have anything similar in your province. or if you really wanna dig it deep, CMHC has a software let you access their property database. I have not called them to inquire about it, do not know how much it cost.