JvM 7 Report post Posted May 27, 2012 Hi All, I do "virtual" lease option flips in a few different cities/states. The one big challengehas been finding local agents to market for tenant buyers & show the properties for me. I started out offering them the equivalent of 1 months rent per tenant buyer placed.I even increased that amount thinking they were lazy because the money amountwasn't motivating enough. In terms of "lazy", what I mean is, these agents would barely lift a finger to marketthe properties (online or to any buyers that were just turned down for a loan). All ofwhich I told them how & where to market for tenant buyers. I even got to the point where I was doing the marketing so all they had to do wasshow up & show the property & collect the tenant apps. I kid you not, they wouldn'teven do that! Mind you, this is after a SUPER explicit ad of their expected duties & going over all thatwith them in the first convo to set expectations. I would even tell them I had to fire myprevious agents because they were lazy & just wouldn't do anything. They would assureme that would never be the case with them...lol. I've gone through this with about 20 agents now. The whole process of screening them,(grilling them on what's expected upfront, where & how to market, etc). This is the last snag preventing me from expanding to any remote markets I want. I'm just kinda dumbfounded by the pathetic laziness & the fact that they have to do almostnothing to get their paycheck & that's still too much! Right now, I'm just partnering up with newbie investors in those cities & having them do thatstuff. I train them & do the marketing & we split the profits 50/50. I just want to get a local agent to do the buyer side stuff so we can focus on closing sellers. I mean, if it were 1 or 2 agents, no biggie. But that many in a bunch of different areas is reallyodd. Especially because it's not as if I'm "mousey" with them in the beginning. If anything, I'm morelike Kramer in Seinfeld (where he tells the girl "she looks fine, she just needs a nose job")...lol.I tell them upfront to not waste my time or theirs & I can't stand lazy agents. Anyway, has anyone had this experience & have any solution ideas? Thanks, Jay von Mohr657-777-3540 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MichaelC 160 Report post Posted May 27, 2012 Haha! A Seinfeld reference! Love it! You'd think that with the income hit most Agents have taken these past five years or so that they would jump at the opportunity you're offering. But logic has no place in this discussion. I don't know what else you can do to find an Agent who will live up to their end of the deal. Have you tried to specifically target a new or at least newer Agent? Someone who is looking for an opening to get their new career up and running? They should be motivated, no? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JvM 7 Report post Posted May 28, 2012 Haha! A Seinfeld reference! Love it!You'd think that with the income hit most Agents have taken these past five years or so that they would jump at the opportunity you're offering. But logic has no place in this discussion. I don't know what else you can do to find an Agent who will live up to their end of the deal. Have you tried to specifically target a new or at least newer Agent? Someone who is looking for an opening to get their new career up and running? They should be motivated, no? Yeah, love me some Seinfeld. I know, I figured agents would be starving for work. Especially something so simple for them to do. I've targeted both newbie & experienced agents & also tried leasing agents (they are used tofilling straight rentals, so I thought they'd be good at finding tenant buyers). As always, it's gotta be me or something I'm doing (with that many of the same result). I'll figure it out. Btw, I finally tevo'd that George Harrison 2 part movie on HBO you told me about. It was awesome,Loved it! Thanks, JvM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Doug Pretorius (ON) 9 Report post Posted June 9, 2012 You might want to look up a guy by the name of Mitch Ribak. He's a broker and wrote a book called 100MPH Marketing for Real Estate (don't have it and therefore can't endorse it). I read a bunch of his commentary somewhere, I think it might have been a blog on activerain. Anyway...he talked quite a bit about the impossibility of motivating most agents to do anything. People either want it or they don't. So he put together a system to support the ones who do and fired everybody else LOL BTW hi everybody, long time no see! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MichaelC 160 Report post Posted June 9, 2012 BTW hi everybody, long time no see!Indeed, Dougie, long time no see. I guess the Yukon River has thawed and you're back in civilization. Good to hear from you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JvM 7 Report post Posted June 11, 2012 You might want to look up a guy by the name of Mitch Ribak. He's a broker and wrote a book called 100MPH Marketing for Real Estate (don't have it and therefore can't endorse it). I read a bunch of his commentary somewhere, I think it might have been a blog on activerain. Anyway...he talked quite a bit about the impossibility of motivating most agents to do anything. People either want it or they don't. So he put together a system to support the ones who do and fired everybody else LOL BTW hi everybody, long time no see! Cool, thanks Doug! JvM Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BTI 7 Report post Posted June 13, 2012 First of all your forgetting risk and reward. Your thinking they just show and take an app. I don't think so part of your post suggests something more or you didn't explain it well enough. A good agent will want to make enough an hour to cover his time and expenses, your not paying enough to hire a good agent and if what I call a desk jockey investor wanted to use me I would say I'll do it but hourly no deal I still get paid. That leaves the other agents who if they are motivated enough to do what you want will soon be bright enough to say why do I need this guy plus these TB's will not just forget me after I show and take the app I'm the face in the deal and they will look forward to me as their source of info. If I'm going to do this I'll take the whole pie not a few crumbs from someone in who knows where.and there are legal liability issues at stake in most states. Plus the seller will have my face in sight if there are problems while you are who knows how many miles away. You could be just another internet scam artist but my face and license makes you reputable. Maybe you will get more bites by not being so cheap, split the deal. To you I'm lazy, to me your cheap, I've been an investor since 1955 and this trend of I'll sit in my office and let my flunkies work for me at minimum wage or less or maybe nothing, while I get the big bucks is a little much. I guess you tell your doctor you will pay him $20 because all he did was sit down and talk to you for 10 minutes. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
raquelm 2 Report post Posted August 16, 2012 I'm an agent myself and agree with BTI. Unless you're offering a lot of volume, no agent is going to spend a lot of time showing a rental to multiple people just to earn a rental commission (which I assume, based on my experience, is no more than a month's rent). We could spend the same amount of time with preapproved buyers and earn a bigger sale commission. Maybe you should offer multiple rental listings at a time to make it worth their while. Are the properties located in decent neighborhoods that people actually want to rent in? If you're offering dumpy properties that nobody wants, that could be another cause for loss of interest by the agents. We don't like to waste our time on stuff we know isn't going to sell. Remember we don't get paid by the hour, only per closed deal. Not all agents are lazy. If you've had to fire 20 agents, there is clearly something wrong with your requirements. All 20 agents can't be wrong. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JvM 7 Report post Posted August 17, 2012 I hear what you guys are saying. My point is, the agents agree up front& are fine with everything, then I get the turn around. I tell them up frontit's ok to tell me if it's not good enough for you, etc. Plus, most leasing agents are making less than 1 months rent & thenthey still have to split that with their broker. J Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeeLight 8 Report post Posted August 17, 2012 I'm an agent myself and agree with BTI. Unless you're offering a lot of volume, no agent is going to spend a lot of time showing a rental to multiple people just to earn a rental commission (which I assume, based on my experience, is no more than a month's rent). We could spend the same amount of time with preapproved buyers and earn a bigger sale commission. Maybe you should offer multiple rental listings at a time to make it worth their while. Are the properties located in decent neighborhoods that people actually want to rent in? If you're offering dumpy properties that nobody wants, that could be another cause for loss of interest by the agents. We don't like to waste our time on stuff we know isn't going to sell. Remember we don't get paid by the hour, only per closed deal. Not all agents are lazy. If you've had to fire 20 agents, there is clearly something wrong with your requirements. All 20 agents can't be wrong. I don't really agree with you Raquelm. If I had an agent handling my open house I would be setting up appts every 10-15 minutes. So an agent might work just one day to locate a t/b. Sooo, in my area if he/she was getting one months rent it would be about $2k. Not bad for a days work or maybe 2 days. Did I misunderstand you? Geez, if someone said to me I'll give you $2k for 2 days work I'd have a hard time saying no. I hear the point of view of a real estate agent but not the investor. Have you worked at all in crei??This isn't meant to be harsh. It's just as I understand it. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JvM 7 Report post Posted August 17, 2012 Dee...lol! I remember saying the same thing to my partner. I was thinking,2k to just show up & show the property for tenant buyers I marketed for &set up the time with... Obviously it's not always that simple, but we started moving more in a flatfee arrangement. $______ amount to just show the property to the tenantbuyers we find (& we try to set them up for group showings to save theagent time). Or, if the agent finds a tenant buyer & they end up taking it,we double the agent's fee. J Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
raquelm 2 Report post Posted August 19, 2012 I don't really agree with you Raquelm. If I had an agent handling my open house I would be setting up appts every 10-15 minutes. So an agent might work just one day to locate a t/b. Sooo, in my area if he/she was getting one months rent it would be about $2k. Not bad for a days work or maybe 2 days. Did I misunderstand you? Geez, if someone said to me I'll give you $2k for 2 days work I'd have a hard time saying no. I hear the point of view of a real estate agent but not the investor. Have you worked at all in crei??This isn't meant to be harsh. It's just as I understand it. The point is that you'd be asking an agent to work with multiple people who are not prequalified for "2 days" in the HOPE that they can get paid. Compare that to working with one preapproved person for a few days for a much bigger payout. It doesn't make economic sense for the agent. I've done several wholesale deals, one SLO, and I love creative real estate strategies. I didn't learn about wholesaling or other strategies until after I became an agent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeeLight 8 Report post Posted August 19, 2012 Wow, if I had that spin on things Raquelm, I'd not be doing what I'm doing in crei. I've spent 2 months a c t i v e l y marketing for sellers and buyers----and not one penny yet. When I get a good deal and the buyer to go with it there will be MORE work. Then I get paid (oh please God, say yes ). I haven't decided if I want to get my r.e. license or not. Maybe it's better to spend my time working co-operatively with others (agents). And then, when working from an abundance mentality what about all the new listings I will be able to share with the lucky agents who are open minded. I am doing my best to work for the big picture and the long term. Some days when I've spent hours combing thru the ROTTTTTENNNN CL listings and answering emails that seem pointless I can get caught up in, "wth, is this even worth it" thinking. We'll see at the end of 12 months. Just thought I'd share another point of view Share this post Link to post Share on other sites