Why You Want Bird Dogs Finding
Your Deals.
By Peter Vekselman
The author has permitted the reprinting and redistribution of this
article.
Whether you're a novice real estate investor or you've been at it for
years, real estate investing is an endless series of challenges. First,
you have to locate motivated sellers. Then you have to buy it right,
manage it even better, and still find a way to turn a profit. To top it
off, you have to try to do all these things while simultaneously
juggling the myriad other details of your life while laying the
groundwork to become a full-time investor.
There just isn't enough time in the day, is there
Wouldn't it be nice if profitable deals would almost magically come to
you
Well, they can.
By putting Bird Dogs to work for you there's more time for you to
concentrate your energies on more profitable activities negotiating
with sellers, putting together winning proposals, and moving on to the
next deal.
In case you're not familiar with what a bird dog is - or what a bird
dog does - they are basically scouts that sniff out deals for you.
Their sole job is to locate properties that have motivated sellers and
lay the groundwork for you to move in and close the deal. This saves
you time for the really profitable aspects of real estate investing.
While all bird dogs are not Realtors, Realtors have a huge advantage
over non Realtor bird dogs, for obvious reasons They have access to the
local MLS, FLMS listings, they know the neighborhood, they know how
long the homes are on the market, they know what buyers are looking
for, they know what it will take to get it in resale condition, they
have access to motivated buyers and sellers or can find them for you.
Without motivated sellers you can't put together real estate deals. The
problem you have is there are only so many hours in the day for you to
do everything that needs to be done. If you still have a full-time job
working for someone else you have even less time available for your
marketing and prospecting efforts. If you assume that marketing - of
which locating motivated sellers is a critical part - takes 20%-25% of
your time, you can easily see how little time that leaves for the other
activities you need to be doing on an on-going basis to reach your
goals.
By having a bird dog or bird dogs doing these things for you it allows
you to better utilize the time resources you have at your disposal. A
good bird dog isn't born they're made. It's going to take a little
effort on your part to help your bird dogs help you. The best way for
you to do this is by clearly articulating to them what you need. Again,
here is where Realtors can be invaluable, because you will spend less
time bringing Realtors up to speed as they already have had extensive
training.
The good news is that there are plenty of people willing to be bird
dogs. They could be friends, family members, or others you come in
contact with. You can also work with novice real estate investors
through your local REIA to locate properties for you. It's also
relatively easy to put together larger teams of bird dogs by utilizing
message boards, Craig's List, and other online resources. If all else
fails you can run a newspaper ad of your own. The main point here is
that bird dogs will free up more of your time so you can do those
things that have a greater probability of earning you money.
Bird dogs can be the path to your real estate investing goals. The
finder's fees you'll pay your bird dogs for bringing deals to you are
more than offset by the value - and the wealth - they'll generate for
you. Take the time to learn how to work with bird dogs in reaching your
investing dreams. As you get better at working with bird dogs you'll
find that you have more time and money for other pursuits - like
deciding what to tell your boss when you quit your full-time job and
take the plunge into full-time real estate investing.
Peter Vekselman has been successfully investing in real estate since
1996. He has completed over 1000 real estate deals, owned a
construction company, been a private lender, and owned a property
management company. Peter currently works with clients all over the US
httpwww.CoachingByPeter.com .
If
you would like to take advantage of the market and learn how to invest
in real estate and you are local to the Dallas Fort Worth area, I know
a really great teacher and mentor here in Arlington Texas. Please take
a look at his web site: DennisJHenson.com,
Dennis has a great Mentoring and training program, I know because I am
one of his former students. I learned a lot from his one on one
teaching technique. - Michael Harman 817-457-7572
mchfun.business@gmail.com
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