Bird Dogging For Out Of State Investor
Investment property here in Tulsa is so easy to find that none of the local investors I've talked to so far are interested in my services as a bird dogger, or even in wholesaling. I found someone in California who is interested in investing in apartments here in the Tulsa area, who does want my help. Should I have some sort of contract with her to protect myself? If so, where would I find one? Also, this investor has left it up to me to decide what my fee is. How do I decide on a fair fee? I am very new at this.
Also, all the REI courses I took focused on single family homes. I've been able to put together some bits and pieces of information on doing the numbers for multi-family homes, but any helpful suggestions would be great.
How is the market in Tulsa? What do you see on the horizon?
I've only lived here for a couple months, but from what I've seen, this place is an investor's heaven. There have been a lot of lay-offs and unemployment is high, resulting in a lot of foreclosures. You can find incredible deals just looking in the paper. Apartment complexes go for surprisingly cheap here compared with the rest of the country, but the rents aren't all that low. My plan is to eventually get into rehabbing and pre-foreclosures, and even more eventually do some lease optioning. But I have to build up my capital right now. The investors that I spoke with seem to be very satisfied with the market here.
1. I would be interested in good deals so there is interest from out of state buyers.
2. You can protect yourself by locking up the deal before you present it to an investor. The risk you take is the deal you have locked up is not so good and the investor will not pick it up form you. Alternatively you can strike a deal with someone you trust and let them help put the deal together.
3. Just because things are cheap does not mean they are a good deal. If everyone is losing their homes and the rents are high two things will likely happen. (A) rents will stay high while everyone is moving out of homes they are losing into rental units. (B) eventually rents will drop to reflect the income and job prospects.
So, if the local economy is really as bad as you say you might see a surplus of housing after a period of time. You need to buy really smart in this case. Even if you are flipping the buyers you sell to need to be successful or you supply of buyers will dry up.
John
[addsig]
I did some research, much of it on this site, and I think I have a pretty good idea now on how to tell if it's a good deal, thanks especially to the good article by hibby76.
I can't lock up a deal myself yet because I don't have earnest money. That is a big reason why I want to bird dog before wholesaling. My plan is to bird dog a few properties until I'm comfortable with my cash reserves, then start investing myself. If I'm able to build up enough of a buyer database with out-of-state investors, then I will definitely wholesale for a while before I get into rehabbing, just to give myself a little extra cushion.
You say there is alot of foreclosures happening in your area. You may want to get with a seasoned pre-foreclosure, foreclosure, short sale investor and bird dog for him/her for a reasonable finder fee. Get with one that will let you stick around and learn as the deal is completed. Choose your investor, settle on a reasonable finder fee percentage and away you go! [ Edited by JohnLocke on Date 05/26/2004 ]