I Want To Hire A Bird Dog

[nsu1997]

I understand the wholesaling process very well, but since I work a J.O.B. full time (and in an effort to leverage my time) I want to get a bird dog or two out there finding the junkers for me.

For anyone living in the DC metro area that wants to earn an extra $250/week simply riding around in your own car, For anyone out there who has hired bird dogs in the past, please share your experiences...particularly:

What is the best way to hire a bird dog? Ad in the paper, high schools, forums, etc?

How much should I pay per lead, and what exactly should I be paying for? I was thinking $5 per junker if he/she provides an address and photo.

If I should place an ad in the paper, how should it read? And in what type of publication should I place the ad?

Should I pay a bonus if the deal closes, or is that generally not necessary to get someone to bird-dog? And if so, how much?

I'd appreciate any other relevant info that anyone could provide. I live in the Washington DC metro area. I have set aside an up-front budget of about $800 that I can use to pay the bird dog and for skip tracing.

[nsu1997]

C'mon, no one here has ever hired a birddog??? Help me out.

[sniper]

nsu,
how many deals have you done so far?

[nsu1997]

Honestly, a big fat zero.

However, I'm about as serious a newbie as you'll ever see. I have a website under construction and a phone hotline that I'm setting up tomorrow. I just finished transcribing a 5-page long hotline script. Biz cards arrived yesterday.

My goal is to wholsale at least one junker before I really get into the other modules of creative real estate investing (lease options, subject-to, optioning, etc) so I can have enough money to crank up the marketing that such ventures require, and also if I need a little bit for down payments.

I've asked a few questions before on here and have always received great feedback.

Why do you ask?

[sniper]

I wouldn't put any ads in the high school unless you want problems with the principal and the parents.
Try advertising in the local paper. $5 per house with picture isn't much, try offering a bonus if you buy a property (maybe $500).
just my $.02

[nsu1997]

Thanks Sniper. How much would you suggest I pay per lead if I don't go with offering a $500 bonus? $7? $10?

[rballard]

Paying per lead is tough because it doesn't encourage the bird dog to make an effort to provide quality leads. Quality leads turn into a purchase, which is why many wholesalers and rehabbers pay bird dogs when a lead turns into a purchase. For example, I could run out tomorrow and find 100 leads for $10 a piece and you'd pay me $1000, or I could find you 20 quality leads and you buy two of those and give me $1000. So that'd be the same cost to you, but you'd have to weed through 80 fewer garbage leads. Make sense?

[blueboxer]

I am in Loudoun County, very nice area for rehabs and PRE-FORECLOSURES.

Just to give you an idea, there are 2 big investment groups in this area:
ExpressHomeBuyers (They advertise on TV all the time 800-SELL-2-US) and HomeVestors.

ExpressHomeBuyers pays $3000 per home and HomeVestors $1000, so if you want to have a good birddog, I would suggest you pay by transaction. If I were in your shoes, I would try to pay in that range.

[nsu1997]

Paying per lead is tough because it doesn't encourage the bird dog to make an effort to provide quality leads. Quality leads turn into a purchase, which is why many wholesalers and rehabbers pay bird dogs when a lead turns into a purchase. For example, I could run out tomorrow and find 100 leads for $10 a piece and you'd pay me $1000, or I could find you 20 quality leads and you buy two of those and give me $1000. So that'd be the same cost to you, but you'd have to weed through 80 fewer garbage leads. Make sense?

I am in Loudoun County, very nice area for rehabs and PRE-FORECLOSURES.

Just to give you an idea, there are 2 big investment groups in this area:
ExpressHomeBuyers (They advertise on TV all the time 800-SELL-2-US) and HomeVestors.

ExpressHomeBuyers pays $3000 per home and HomeVestors $1000, so if you want to have a good birddog, I would suggest you pay by transaction. If I were in your shoes, I would try to pay in that range.

You guys are making a lot of sense...thanks for the info. I'm certainly leaning towards paying at least a $1,000 bonus if a lead turns into a deal. Great advice!

[sniper]

make sure you tell exactly what you need so they won't just take pictures of every house

[xelkwonx]

Hey NSU 1997,

I'm actually in the DC metro area.

[kdhastedt]

xelkwonx,

Please hit him with an e-mail or a PM...we don't network openly in the Discussion Forums...

Thanx,

Keith
Moderator

[xelkwonx]

Sure thing. My appologies to the forum.