working with realtors on lease options

[akshaydesai]

I an finding that a lot of realtors are not receptive to woking with lease options since they figure they are not going to get paid till the option is exercised. My question is, how can i get realtors to work for me ?  how can i pay them for their time and effort ? how can i get them to bring me rental listings ?

Thanks.

[Doug Pretorius]

how can i get them to bring me rental listings ?

Just ask. Many don't deal in lease listings, but some do. You might want to narrow the search a little more to houses that are listed for lease AND for sale, that way you know there's a good chance the seller will be receptive.

Then you just have to test the waters. I've had realtors who sent me lease listings only to refuse to present a lease option offer because they didn't understand it.

Don't kid yourself though, this is a supplementry source of leads--at best. Realtors just don't have a lot of lease listings so you're not going to get that many good prospects. Right now I'm getting 1 decent potential property lead every 6 weeks from this source.

Don't waste their time. Realtors don't get paid much on a lease listing, so don't go to look for the sake of looking. Be 90% sure you're going to make an offer before you go out the door.

[akshaydesai]

Thanks Doug. A nother question i have is , how do i get an accurate cma if i am not working with a realtor ?

[tatertot]

It's pretty much industry standard that a real estate agent who finds a tenant gets a fee equal to one month's rent , plus (usually) an additional 10% of the rent for the first year.

[Doug Pretorius]

Again, just ask. Most realtors will give you a cma for free on any property you're considering. And once again, don't waste the favor on houses you aren't sure about. Get CMAs done only on houses you are reasonably confident you want to make an offer on.

I personally don't get a CMA done if there are a lot of similar homes for sale in the area, I just look at the prices and features and figure out a ballpark value. I do get CMAs done if there's nothing else currently for sale that's similar.

Caveat: My market is pretty stable so list and sale prices aren't far off. If your market is rapidly appreciating or depreciating or for some local reason there's a big difference between list and sale prices then definitely get a CMA done on every property you make an offer on.