Bird dog fee

[tbodley74]

I want to get in on the wholesale property business. From what I heard before is that birddogging is recommended before stepping into the wholesale side of the business. I would like to know something about bird dogging for a fee. Do I need to sign some type of contract in order to collect my fee from the bird dog deal? Would I get to negotiate my own fee for doing the bird dog deal or do I just take whatever is given to me? If I do not get a fee from the investor up front after bird dogging for properties, would I have to be present at the closing to collect the fee? I still work a 9 to 5 job, which I may not be able to attend the closing if and only if I am required to do so.
 
I prefer to bird dog anywhere from $500 to $5,000 dollars. Would that seem like a fair fee or should I go lower?

[cincyben]

What level of service are you providing?  As someone who uses bird dogs, we pay between $250-$500 per closed lead.  All someone has to do is bring us a vacant/ugly house lead and we take it from there - finding the owner, mailing, negotiating, etc.  For us to pay any more than that (which we never have), the bird dog would have to do a lot more work.

[tbodley74]

The only thing I am providing is giving investors what they want.  Someone tells me the type of houses they want to invest in, the price they range they look for, the location they look for, etc.  I then bring them leads that match their interest. That is what I am offering. I was going to bird dog for someone else but they stopped contacting me once I told them I found some properties that may of interest to them. Then I went on to tell them about the leads I found and I will turn in my leads to them, for a fee of course, once they got what they are looking for. From that point on there were no more contacts from them.  I was asking about contracts because I am new to the bird dog thing and wanted to know how am I going to be compensated for my service since there were no type of legal written aggreement stating I would be paid anything for my bird dog services. I might run into someone who may not end up paying anything for the help I provided them. That is my biggest concern for someone new to this business.

[cincyben]

I'm a lot more specific with my property scouts - I only want them to bring me a certain type of house lead - vacant and/or ugly - so I may be looking for something a little different than what the investors you are talking to are.

As far as a written agreement goes - never done one and probably wouldn't.  If I buy the house and make money, they get paid, if I don't - they don't.  I may lose some people to look for houses for me as a result, but I don't really want that many.  Keep in mind one of my best scouts does other work for me so we talk every few days anyway, so his comfort level with me is pretty high - and vice versa...

good luck

[tbodley74]

That's the kind of relationship I prefer to have with my investors. Is it just you that don't require contracts or does that goes for anyone that is getting involved with bird dogging properties? Because if it is that simple then I can go find someone buying houses right now and start to bird dog for them.

[moewhittle]

From my experience at doing this don't go all out for these PEOPLE THAT CLAIM TO BE investors!!!! I had a so called investor i was bird dogging for in Atlanta. We had a contract that i was to be paid $1000 on every deal that he closed. I rode around everyday finding properties and sent them to him. Over 100 i stopped sending leads because this person stopped answering my calls,emails. I started seeing the properties being rehabbed and for rent signs going up after these properties had been vacant for months...BE VERY SKEPTICAL!

[tbodley74]

See this is the kind of thing I was afraid of.

[Dowdyrich]

I would say NOT to be so skeptical that you don't do anything or work with anyone... Granted there will be some 'slick' or 'crooked' people in any arena, that will look to take advatage of your naivity or your hard work.  These people are present in any area of your life (work, personal, business, etc...) and you should just take notice of them and avoid them. 

I would visit a local REI meeting (I know, same answer for every question).  There you will find actual people that are involved with real estate in many ways.  You may find people that will actually buy a property you bring to them, (Gotta find out what type or properties they are looking for and willing to buy.. You can search here for some good questions you may want to have answered while talking to them) other people doing just what you are doing or may have thought about doing next, and also what are standard procedures and expectations.  And most investing communities are 'small'... Not in the sense of size, but moreso that 'dirty' business in circulated quickly.

I used to invest in mobile homes, and went to a single event with other people that were investing at the time; I met a few people that offered me cheap money to buy the homes, people that could fix them quick and had alot of my questions answered.

I can't speak for your area but I don't see why you wouldn't receive at least $500 for a quality lead.  And with a little more work maybe more

[tbodley74]

Do you feel I would be better off doing wholesale deals wthout ever getting started in the bird dog process? I agree people are shady wherever you go, which is what worry me the most. I would hate to see all my hard work go to waste. I need to get paid for work like everyone else. I can accept $500 for eery deal that get closed. That was my minimum amount I was willing to work for.

[Dowdyrich]

I would not worry much about being cheated... I would look to work with people that have a track record of integrity ( you should be able to make a good assumption from speaking/meeting with them and people they have worked with).  As for wholesaling, do what you feel comfortable with.  I can't really say what you should do. You can learn about wholesaling while birddogging or you may want to just wholesale from the start.

If search these forums there is alot of good post and free articles on wholesaling and birddogging that can give you direction.

[tbodley74]

It is the money that got me all hyped up about wholesale. I need money and a lot of it really bad as do everyone else. The thought of me making more money from wholesale just got me all excited. Then again I don't want to jump too fast into the wholesale biz without taking the necessary steps to move up into the wholesale game. This must be where bird dog come in.

[debbieg]

I found a ebook I bought about  becoming a Bird Dog I had never heard of it before..I too am interested in Wholesaling , and I do think it is a good idea to become a bird dog and learn all aspects.
I downloaded a contract I was given to use for my fees and legal info you want to spell out.
Ran an add on craigslist and have two clients I am working with.
If you would like to PM me I will see if I can forward over the contract you will have to fill in your information.