Not necessarily, but in some areas, you should be licensed. In most areas, you can work as a lead generator or quickly move into either a wholesaling position or an equity position so you are not violating any laws. Times are tight and real estate agents are hurting. They do NOT like bird dogs encroaching on their territory so you want to make sure you keep your nose clean and do it right. Check with a local attorney to make sure you don’t violate any laws.
I bird dogged a lot of properties for investors in my area and I still do a bit of bird dogging. Sometimes I find a property, sometimes I find a buyer. I know people who are successful investors who have a little sideline business bird dogging and wholesaling houses. Why? Not every property they see is right for them, but they may know someone that it is right for.
Bird dogging is a stepping stone into real estate investing. It makes a great part time business or a side line business. Most importantly, it’s fast and easy to get up and running as a bird dog. If you’d like to learn more about birddogging, check out my book here.
Fees paid vary from $500 to $5,000 depending on the investor or the cost of the deal. Expect your fees to be in the low range when you are starting out. As you become better able to identify “good” deals for your investors, your fees can go up. Remember, if an investor isn’t making money on a deal, he can’t pay you or more likely, he won’t buy it in the first place. And here’s another bird dog income stream to consider: Some businesses will also pay you a standard fee if you bring new investors into their business.
Through real estate deals you can make money in real estate, and generate extra income and create multiple streams of income.
You can actually make a living as a bird-dog but it isn’t the way to fast wealth or even slow wealth. Bird dogging is a way to break into the investing business. And bird dogging fees are a great extra income that you can put aside so you have funds to invest when you are ready to pull the trigger on your own real estate deal!
deal!
Your first step would be to find a company or investor who advertises on signs or in the newspaper that they buy houses, or take over
payments.
Tell them what you’d like to do and ask them which areas they’d prefer you to look at. Drive around the area and look for ‘For Sale by Owner’ signs, rental homes and boarded up homes.
You will develop a sense of what individual investors are looking for over time. This is the learning phase. You will pick up what experienced investors consider ‘good’ or ‘bad’ deals based on working with them.
Expect your finds to be turned down at first as you learn. But as you get more experience and a better idea of what your investors are looking for, you’ll start matching the right properties to the right investors.
Are you anxious to get a piece of the wealth that is to be found in real estate investing? Until now, if you didn’t have experience or cash you it would be very unlikely that you’d be successful since real estate investing carries enormous risks and high start up costs. New investors with a lack of knowledge have lost all of their savings from a bad investment.
How can you prepare yourself to take on this lucrative market, especially with no cash?
The buzzword among investors for those making a start in this field is “bird-dogging”. Don’t forget it.
A bird dog is someone who locates properties, usually for a real estate investor.
Bird dogging is a great way to learn real estate investing while putting some money in your pocket. Will it make you rich? Probably not. But it can put you right into the world of professional real estate investors.
By bird dogging, you can learn what kinds of properties investors prefer, what neighborhoods they like to work and how they make a decision as to whether or not a property is a “deal.” Different investors prefer different things — some like single family houses in bread and butter neighborhoods, others are looking for multi-units or apartment buildings in urban areas.
Where do you find investors? In my book, Fast Money In Real Estate: Secrets of a Bird Dog, I show you how to find investors to work with. But I’ll give you a big tip right now: Most cities have a local real estate investors’ association. You can find one close to you by going to NationalREIA.com and clicking on “Find A Group.” Also check the Meetup.com listings in your area. Go to the meetings and watch the room to see who the players are and who the talkers are. They’ll sort themselves out pretty quickly.