Sandwich lease options are a great niche market for real estate investors. If you want to DOMINATE THIS NICHE, you MUST GO DEEP into the niche by WORKING WITH REALTORS® to find sellers needing sandwich lease options.
I am a licensed real estate broker, who owns multiple offices in multiple states. With my experience, I will show you how to get Realtors® Begging You to Buy Their Listings in Your Market.
I wear multiple hats, two of which are as a real estate broker and an investor. In my offices are agents that I make a point of Working With Realtors as an investor. But I don’t stop there. I also work with agents outside my offices to cover the entire region where I operate. With that in mind, I suggest that students seek out and educate realtors to understand the concept of lease options and to help their sellers understand lease options. Not all realtors are fully familiar with sandwich lease options. However, this has become such a successful investment method that many realtors have added it to their skill set. Most realtors take continuing education classes with sandwich lease options becoming an immensely popular choice over the last few years.
Working With Realtors as a sandwich lease option investor has competitive advantages because it is a profitable but less chosen path!
You MUST Help Realtors® Understand Lease Options
Realtors fall into the well-trodden trends — shiny new kitchen appliances and the latest in new home technology. You and I are a different breed by looking at evolving issues such as qualified tenant-buyers and maximum sale prices. We’re more interested in a decent rent spread from the sandwich lease while realtors mostly focus on preapproved buyers and staging a seller’s house for sale. What realtors are focused on is old news from yesterday’s real estate market.
What they need to understand today is that Working With Realtors® as an investor is NOW a great fit.
The first thing you need to do is inform realtors that you are a knowledgeable and enthusiastic sandwich lease option investor. This is as simple as sending a letter or email to listing agents explaining your strategy and offering to share a short presentation with all the details (email and presentation included with the course).
Something that realtors have in common is they are always looking for new leads. A buyers’ agent is looking for the next qualified buyer, but a listing agent is looking for the next seller. A listing agent’s dream is to always have a willing buyer ready to go!
As a sandwich lease option investor, you bring repeat business to Realtors!
What to Share When Working With Realtors®
The type of seller that you are looking for through a realtor is a seller that doesn’t immediately need to pull all their equity out of the house. A seller that is more interested in receiving top dollar rather than all their cash at once. Top dollar is becoming more difficult in today’s market. A sandwich lease option brings top dollar but it can take a year or more. That’s the seller, but what does the Realtor want…?
What you need to understand when Working With Realtors as an investor is that he or she needs to be paid for what they do. You don’t want to make the realtor wait a year or more to be paid in full. If you do make them wait, they will not suggest your offer to sellers. One technique that I’ve used in this market is giving the listing agent a big portion of the commission upfront. This comes from the option fee that is applied to the purchase price when the tenant-buyer completes the purchase (very similar to how realtors are usually paid). You should be collecting an option fee between 3% and 5%. The total realtors’ commission is typically 6% but this is split 3% and 3% between the listing agent and the selling agent. You can pay the full 3% to the listing agent.
You may also be able to let the realtor “Double-Dip” when he or she also collects the buyer agent’s portion later — when the deal closes in a year or more.
Why would you do this? It’s simple logic because the realtor is also going to bring you repeat business. That’s one of the BIG BENEFITS that comes with Working With Realtors as an investor. You’ll be sharing part of the money, but you’ll be collecting the lion’s share at the closing table.
With a few emails and short presentations, you can soon have 4 or 5 realtors bringing you several sandwich lease options every month — as much business as you want.
When a realtor hears a seller say, “If my home doesn’t sell soon, I will have to RENT it!” — the realtor should immediately think of you as a sandwich lease option investor.
The Right Fit When Working With Realtors
Ideally, you want realtors that understand real estate investing. This isn’t as difficult as you think because almost every realtor is an investor. Realtors interested in investment properties hang out at the same places as other investors — at real estate investor clubs and groups across the country.
You want to spend your time with realtors who specialize in the types of houses and neighborhoods that you invest in (suburban white-picket-fence houses). Drive through these neighborhoods looking for “For Sale” signs. Also, call on these listings in the MLS.
The key to Working With Realtors is finding agents who:
Own investment properties. You want to know how long they’ve owned these and what types (single-family, apartments, commercial, etc.).
Have worked with investors. Have they closed any deals for investors? How did they feel about the process and the business relationship?
What types of investment deals where these (flips, rentals, sandwich lease options, REO, probate)?
How many investor deals have they worked on and how many closed?
Have they ever worked with lease options and sandwich lease options?
Which neighborhoods, price ranges, and other attributes do they know well and are suitable for your investing goals?
How time-sensitive are they to investor needs?
Realtors should be able to talk in the lingo of investors. Still, if they aren’t already familiar with lease options, it’s not necessarily a deal-breaker. You may be able to draw on experience they have putting together seller-financed deals or other creative financing. When they have third-party financing sources, it seriously enhances your reasons for Working With Realtors as an investor.
Ask if they are interested in something like a rent-to-own or a lease option with their commission paid in full.
Let them know you are a rent-to-own buyer looking for homes in their area. Do they have sellers open to something like this?
Don’t hesitate to be clear about what you want. The more a realtor knows about your objectives, the more effective a realtor will be at tailoring their efforts to help you achieve your goals. The more you educate a realtor about your unique advantage using sandwich lease options, the more both of you will benefit. There is true value for you both when the realtor gains a repeat client and you have a realtor working with you who clearly understands how he or she will benefit from sandwich lease options.
As an investor and real estate broker, I am always a potential sandwich lease option buyer, so keep me in mind!
Working with Realtors as an investor is only one in the bundle of proven creative investing methods. Take action by exploring all these possibilities:
- The time-proven method for Working with Realtors
- Advanced strategies for Buying and Selling with Lease Options.
- Your Wealth Building Arsenal.
- Investing In Real Estate with Lease Options.
- Cooperative Lease Options.
- Add Personalized Coaching.
- Expand to Get the Deed “Subject To.”
By Wendy Patton
For more than 30 years, I’ve used the Sandwich Lease Option System to earn myself and my students millions of dollars. From my experience, I know there is plenty of room and opportunity in the real estate investment market for everyone wanting to participate to find profitable deals. It’s because of that fact and my personal success that I share the Sandwich Lease Option System with others.
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