How You Can Make Money As A Bird Dog

birddog Are you just getting started in investing?

Well, Jamel Gibbs here with a lesson to help you.

Today’s lesson has to do with how you can get your business underway, even if you have a small bank account. I often talk to wannabe real estate investors who say they’d like to get started in the business, but their biggest reason for not doing so (I call it an excuse), is no money.

That could be a valid fact, but it doesn’t have to be the brick wall that stops you in your tracks.

I know, I know… you hear all the advice in how to launch your business – you hear that you must have leads. And in order to have leads, you must market. And in order to market you must have cash – which you don’t have.

So now what?

You can start out as a “property scout” – a “bird dog” for other investors.

I call this “bird dogging your way to success.” If you follow the steps I outline in this lesson, you’ll be creating cash flow in no time. Plus, you’ll be learning the ins and outs of the business as you go.

Your strategy will be to take the money you earn from bird dogging, and invest it in your own marketing campaigns. Through those campaigns, you’ll begin to land and close wholesale deals, which will earn even bigger paychecks for you and get you well on your way to full-time investing, if you so desire.

The Difference Between a Bird Dog and a Wholesaler

A wholesaler is the investor who has the wherewithal to put an earnest money deposit down on a property. That investor is the one who signs the contract, then sells their rights to a cash buyer.

The bird dog needs no cash. This is the person who is contracted by a wholesaler, who describes to the bird dog the types of properties he’s looking for and in what neighborhoods.

The bird dog then drives through the neighborhoods scouting out the types of properties in accordance with what the investor requested. The bird dog’s job is to take down the details on the property, oftentimes, taking photos as well. These leads are then presented to that investor.

Finding Investors to Work With

Before you can begin bird dogging, you must find investors who need your services.

dreams Where are they?

Start looking for ads that say, “We Buy Houses,” which can be found on bandit signs posted around town, in the classified ads of the local newspaper or on Craigslist.

Once you have a list of potential investors to work with, start calling. Tell them your intentions to work as a bird dog and ask if they might need your services.

When you get a ‘yes’ answer, you will need to ask these questions:

How much will they pay per lead?
What types of property are they are looking for?
In what neighborhoods or zip code areas do they mostly work?

You’ll need all of this information before you start scouting for properties.

Payment Method

Be up front and honest with the investor about payments. You may need to do a little bit of negotiating before you come to a point that’s comfortable for both of you.

Realize there are several ways that payments might work:

Pay per lead
Pay per address
Pay per deal

I talked about these payment methods in greater detail in a previous lesson that I wrote about bird dogs.

Remember, we said at the first of this lesson that you’re taking this bird dog route because you’re short on cash, right?

For that reason, you may want to start out by getting paid per lead. I say that because you can make more money from a lead than an address.

When you have a lead, you’ll be providing more information for your investor than with simply an address. A qualified lead is one that will do most of the footwork for the investor – that investor, in turn, is willing to pay bigger bucks for the information.

Scaling Up

It won’t take long for you to get the hang of this process. Once you know what you’re doing, and once you get a little more cash in your pocket, now it’s time to scale up to being paid per deal.

costue For every deal that the investor closes (from a lead you provided), ask for a minimum of $500.

Think about this...

As you build momentum, your payout can be significant. For instance, if you are finding 10 or so deals a month, you could be making upwards of $5k! That’s pretty good cash for just driving around.

Another strategy is to negotiate with the investor to pay per lead plus getting a bonus when the deal is closed.

It could work like this: You make $5 up front on the leads you bring in. You then negotiate to be paid an additional $250 at closing. Now you’re raking in cash up front and on the back end. This is the ideal setup when you’re first starting.

Setting Up Your Own Business

After the momentum is rolling, you know what you’re doing and you have a reasonable amount of cash flow, you can create your own business. This means you’ll be finding your own team of bird dogs to work for you.

My suggestion is that you offer them half of what you’ve negotiated with your investor. Now you train them on where to scout for properties, and the best way to gather needed information to have a solid lead.

Not only are you a bird dog, but you have a legitimate bird-dogging service, which will put you miles ahead of any other scouting competition in your area.

Two Ways to Benefit

Your goal will be to have a lot of bird dogs working for you. You’ll reap benefits in 2 different ways:

You’ll be able to sell all these leads to interested investors.
As you advance and learn the business of wholesaling, you can use these leads for creating your own deals.

No matter which way you go, you’re multiplying your lead flow, and the more leads you have coming in, the more money you’ll make.

There are those who set up a bird dogging service business and make a good living right there. Others use it as a stepping stone to get their own real estate investing business up and running.

I hope this shouts out to you loud and clear that even if you have little or no cash to get started, that’s no excuse. You can hop on the lowest rung of the ladder (as a bird dog), and work your own way up.