Investors have a bad reputation of taking advantage of people in distress to better them. But it is people who get themselves into such situations and investors are there to offer a solution, which benefits them both.
But there are always some rotten eggs in the basket too, as in every other industry. There are investors who try to take advantage of each other out of deals. Certain ethics need to be followed in real estate industry. We have to work together as a team to keep the industry on the upward trend, and when we hear about an investor who cuts people out of deals, we need to pass the word to everyone we know.
When you are trying to sell a property, you would call every investor you know to do a drive-by. Many investors also send their people to the property. In case of a sign in the scheduled property, the investors who were sent by others can call you directly. You should ask them how they heard about the property. If you know they were sent by another investor, tell them they have to call the investor who sent them, and don't cut the investor out of the deal.
The other side is, you are sent to a property by an investor, which does not belong to him. It is a very good deal, and you would not have had any other way to know that this property exists, other than the investor. In such case, you should not decide to call the person directly and cut the investor.
In case of such undercutting of deals, the concerned people should be banned from the real estate investors associations, which would earn them a very bad reputation and cause them to lose many more deals because of greed.
If your client is sent to one of the other investor?s properties, and if they like it, you can sell it to them and earn your fee from the other investor. If another investor gives you a referral, you should pay for it. When people call you with a property address that they don't know how what to do with and you make it a deal, pay them for the referral.
If you are uncertain about doing business with a new person, call your group associations and see if they are willing to share with you what they know about the person, and keep watching!
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Marcell Corkern is a writer and active
Real Estate Investor and specializes in investments of residential real estate and residential mortgages
