Only eleven of 400 names on the high-end buyer list actually answer

I'm building a disposition service for operators who put distressed high-value houses under contract and then discover they have nobody to sell them to. Two wholesalers have already asked me to do it for them, which is how I know the demand is real.

Where I am: 412 contacts gathered over five months from recorded cash purchases above 1.5M in three counties, plus builder LLCs and two family office contacts a friend passed along. 11 have answered a second time. 4 have told me what they actually buy. 1 has said a number, and it was 55 cents on renovated value for anything over 2M, which is low enough that I don't know whether he's real or just parking.

So the list is 11 people, not 412, and 11 people is not a business yet.

The pricing decision. Option one is a monthly retainer, 2,500, and I work their pipeline whether anything closes or not. Option two is a share of the assignment fee, and on the sizes these guys talk about that would be 15 to 25k when one lands, and nothing for months. Option one gets me paid for the work. Option two gets me paid for the outcome and I'd need to know exactly what triggers a fee.

I'm also unsure how to verify a buyer without insulting them. A stale proof of funds letter tells me nothing. Asking a family office contact to prove cash has already gone badly once.

4 replies

1dpatel_reCS4A

Verification isn't a document problem. Ask what they bought last, ask what they paid, then go look at whether the recording matches what they told you. That works in the counties where sale prices are public, and about a dozen states don't publish them at all, so in those you're back to asking for a reference from the closing attorney or title company on their last deal. That's a normal request between professionals and nobody serious takes offense.

On the 55 cents guy: that's a real number for someone who intends to hold a distressed 2M house through a long renovation with no financing. He's not parking, he's pricing risk. He's also the buyer who will still be there when the others go quiet, so keep him and stop hoping he moves.

1laurenkim53Passive

My whole market tops out around 240k so none of the numbers apply, but the 11 out of 412 is exactly what I get on rural buyer lists too. The people who answer twice are the business. Everyone else is a name in a spreadsheet that makes you feel like you're further along than you are.

4ryanmck27SC2C

Before you set a price on either version, find out whether what you're describing needs a license in your state. Getting paid to find a buyer for someone else's property is the sort of activity that can fall under brokerage depending on how your state defines it, and the fee-share version may look more like that than the retainer version does. I'm in the middle of the licensing process and the definitions are wider than I expected. Ask a real estate attorney in your state and get the answer in writing, because it changes which of your two options is even on the table.

Only eleven of 400 names on the high-end buyer list actually answer

4 replies