State B is 60% of my deal flow. It just changed the advertising rules.

Sitting at zero deals so I have no business advising you, but the line that stopped me was $37,000 net on eleven months and 14 contracts. I have been telling myself the fee is the outcome. Can you break out what the cost per signed contract actually was? $31,900 over 14 is roughly $2,280 which is more than I budgeted for anything.

@pike that $2,280 is the number I keep trying to pin down too and nobody posts it. thicket, does the $4,100 for walkthrough people cover the 3 that died in the inspection window? Because those are dead marketing dollars plus dead labor dollars and they should probably load onto the 9 that closed. That makes it closer to $4,200 of cost per closed assignment against an $8,400 fee, which is a 50% gross margin business, not the 90% margin business the courses imply.

I hit a version of this ceiling at about the same place. Two shallow markets kept me from ever getting to the point where local buyers called me instead of the reverse. If B is where sellers answer and you already have an attorney there and nine contracts of history, the $1,000 a month is cheaper than starting your reputation over in A from five contracts.

@tally is right about the loading though. Run your numbers per closed deal, not per contract, or you'll pick the wrong market.

What list source is giving you nine contracts out of a market you've never stood in? I'm still building and my absentee pull has maybe a 40% usable phone number rate after skip tracing.

I'll ask the dumb one. What does the licensed local partner actually do that you can't? Is it that they can legally advertise the property, or is it that they take the seller-facing role? Those seem like different jobs with very different price tags.

How do you vet the seller from a distance? Three dying in the inspection window makes me wonder whether some of those were people who couldn't actually convey clean title in the first place.

Your three dead deals are the part I'd dig into before the compliance question. In my experience the buyer's contractor walks the property, finds $18k of work the photos didn't show, and reprices or walks. Photos hide roof decking, subfloor, and anything behind a wall. If your local person is a $75 photo guy and not someone who can write a rough scope, you are handing your buyer a repricing lever every single time.

Fix that and your close rate goes from 9 of 14 to maybe 12 of 14, which is worth more than the 25% split you're arguing about.

@compass I had the same question. And what does the written disclosure to the seller actually look like in practice? Is it a paragraph in the purchase agreement or a separate signed page?

Honest question about direction rather than the split. You already own rentals and B is the cheap market where sellers answer the phone. Why are you assigning those contracts to other people instead of keeping the good ones? Nine contracts in eleven months in a sub-$200k market is a buy box, and you'd stop caring about marketing-language rules for property you actually take title to.

Drop B. I say that as someone who runs thin margins on purpose.

$8,400 down to $6,300 before marketing, minus your $2,280 all-in cost per contract, and you're working for about $4,000 a deal in a state where the rules just moved once and can move again. Every state that has passed one of these has amended it later. You'll be paying the attorney to re-read it every legislative session.

@keystone I get the reputation argument but reputation in a market you can't legally advertise in isn't an asset.

Before you decide, two documents matter more than the marketing question.

First, your assignment clause. If your purchase agreement doesn't clearly permit assignment and name the fee mechanism, you have a bigger exposure than an ad photo. Second, whether that state's new requirements attach at contract signing, at advertising, or at assignment, because that determines whether your 2 pending deals are already caught. Which of those it is depends on the statute's language and how the state applies it, so that is a question for your attorney there in writing, not a forum answer.

@ember disclosure form practice differs by state. Some states specify content, some just require it be written and signed before the seller executes. Ask for the current statutory text, not a template someone sells.

@harrow nailed the operational part. I do these walks for two people and the difference between photos and a scope is about $200. I charge $150 for a documented walk with video and moisture readings on anything suspicious, $350 if they want line-item numbers. If a $350 report saves one dead deal it paid for eleven of them.

How are the closings funded? If any of the 9 were double closes rather than straight assignments, the transactional funding cost belongs in your $4,200 per deal, and it also changes the compliance picture since you briefly took title. Curious what you paid for that money if so.

On the $1,000 a month plus 25%. I've been on the receiving end of retainers like that for five years and the thing that breaks them is unclear scope. Whoever is licensed and sitting on the seller-facing side carries real risk for you, and they'll price that in the first time something goes sideways. Get the scope written down now, including who talks to the seller after the contract is signed, or you'll be renegotiating in month four.

Nobody has asked which title companies in B will actually do the closings under the new rules. In my experience the title company's underwriting counsel decides this in practice long before the state does. Call the two you use and ask directly whether they'll still close an assignment for a non-resident with your disclosure in place. If they say no, the $1,000 a month buys you nothing and the decision is made for you.

Also remember roughly a dozen states don't make sale prices public, so if B is one of those, your comps are coming from your local partner too and that raises what they're worth.

I'm mostly here reading about paper so forgive me, but if the state limits advertising the property and you're really selling the contract, could the ad describe the contract instead? Or is that a distinction that only exists in my head?