Christian Osgood shares five questions to ask brokers about listings. Start with availability to avoid wasted time, ask open-ended questions about location to hear their pitch, probe what they dislike about the property to uncover risks, ask how a bank would view the deal, and finish with "Is there anything else I should know?" to surface hidden details and off-market opportunities.
What's up, guys?
Okay, hey, hey. So for how we're going to talk to a broker, this is a basic script. It's going to be your 5 main points. Jordan Belfort talks a lot about doing your straight line theory, fast way to point A to point B. There's a lot more you can add to this, but this is your fundamental script, okay? Call the broker. What is the first thing you're going to ask?
We're going to ask about the property, about his listing.
Exactly. So we're going to pick a specific— if we want a relationship with a broker, we want to start by talking about a listing. Regardless of what our objective is, we're going to call about something specific and we're going to ask broad questions about it. What is your first opening question when you're calling on an active listing?
Usually it will be, hey, uh, can you tell me more about the property?
Before you get to the property, okay, you're gonna ask about the availability.
Okay, availability.
Because if you start asking a bunch of questions about the property and after you talk for a minute and they suddenly go, yeah, that actually just went under contract, that's not available anymore, or, oh shoot, I lost that listing, I need to take that down. Your momentum just killed and the conversation's kind of— it's hard to resurrect. We've had a few calls, we've reached out, and right as we ask, hey, is the property available, actually the broker who has this property just left our firm. I don't even know who has this listing. I don't know if we have it, I don't know if they have it. And that opened up a whole great conversation. We had an excellent conversation with that individual on Oh, well, if you guys don't have it, this is what we're looking for. And we got to talk to them and they were really trying hard to win our business. So the first thing you always want to know is, is the property available? That is always question one. Other than that, you're on the right track. So question two, you want to start broad and you want to start narrowing down.
Okay.
I always ask the broker about location. I love this location. Yeah, for me, hey, I love this market. I'm trying to deploy some capital in Fort Lauderdale. I don't know every neighborhood specifically. What can you tell me about the area? The reason that question's so open-ended is, one, their job's to sell it, so they're gonna start telling you some of the good stuff. But it makes this a conversation. Like, they're not gonna not answer that question. As a broker, you should be able to say something about the area that your listing's in, right? So easy enough. Hey, Brian, call and see if this property is available. Saw it here. 809 apartments, great turnkey asset. It's here in Fort Lauderdale. Love it. Love the size. Love the building. Confirm this is still available. Yeah, it's still available. Awesome. Love Fort Lauderdale. This is a market we're trying to expand in. What are your thoughts on the neighborhood? Easy conversational flow.
Perfect.
He'll start telling you about the property 9 times out of 10. My next question: what do you not like about it? Right. They'll usually give you something. Sometimes they'll go, what do you mean? What do we not like about it? It's— thing's fantastic. Look at the pictures. Stickers are still on the windows. New windows, new paint. This thing's perfect. All right. But if you had to pick something, what would it be? I always ask that question twice because they, they usually give you a kind of a fluff answer. What do you mean? Well, I mean, if you had to pick something, what's your least favorite thing about it? And all of a sudden you learn, well, there is a little leak in the roof, uh, they're getting it fixed. Or, well, there's one problem tenant, they've posted notice but it's not quite addressed. There's no such thing as a perfect property. It is a really good question to uncover anything negative on the property. It's another good conversation piece. Because if it's not a big deal, it's something where you can just— that's awesome, good to know, still love the property. It keeps the flow going.
Yeah.
Question 4, this is one of the most important questions: how is the bank going to look at this deal? All right, that is our question that asks a lot of questions, which without asking a lot of stupid questions. This makes you seem like the professional that you are. If you are financing a building and the roof is caving in, what is the bank going to say when you apply for financing?
That's crap.
Yep. We do not want to cover this. This thing is a liability. We don't love it. What is the bank going to say if they've done terrible bookkeeping and it's hard to track the income?
That they just— they can't— they can't finance it for you.
It's not going to pass underwriting if rents are too low. So you're asking questions by asking how banks are going to look at it. You know, are they going to— are they— are we thinking 20% down? Are we thinking 30% down?
Okay.
If it's gonna have no problem passing financing, great. If there's low rents, you're basically asking, is this a stabilized property? Is there any deferred maintenance? Are rents close enough to market to justify the price? Or are we gonna have to put more down because the property doesn't have enough income today? It's a really great question. It's a really technical question, and it saves you from asking a bunch of little questions. Yeah, because I, I get annoyed if someone calls me, tell me about the roof, tell me about unit 1, how's unit 2, how's your— you know, the more you can ask in a few questions, the farther you're going to get, and the more you're going to feel— it's going to feel like you are actually a professional in your space capable of closing.
Makes sense.
Last question, question 5: Is there anything else I should know about? This question is also clever. It's asking two questions. They are usually going to hear, is there anything else I should know about this property?
Right? Yeah.
Because you were just talking about the property. What you're really asking are, is there any other deals I should be looking at? Because you've established I know what I'm doing. I'm capable of buying. I'm a professional in the space, right? You've communicated that. There's more that goes into it with tonality, but I mean, as far as basic framework, if you've done this well, they believe that you are a ready and willing buyer capable of taking out this property.
Perfect.
So one, they might tell you some more stuff about the property they did not disclose when you asked about the area and what they didn't like about it. Oh, well, there is one more thing, which is really good. But your follow-up is, well, what I actually meant was, are there other deals I should be looking at? Is there anything else on the market that you would be looking at in my position today? Your goal in these calls, if you're finding a property on LoopNet, everyone's looked at it. You can find a deal on LoopNet, but it's hard. They've typically been picked through. There's not a lot of great deals just sitting there on the market ready to go.
Yeah.
So when you're calling in, what I really want to do is I want a relationship with that broker and I want to be on the top of their list.
Okay.
An offer that will get a lot— hey, we have a mailer that goes out, um, would you want me to include you on your list? Do you want to receive notifications when we have stuff? I mean, yeah, lists are great. I'm on a lot of lists. How do I get to the top of your list? What do I need to do to be your first call? I'm ready to go. That's where I want to be with these brokers because they're sending out deals to a lot of people. They have clients who they've transacted with, they know are good for it. I don't want to be on their mailing list where I see everything a couple days after it's listed, after they've already shopped it to all their clients.
Perfect.
I need them to know I am ready to go. We are ready to buy. I wanna be the first one to look at your deals. And to the extent that you can create confidence in them that you are capable of transacting in this call, you're gonna be higher up on their list.
Sounds perfect.
Yeah. So the important thing, go in with a clear target. My target is to form a relationship with this broker and convince them by my tonality and my line of questions that I am a professional in the space. I know exactly what I'm doing and I'm capable of closing on these. I'm going to ask the right questions. I'm going to come off like a professional. I want their deals. You do this a few times with a few good brokers and suddenly you start getting sent actual deals that are actually good. That's better than what you find on CrackSea and LoopNet. But if you're looking for a clear path, there's more you can add to that. But that is your straight line of you want to hit those points: available, location, what don't you like about it, How is a bank going to look at it? Is there anything else I should know about?
That is perfect.
Super straightforward.
Yeah.
Yep. If you are looking to expand specifically into this market, it's also a great place to book a meeting. If they start talking other deals and you think this is the broker who can move you to the next level, I love your deals. I love what you're doing. You represent 5 of the properties that fit the description of what I'm looking for. Can we go get coffee? Set the hook.
