Christian OsgoodCEO, Multifamily Strategy · CEO at Multifamily Strategy

Working directly with a Seller vs a Broker

25 Mar 2024 · 1 min

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0:46

In this brief discussion, the speaker compares the pros and cons of negotiating real estate deals through brokers versus directly with sellers. He notes that brokers can sometimes miscommunicate the seller’s needs, making direct contact preferable, but acknowledges that knowledgeable brokers can be valuable. He shares a specific example of an off‑market property just outside South Carolina that he accessed via a broker’s relationship with the seller. The owners have no equity, so the plan is to acquire the property using a creative structure such as a master lease or a land‑sale contract. The speaker also considers a longer‑term strategy: securing very favorable terms and then bringing in another investor to fund the purchase, effectively flipping the deal after the initial agreement.

Chapters

there's a broker involved, it's like you're kind of explaining something that maybe the seller didn't understand through another person that maybe doesn't really understand it. So it's not always the best. Like, we really want to try to get the seller on the phone, but occasionally you run into a broker that does understand it and it's amazing. Like, so we've got a property in just outside of South Carolina and it is off market because I've built a relationship with the broker. Yeah, he had a relationship with the seller. They need to do something, but they bought it a year ago and they have no equity. So we're probably going to buy it on some sort of master lease or like land sale contract. Yep. Which would be cool. Yep. And we could— now, I originally would have thought we buy this, keep it forever, but if we can get really, really good terms, we can get someone else to put money down and buy it from us.