Spotter fees – how can I put myself in front of potential clients?

1. Get a job(s).  You will need deposit, plus expenses
2. Learn the property game (joining here is a good start). Books, internet, possibly seminars dependant on situation are readily available.
3. 1+2= Get youself into the game by contacting a Mortgage Broker (those that are on here are easy to spot, and are all property investors), along with a reputable accountant and solicitor.
4.  Buy property.
5-99.  Repeat #4
100.  Become a buyers agent (spotter).

pinkboy

Perhaps you can get around it by instead doing a joint venture with someone – where you do the legwork in terms of finding the property, working out what needs to be done to it to fix it up etc etc,  you do some of the cleaning labour and so on, and the other person stumps up the cash.  In return you get a certain percentage of the equity (ie you become a part-owner of the property).  You would still need some cash to do this – you'd still need your legal team and they will not work for free.

Cameron,

Some investment agencies pay lead fees for recommending them to people they may know. However this is mainly done when someone is already a client of such an agency.

This may help you but it may not

Hi Cameron,

I recently went to Cherie Barber’s seminar in Perth, and I’m aware she promotes the use of spotters fee to build up cash for investing. She mentions her graduates receive thousands of dollars per fee, and do this by creating a business proposal outlining all the due diligence and research done on a property to a potential buyer and then asking for a fee shoudl they buy.

When she spoke about this, I was concerned by it as I did wonder what buyer would give a fee to a property novice for suggesting a purchase. If they are so time-poor they are happy to pay for the research, why buy a report from an unregistered beginner, rather than pay for the service of a qualified, experienced buyers agent, who will go in and negotiate on their behalf?

Just imagine for a second that you are a wealthy time-poor individual, lets say a doctor, who is looking to invest around $700k. Who would you pay for their assistance, someone who gives them a folder full of figures but owns no property themselves and has a few weeks/months of “experience” or would you go to a buyers agent, often with a professional office, sit down and discuss what you’re looking for and send them out to purchase based on your needs.

Looking forward to seeing Renovate for Profit’s response posted on here. For the record, I thoroughly enjoyed Cherie’s presentation and found all other aspects of the talk very professional, engaging, and worthwhile. This was the only thing that didn’t quite gel with me.

Cheers,
Emma

Hey Portfolio Pl / Josh

Your profile is set up in such a manner that you cannot be PM'd…

Hi Cameron

(hello Wisepearl)

I am a little confused. I have heard of the same thing. Carly Crutchfield also promotes this same idea. The only area where I see it could to be 'shady' is when  the money is handed over. If you are a "buyers agent" I would suspect the money to travel through all the right avenues whereas if you are a "spotter" that may not be the case. A spotter, from where I see it, is just someone who is doing a cash job, getting paid less and doesn't necessarily have the expertise to 'charge' for his time and effort. A spotters fee is usually negotiated (with the potential buyer a long time prior to any transaction occurs) the spotter never goes directly to the seller for the purchase, he just sources the information, does the number crunching and presents the deal to the buyer – that is my understanding.

Good luck, Cameron.