Though agents should be able to make a decision whether to buy an investment piece of real estate through the leads generated from their real estate business, it is important that you understand that there are no time constraints nor is there a rush to buy a piece of real estate.

Because of your "insider" status, you are exposed to literally hundreds of potential opportunities every day -- from your lead generation of sellers, contracts that you negotiated for buyers that did not work out, and sellers who are just not going wait for a buyer any longer -- you are bombarded with opportunities. Because of this unique position, your standards must be held high regarding your purchase of investment property. For the best book on this subject, you can purchase Insider Investing for Real Estate

I would like run by some other little known opportunities that were afforded me as an "insider" real estate broker that increased my sampling of real estate to pick from. They are the following:

1. If I do not sell your property, I will buy it.

This was one of my advertising promotions as a real estate agent allowing me to receive more phone calls from potential sellers. I advertised, in all sincerity, that if I could not sell the property then I would actually buy it within a certain time frame. I also disclosed that there were certain conditions regarding this guarantee. The conditions were the following:

• The sellers will list the property at a price that will allow the property to sell.

• If they were in need of a fast sale through me, they would have to discount the property another 5 percent.

• Furthermore, I charged my full 6 percent commission. This allowed a seller, who was eager to sell, an opportunity to have the property close with me in a 30 to 90 day time period.

This was an outstanding way to receive seller phone calls and meet with sellers to determine their motivations and goals. Occasionally, the seller would take me up on my offer to buy, and I was able to add more property to my inventory.

2. Fast turns to my waiting buyers.

Many times I was introduced to real estate that did not meet my personal investor parameters. There was equity in the property, and they were not listed. With full disclosure, I would evaluate these properties and offer them to my buyers with a profit to me. This was done with full disclosure to all parties so there would be no hard feelings from buyers or sellers.

Many times, I could insert myself between a buyer and seller for a larger piece of the action, not just the commission. This tactic is absolutely legal and ethical, if everyone understands with full disclosure of how much I paid, how much I am selling the property for, and how much I am making.

3. Taking Seconds

Another opportunity of being an "insider" is giving my seconds to buyers. Often, I was able to negotiate transactions that were good, but just did not meet my individual parameters. These pre-negotiated transactions were easy to turn over to my buyers, who were extremely happy to receive these opportunities.

4. From Buyer to Lister

Many times after negotiating a transaction with a seller, we found that the transaction did not meet my needs or my seller's. I was put in the position where I was not able to close the transactions but could handle the marketing for the sale. Who knew more about the property than I did?

As you can see, you are presented with hundreds of opportunities when you become an "insider" investor in your real estate brokerage. There is no need to make rash decisions. Helping people achieve their goals will help you to become wealthy.

Published: May 18, 2007

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Beginning in the late seventies, Walter re-wrote records in real estate particularly in number of transactions and dollar volume. His best year was 1992 with $72 million in sales. In today’s economy, that would equal to over $133 million dollars per year in personal production sales! He sold a house a day for seventeen years. Now, he is one of the most requested trainers in real estate. Franchises request and mentor his systems, which he has developed. Delegation, net-profit strategies, working hard and still having a life are a few of the easy to implement, low-cost strategies that we are proud to bring you. Some industry decision-makers believe Walter Sanford was one of the top agents in North America during the ‘80s and early ‘90s. To contact Walter, you can email him at or by calling 815.929.9258.