There are tons on tons of ways to make money with Real Estate (and just as many ways to lose it!) One of the easiest ways to make money is becoming a Real Estate Bird Dog.
What is a Real Estate Bird Dog? This is a person, or in some cases a company, who locates investment property for Investors.
Why would Investors pay for a service like this? Simple. Many Investors are business people who are busy making money. They don't have time to hunt down good deals in major markets. This is where you come into play.
What does it take to become a bird dog? Easy. It takes you knowing your market. The best bird dogs have a ton of contacts within theer respective market. They also know a good property investment when they see one. Bird dogs seek out relationships with Brokers, agents, bankers, lenders and anyone else who may have knowledge of a good deals on real property.
In most markets, the Bird Dog will be a person who already works in the field, for example an Agent or perhaps an assitant to a Real Estate Broker. However, I know Bird Dogs who do nothing other than find investment deals for investors. And they do very well for their self.
How do you get paid? Typically once a bird dog finds several investments or investment leads, they then present them to the investor. When/if they buy the investment, the bird dog is paid a service fee which is typically a percentage of the transaction or it could be a flat fee, it depends on the bird dog.
The advantages of being a bird dog is that once you hand the property off to the investor, you job is done. You don't have to worry about setting up financing, inspections or any other of the headaches that can come with investing in real property.
How much can you make? Obviously it depends on what percentage of the deal you decide your time and effort is worth, but some command as high as a 10% finders fee. I've heard of higher fees, but most that I'm aware of run in the 3 to 6% range.
What are the pitfalls? Well, for one, in some states, if you find real estate for an investor and then charge a fee, they feel you need a real estate license. Check with the State you live in before going into this.
Personally, I think that's bogus but some States will do anything to bring in more license fees.
