What Exactly Does A Bird Dog Do?
Hi everyone. I am a newbie and would like to know what exactly does a bird dog do. What has been the best way to find motivated sellers. Should I place an ad? What should it say? Thanks! 
Check this out in the Articles section:
"Bird Dogging: The Most Reliable Way to Find a Mentor"
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Hope that helps. Good luck on your investing!
Since no one has really responded to your question, I figure I will. As a birddog you are a scout of sorts. You go and finds deals for investors. If you find info and arrange a meeting with a seller and it leads to a deal, the investor will pay you a fee.
The nice thing is you don't have to have all the resources and knowledge to do the whole deal, but you learn by looking at properties and talking with the investors that you scout for. This is why so many people on this site mention it as a great way to get started.
I think one of the best ways to get started as a birddog is to find REI clubs in your area. You are bound to find investors their who woul be interested in your services.
John $Cash$ Locke sells a book on this site called "Big Bucks Birdogging". If you are interested in getting started as a birddog, this might be a good resource for you. Hope that helps.
Jason
Ditto Jason's recommendation. I read John's book and it cleared up a lot of questions I had. I am still working on my first deal, but now I know a few ways on finding leads.
JR
Thank for helping out with the question. Since I am new at this there is still so much to learn.
Your job is to simply find leads, give then to the Investor, and if he/she ends up buying that property then you get the referral fee (usually between $500-$1000). Just call Investors and ask them what kind of properties they deal with (single-family, pre-foreclosures, REO's..etc) and offer to give them any good leads that you find. You can find the investors through class ads, bandit signs..etc. ~ any place that says "I buy houses" or something of the like
The leads the Investors usually want are Motivated Sellers which just means that the homeowner for some reason or another needs to sell the property quickly and is willing to sell at below Market Value. Some of the ways you can tell if a Seller is motivated is if their house has been on the market way to long and they need to move on, the property is in real bad shape, or maybe they are about to be foreclosed on by their mortgage company so they need a quick out ~ there are all kinds of different types and reasons
Also, just a helpful hint, pre-foreclosures are the best Motivated Sellers in my opinion and they are pretty easy to find ~ When a mortgage company is going to foreclose they have to send out a 'Notice of Default' or 'Lis Pendens' to the owner. (This letter HAS to be recorded at the courthouse in the public records) So that's good for you because all you have to do is go look up the Lis Pendens that have been issued and you will probably find many Motivated Sellers.
Gather the information from the Lis Penden (or whatever they call it in your county) and look up all of the other property info at the Property Appraiser office. Also, check the Tax Assessor to make sure the taxes are current and there are no liens against the property.
When you've got all that information just pass it on to the Investor and waalah. Just talk to your Investor and know exactly what he/she's looking for and what lead information they want. I think once you get the hang of the public records and noticing Motivated Sellers it will be like second nature and you'll just be rolling out the leads ~ which means $$ for you
Just a couple of thoughts ~ hope this helps a little ~ Happy Investing!
~Kristin
I'm an investor looking for birddogs in Hawaii. If you're interested and you come up with something, we can work out a mutually beneficial arrangement.
Alohas
Bill