From: Al Klein 
Newsgroups: alt.invest.real-estate alt.realtor.relocation law.court.federal misc.invest.real-estate alt.invest.real-estate.methods
Subject: Re: Flipping IS Illegal
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2003 01:11:41 GMT

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 00:11:59 GMT, "Baird Spalding"
 posted in alt.invest.real-estate:

>On 15-Jul-2003, Al Klein  wrote:

>> No, he lists it, he doesn't sell it.  (Can you believe this?)

>If I get an inquiry on my own inventory I'll show it. But my time is better
>spent listing more houses and looking for Realtors to show my properties.

Listing (filling out listing contracts) is a clerical job.  Anyone can
do it with a few hour's training.

Selling houses takes knowledge, expertise, the ability to read people,
the ability to be a good mediator, etc.

>Just look at the statistics. If 98% of homes are sold by the selling agent,
>why would invest your time bucking the trend trying to do their job.

Why would I waste my time earning 1.5% from selling a house?  I
wouldn't, unless I was in it for the money.  Of course, those who
don't know how to sell houses can make the same 1.5% from just filling
out paper.

> Same with advertising. Knowing most listings result from sphere of influence and
>referals, why do they put the bulk of their advertising budget into trying
>to find new customers rather than spending it to nurture their source of
>referals?

Because only 20% of the public is buying at any given time, and 99% of
those are looking at ads.  Knowing how to write the right ad is more
than half the battle.  There are very expensive courses that teach ad
writing, and they're worth a lot more than they cost.  (Selling 10
houses you otherwise wouldn't have sold can pay for the course.)