For Tulsa Agents: the Listings That Will Not Close

What this is, in one paragraph

If you have a seller whose house cannot be financed, send them to us. If we buy it, you are paid a referral fee agreed in writing before anything happens. If we cannot help, we tell you within a day and you have lost nothing but an email.

We are not asking for your listings. We are asking for the ones you would otherwise turn down, and for the sellers you would otherwise have to disappoint.

The four that come up most

Condition beyond the seller's means. The lender will require correction before closing and the seller cannot fund it, so the deal cannot complete however motivated the buyer is. Roofs, foundations, mold and fire are the usual four.

A tenant who will not cooperate. No access means no showings, no appraisal and no inspection. Our page on selling a rental property covers how we take these on occupied.

Title or probate not resolved. Nobody has authority to sign, or something recorded has to come off first. Our page on title problems sets out what is routine and what genuinely takes months.

A seller who needs a date more than a price. A relocation, a care home deposit, a divorce decree with a deadline in it. Certainty is worth something to them and the open market cannot promise it.

What we will not do

We will not contact your seller behind you. You stay on the correspondence throughout unless you ask otherwise.

We will not try to list it ourselves. We are not agents and we are not recruiting yours.

We will not go back on the number. If we agree a price and nothing new is found, that is the price at closing. Retrading at the last minute is the reason cash buyers have the reputation they have.

We will not tell your seller to sell when they should not. If listing would net them more, we say so, to them and to you. You will occasionally get a referral back with a note explaining why they should stay on the market. That is the arrangement working, not failing.

How the fee works

Agreed in writing before we speak to the seller, so there is nothing to argue about afterwards. Paid at closing, through the title company, on the settlement statement where everybody can see it.

Referral arrangements are governed by the rules that apply to your licence and, where relevant, your brokerage's own policy. We are not your compliance department. Check it with your broker first, and if your brokerage does not permit it, tell us and we will not press the point.

We are not affiliated with any brokerage. Nothing here is legal advice or advice about your licence.

What happens after you send it

We look at the county record and at what genuinely comparable properties in that pocket have sold for, then at the property itself, usually within a day or two.

You get one of two answers. A written offer with the repair estimate attached, so you and your seller can check the arithmetic rather than take a figure on trust. Or a plain no, with the reason.

The second answer is more common than agents expect. We would rather be quick and honest about the ones we cannot do than keep somebody hoping for a fortnight.

If you want to see how we talk to sellers before you send one, our page on a cash offer against listing is the arithmetic we show them, commission included, and it does not always favour us.