040: Selling Over 450 Houses a Year as a REO Agent with Stacy Hall

Many of my guests on the InvestFourMore Podcast, are real estate investors. I have made a lot of money investing in real estate, but I have also made a lot of money selling houses as a real estate agent. On Today’s episode, I interview Stacy Hall, who has been an extremely successful REO agent, selling over 450 houses a year. Not only has Stacy made a lot of money listing REO properties, she also has a property management business, works with hedge funds, has over 50 rental properties and a BPO business. Stacy tells us how she got started, how she has been able to open up her own brokerage in two parts of the country, and much more on this episode of The InvestFourMore Podcast.

How did Stacy get started in the real estate industry?

Stacy was buying a HUD foreclosure when she worked as a manager for AT & T. At the time she was doing very well, but saw how much money the HUD listing agent made, without seemingly doing much work. Stacy decided to become a real estate agent and did quite well in her first year. She sold about 20 houses her first year as an agent and was hooked on real estate.

How did Stacy sell 20 houses in her first year as a real estate agent?

Stacy was not a huge fan of using her sphere of influence, so she worked hard to find other sources of business. She focussed on listings first, by going after FSBOs (For Sale By Owner) and expired listings. Stacy was great at talking on the phone and she credits much of her success to constant communication with her clients.

How did Stacy get started as a REO listing agent?

Even though Stacy got involved in real estate because of a HUD home she bought. She did not actively go after HUD and REO listings when she first started. However, she was randomly approached to do a BPO (broker price opinion) in her first year in the business. She completed the BPO, made some money and then started to get more BPOs. A couple of months later she started to get REO listings from the BPOs she had completed. Here story is remarkably similar to mine, since I was also randomly called to do a BPO when I was not involved in the REO business at all.

Stacy not only made money from REO listings, but completes many BPOs for banks. Stacy knows quite a few agents who make well over $100,000 a year, just completing BPOs.

Why did Stacy open up her own real estate brokerage?

Stacy became very successful selling REO properties. She worked with a national brokerage at the time, who charged her a hefty franchise fee. The broker of that company actually asked her to leave, because he thought the low prices of the foreclosed homes that Stacy sold, were hurting the image of the office. Stacy could not believe they wanted to lose all of her listings and commissions she generated for the office, but she says no it worked out great for her. She opened up her own brokerage and was then able to keep all her commissions, pay no franchise fee, hire her own buyers agents and make much more money.

Why did Stacy expand to another market?

Stacy started out as a real estate agent in Illinois, but also opened up an office in Atlanta. She worked with a partner in Atlanta and was able to list REO properties in the area, as well as work with hedge funds. She was able to expand her business greatly, and increase the price point of the homes she was selling. Stacy opened up a property management business, because of the hedge fund she started working with in Atlanta. The hedge fund needed a company to manage the rental properties they were buying and Stacy created a company to help them out. Now Stacy manages 170 properties and helps the hedge fund buy more houses in the Atlanta area.

Why did Stacy buy rentals and why did she stop buying rentals?

Stacy owns over 50 rental properties free and clear. She started with rental properties when she decided to rent her personal house, instead of sell it. She saw how much money she was making on the property in Southern Illinois and decided to buy more rentals. She bought cheap properties that were in need of work (under $40,000), fixed them up, rented them out and then refinanced them, so she could buy more. Stacy loved the returns she was getting, but saw a problem when investors she worked with, wanted to buy the same houses she wanted to buy. She decided to stop buying rentals and focus on selling houses to avoid any conflict of interest.

How can Stacy help investors find rentals?

Stacy sells many homes every year that are distressed and can be great rentals or flips. She works with many investors in Illinois and Atlanta and says there are plenty of opportunities for investors to make money in both markets. She sees a strong rental market in Atlanta with homes that can be bought for $100,000 and rented for $1,300 or more a month. Houses can be bought in Illinois much cheaper, but still make money as rentals.

How can you contact Stacy?

Stacy is looking to help many people make money with real estate. Not only can Stacy help investors find properties, but her brokerage is looking for new agents. Stacy said the best way to contact her is by email: [email protected] and you can also check out her website here: https://www.stacyhall.net/