One of the keys to my business model is Co-Brokering. It's a largely untapped market that is lurking right in front of you the second you go on Facebook, you walk into your office or answer your phone.

At present I have 3 deals mid-negotiation and 5 in preliminary discussions. All from leveraging my network of peers I have met through Social Media, Facebook and Kijiji (yes, despite what everybody says, my biggest clients were in fact found on Kijiji).

My "niche" is non-MLS exclusives. How do I find these? How do I find buyers for properties I can't market? There are so many questions that people seem to get overwhelmed and end up overthinking. Stop it. It just takes time to make it happen and it doesn't happen overnight. The last 8 commission cheques I received this year were strictly from Co-Brokering opportunities.

I believe I will be doing a webinar on this with @andrewfogliato of www.justsellhomes.ca (check him out - his team is excellent at social media marketing) at some point next year on this topic. With that said, here are some key facts to how I made it happen - right from my living room and in my Pyjamas.

For starters, I wanted leads for sellers in the one area both commercial and residential REALTORS overlap often: Big 100+ Unit Apartment Buildings. Let's face it, we all have buyers or know another REALTOR in your office who has a buyer. Buyers are plentiful.

Hint: Stratus (TREB's MLS System) has an archive. 

The rest you can figure out or call me - no I did not chase 30 year old expired listings. That is as far as I will go with that :).

Being creative and steadily contacting other REALTORS allowed me to not just introduce them to myself, but it allowed me to pick their brains and sometimes get wind of an exclusive listing they are about to sign.

This snowballed over a 6-9 month period where I was getting introduced to properties that were NOT being marketed but I had no buyers. So I went back to a few people, with the permission of the listing broker to a few other REALTORS I was talking with.

Conversations typically went as follows:

Jordan: Hey Joe. Do you have a buyer looking for a 100 Unit apartment building that needs work around a 5% Cap Rate.

Joe: Of course I do; where?

Jordan: A friend of mine has an exclusive. If I can make it available do you want to work on it together?

Joe: No, I'm not giving you any of my end.

Jordan: Ok no problem. Have a good day.

----- (usually within 3-4 hours) -----

Joe: Jordan, where is it?

At this point in time, Joe realises some is better than none. Ego is gone and this young punk may have a lead on a large apartment building and it might be worth it to split the deal.
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It has evolved a lot to the point where its rarely an issue. People want my access to things because I spent the time to make these relationships.

I have four REALTORS in different offices/brokerages that whether I get a listing or he/she gets a listing; its automatically figured out together. There is no need to discuss anything - we know we work well together and it's always divided up evenly.

If I get a listing, he's the first to know. If he doesn't have a buyer but knows someone who does; we split it commission 3-ways. None of us are greedy or try to sneak a point past another. Open and honesty is key to the success of this relationship.

Many of you will never know I was a part of a deal that some puts up as SOLD! on their facebook! I'm fine with that.

My main point in this blog is that working with people instead of against people can have its advantage. I know a lot of you would disagree; many would say I want xx commission as the buyer broker and I won't give up any of it. That's fine. But understand that sometimes there are more opportunities beyond the one trade that's right in front of you. There could be 10-15 more with that person.

Cheers,
Jordan