For agents in Acadiana
Your listing. Your client.
When a listing will not survive a traditional sale, there is usually one buyer left who can actually close it. Chris Fontenot buys those properties directly, and he is not looking for your client.
Free to ask, and a no comes back as fast as a yes.
The problem this solves
Some listings cannot be listed
Every agent working in this parish has taken one. The seller is motivated, the address is fine, and the house will not get past a lender. The roof is at the end of its insurable life, or the slab has moved, or it has been closed up since the last owner died and the succession is still open. The comparable sales say one number and the condition says another.
The usual outcomes are all bad. It sits, and the days on market do the damage. It goes under contract twice and falls out at the inspection both times. Or it closes at a price the seller resents, after four months of showings and two price reductions, and nobody involved is happy about how that went.
The alternative is a buyer who is not asking a lender for permission. That is what Nexus is for. Chris pays cash, buys the property where it stands, and closes on a date somebody else picks. It is not the right answer for every property, and this page is more useful to you if he says so out loud when it is not.
What this is not
- Not a referral service.
- Nobody is buying your lead. You are handing a property to a buyer and staying in the transaction.
- Not a listing pitch.
- Chris is not going to call your seller about representation. He is a principal here, not an agent.
- Not a wholesale assignment.
- Nexus buys for its own account. There is no contract being shopped to a list of investors in another state.
- Not a discount on your commission.
- What you are paid is settled in writing before anything is signed, through your broker.
How this works
Address in, answer back
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Send the address and the problem
One line is enough to start. The address, what is wrong with it, and what your client needs to have happen. The form at the bottom of this page goes to the same inbox as everything else on this site, which is Chris.
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He pulls the record before he calls you back
Assessor, conveyance records, flood zone, and the closed sales that actually apply to that street. Most of the reasons a property like this stalls are in the public record rather than in the house.
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He walks it himself
Not an inspector, not a photographer, and not a contractor with an estimate to sell. If there is a tenant or the house is vacant and secured, say so and he will work around it.
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You get a number, or a reason there is not one
An as-is price with the assumptions written down, or a straight no with the arithmetic attached. Both are useful to take back to a client. Neither costs anything and neither obliges anybody to do anything.
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If it closes, you are paid
Compensation is agreed in writing before anything is signed, and it runs through your broker the way it should. Title work is handled and the closing date is the one your client needs.
What to send
Six listings worth a phone call
These are the ones where a direct purchase is genuinely competitive with the open market rather than a discount for its own sake.
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One
Repairs past the budget
The seller cannot fund what the house needs to appraise, and a renovation loan needs a buyer who wants the project. Roofs, slabs, air handlers and kitchens, in roughly that order of damage.
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Two
An open succession
Nothing can be sold until the judgment of possession is recorded, and heirs scattered across four states rarely agree on a four-month marketing period. An offer can wait for the paperwork.
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Three
A date they did not pick
A job in another state, a sheriff sale already scheduled, a divorce with a filing date, or care that has to be paid for this month. Marketing periods do not bend for any of those.
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Four
A tenant in place
Showings need notice, the lease has months left, and the tenant has no reason at all to help you sell the roof over their head. A buyer who is happy to take it occupied removes that whole problem in one move.
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Five
It will not pass a lender
Active leaks, missing flooring, a non-functioning kitchen, wood rot at the sills, or an insurance quote nobody will pay. The financed pool is gone and the cash pool is who is left.
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Six
A short claim
A claim that came back for a third of the estimate, or a tarp that has been up long enough to be its own problem. There is usually more than one way out and not all of them are a sale.
Stated plainly
Who Chris is in this transaction
Chris Fontenot is a Louisiana licensed REALTOR® sponsored by Real Broker, LLC. When Nexus Home Partners buys a property he is acting as a principal for his own account, which means he is a party to the transaction rather than an agent in it. Your client keeps their own representation, which is you.
Anything agreed between two licensees about compensation runs through both brokers, in writing, before it matters. Nothing on this page is an offer of compensation or an invitation to work around your brokerage agreement.
Agent questions
What agents ask first
Are you going to try to take my client?
No, and the arrangement is built so that it would not work if he tried. Chris is buying a property, not looking for a listing appointment. Your client stays your client, the communication runs through you unless you ask otherwise, and if the property is a better fit for the open market than for a direct purchase he will tell you that and hand it straight back. Losing a deal that way costs less than losing a source of them.
How am I compensated?
You are compensated appropriately when a property you bring closes, and the exact structure is set by Real Broker and by Louisiana licensing rules rather than by an agreement between two people on a phone call. It is written down before anything is signed, and it goes through your broker the way any other compensation does. Ask for the terms in your first message and you will get them in writing.
What kind of properties are actually useful to send?
The ones a financed buyer cannot get to the table on. A roof at or past the end of its insurable life, a slab problem, a house that has been closed up for two summers, an unfinished succession, a tenant who will not leave for showings, fire or storm damage, or a seller whose date is set by something other than the market. Condition and title are the two that matter most.
Does the seller still have to list it with me first?
That is between you, your broker and your client, and Chris does not have an opinion about it. Some agents send a property before there is a listing agreement, some after. What he needs is somebody with the authority to talk about the property and the ability to get to a signature when there is one.
How fast can you give me a number?
Usually within a day or two of walking it, and often the same week you send the address. Chris walks the properties himself rather than sending somebody to photograph them, so the limiting factor is a calendar rather than a committee. If the answer is no, you get that just as quickly and with the reason attached.
What happens if the property is not a fit?
You get a straight no with the arithmetic behind it, which is usually more useful than the offer would have been. That often includes what the property would need in order to be financeable, what the as-is retail pool looks like for it, and whether an as-is listing on the open market would beat a direct sale. Take that back to your client and price it properly.
One property, one inbox
Send me the address
The address, the condition, and what your client needs. If it is easier to talk it through, the number in the header reaches the same person.
Check it yourself
Licenses and rules, at the source
Everything on this page can be checked against a public source. These are the ones behind it.
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Verify a license
Louisiana licenses are public record. Search a license number before you send anybody a property, including this one.
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REALTOR® standards
The Code of Ethics, including the articles on dealings between REALTORS® and on representing a principal interest in a transaction.
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Louisiana law, in full
Successions, usufruct, indivision and lease are all in the Civil Code, published by the state.
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FEMA flood maps
The current flood zone for a specific address, from the source. Zones vary lot by lot and the maps are revised.
Related
What your client will read next
Send them one of these rather than explaining it twice.
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Listing versus cash
The full arithmetic on one house, three ways, with every assumption written down.
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Compare the four paths
What each route costs a seller in money and in weeks, side by side.
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Inherited property
How a Louisiana succession decides the calendar, and what all the heirs have to agree on.
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About Chris
Where the buying side came from, why the license came later, and how both sit in one business.