Chapter 13: Creative Strategies for Agents
"Never discourage any man who continually makes progress, no matter how slow." - Plato
“Never discourage any man who continually makes progress, no matter how slow.”
- Plato
If you had told me a few years ago that creative financing would unlock not just more closings but an entirely new lane in my real estate career, I would have smiled politely and brushed it off. But here I am, waving the creative financing flag with enthusiasm—because in Q4 of 2023 alone, these exact strategies helped me sell 16 additional homes. That’s not an exaggeration. This stuff works. It’s not a buzzword or a passing trend—it’s a toolbox full of levers that can materially transform your business.
The Opportunity
As a real estate agent, I help people buy and sell short-term rentals (STRs) all over the country, not just in my home state of Colorado. And let me tell you, creative financing has cracked open opportunities I never would have had otherwise. If you’re reading this as an agent, you already know how tough it is to stand out. You’re likely licensed in a competitive market with tight regulations, limited inventory, and increasingly wary buyers and sellers. Sound familiar?
Colorado is all of that—and expensive. Which means that on top of all that, the deals don’t even cash flow. Not the ideal market for an STR-focused agent, right? Wrong.
This ties back to one of the guiding rules I use to design my life: “live where you want and invest—or in this case, sell—where the deals make sense.” So I started leaning into other markets—Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and beyond. And guess what? I started closing more deals, helping more investors, and making more money—often in towns that I’ve never even set foot in. How? Referral fees, off-market transactions, and creative deal structures.
Before I actively started selling properties out of state, I was sending out a ton of referrals. People reached out through social media or after reading my first book, looking for vetted agents in whatever market they were eyeing. I was happy to help, so I started building a referral list—interviewing agents one by one and adding new markets as the requests rolled in.
When I bought my townhome in Panama City Beach—which later became my first creative finance deal—I didn’t really know what I was doing yet. My partner in the deal owned the townhome next door and was making a killing on it. When he heard his neighbor was thinking of selling, we jumped on it. We worked out the deal off-market, and since I didn’t have a license in Florida, I paid a local agent $1,000 just to handle the paperwork.
A year later, when I went to sell the property, I dug up that old contract and realized it was just the standard Florida state form. So I downloaded a blank version online, filled it out myself, used my favorite e-signature tool (shoutout to Dochub!), and sent it off for signatures. Then I handed everything to our attorney, who took it to the finish line. I remember thinking, Wow, that was surprisingly easy.
Turns out the process is similar in most states—with a few caveats. New York, for example, is by far the trickiest market. As of this writing, I’m in the middle of a deal there that’s been dragging on for over three months. At one point, I swore I’d refer out any future New York deals—but now that I’ve come this far, a part of me wants to take on another one just to prove I can do it and do it better the next time.
That’s when I started thinking: Why refer out a deal and only make 25 percent when I could earn the full commission? Of course, that doesn’t apply to every situation. If I’m working with a buyer early in their search who needs someone local with deep market knowledge and boots on the ground, a referral still makes sense. But with a creative listing—or an out-of-state buyer with an on-market property—I can often handle everything remotely, with the listing agent covering a few in-person needs.
The thing is, people love to tell you no. Especially other agents. That’s why I don’t ask whether my offer structure is possible—I explain how I typically do it so I can earn the full buyer’s agent commission while still representing my client.
Ever wonder, “Who actually wants to write parking tickets for a living?” That same rule-following, code-enforcing mindset shows up in real estate too. Many agents are natural sticklers, defaulting to structure, rules, and doing everything exactly by the book.
My goal is to help you zoom out, challenge that mindset, and see the bigger picture clearly. Creative financing opens doors most agents don’t even realize exist. So let’s break out of the box and look at what’s truly possible.
