This website is greal and its content is superb. Im new to real estate investing and im birddoging for for investors here in the Chicago, IL. Ive been at it about 3 weeks now and have compiled a list of about 50 vacant properties including phone numbers when availble. The investors that im birddoging for all want me to contact the owners of the properties i find for a fee of $1000-$1500. What are some of the things i should say to the owners of the properties in order to get the info needed to determine if the lead might have potential.
I must be asking a question that people want to keep the answer to secret or something. If I knew what to say to the property owners this would not be a problem and i could ask you guys more advanced questions… but I dont , so this is kind of getting in the way. Im hungry for my first deal so I will get this figured out.
Hi dio22. Welcome to the forum. I don’t think that people on this forum are trying to keep secrets from getting out, your question is just pretty general. Look through the Real Estate Articles on this site (link on the left). There is some good information in there that should get you started. If you expand on your question a little after reading the articles, you will probably get more of a response.
A general question gets a general answer. You are looking for a bargain. You are trying to find the value of the property after the rehab and compare that to the costs to fix the property and the purchase price. If you see a house priced at $50K for instance and it needs $5K in work and you know the house down the street sold for $60K in great shape you have not found a bargain.
Finding out the motivation of the seller is the key factor. If you hear something like we just wanted to see how much we could get you are not dealing with a serious seller for instance. Something like our aunt passed away 5 years ago and the tax man is coming or the City has condemned the place and will tear it down next month are motivated sellers.
I almost always start out my conversation with Why are you selling. Another good question is how did you arrive at your asking price. I always ask what is the lowest price you will accept with a fast cash closing unless it is already a no brainer deal and I know the price has already been reduced to the bone. Just because a property is priced at or near the loan balance does not make it a bargain either. You need deals with equity remaining after the purchase and fix up. This is the only way to make a living doing deals.