Heres one for you. I found a vacant that would be worth 100k fixed up, I happened to drive by and saw them in the yard made a deal with them almost instantly. It needs about 35k in repairs I would have easily paid 30k for the property but they spoke before I did and said they would take 10k!!! It is like stealing the property but they said it first. Do I do the deal at ten or offer them more like 20k???
$10k!!!
What is the saying?
“The first one to open his mouth loses?”
If they are happy at 10K, take it! Everyone goes home happy and you just put 20K extra into your pocket with out trying. This is business.
Yea 10K!!! You should of been me and try to keep a straight face when dealing with them. I absolutely could not believe it, I think it was a miracle or something. I have been working so hard to get a deal and this one just fell in my lap on accident that it has to be an absolute miracle. But it is perfect, I am getting married in may and we will use it as a personal home, but man walking into at least 50k in equity at this stage in my life is absolutely amazing!!! I thank all of you seasoned investors for the education you have given me through this forum. This is my first deal.
Now for the important question…did you sign a contract for the property right there on the spot? These deals don’t last long! I would have signed the purchase contract and all the other papers right there on the spot and tried to close in the next few days (AFTER DOING A TITLE SEARCH)!
Mike
Tx,
Execute, Execute, Execute!
Good things happen when your persistent and relentless. Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? It’s not your job to negotiate the best deal for them. I’ve had owners tell me to just take the property for free. Of course SOMETHING has to be paid but it wasn’t anything near ‘as-is’ market value. If you jump up and say DEAL! when they say 10k, they will feel ripped off like they could of got more and might try to back out. Pretend to be hesitant yet quick about agreeing to this deal. As Mike said, hopefully you didn’t leave without a signed contract. Giving them too much time to think is a bad thing.
10? at least haggle for 7!!! :beer
I got the contract done, he just has to get the out of towners to sign, he got them their copy today, three people own the property, one of them being the next door neighbor, that is the main contact for the property. I have absolutely everything else in order and on standby. It is so awesome to have a plan and a network setup before moving on a property. It has taken me six months of hard work and dedication to get where I am now, but I think it is definately worth it. Heck I could easily wholesale this thing out with one phone call to my friends that I have met through the local REI club, I have met soooo many great people at the club I think that is the single most important thing for a newbie. GO TO THE LOCAL REI CLUB MEETINGS!!! All of the investors on this site are EXTREMELY helpful, there is not a day that goes by that I don’t read all of the posts on this site. One more thing for the newbies, don’t give up, I have looked at over 50 houses before I found this one, then as I was walking out of church all the owners were in the front yard of the house (it is literally across the street) going through the family belongings and bam made a deal on the house, they are so happy that somebody is going to restore their house the lady started crying on my fiance’s shoulder (literaly crying tears of joy.) Boy that was a good feeling, only stipulation on the sale is I have to let them tour it when I am done. My dad thinks I hit a small lottery, I am not that excited because I knew I would find a deal like this, it was just a matter of time and a little bit of luck.
Sorry about all the rambling but I truly thank all of the members for the help over the past six months.
Chris
Damn it…you mean I have to look at 43 more deals before I find a good one? :banghead
jsstinson, you just might have to, but you never know the next one might be your deal, or the 44th one might be your deal. That is alright though because as you look you learn something new about your area when you look at every house. Plus the more you learn the better you are, I was looking back and reviewing my strategies and came to realize the first few offers I made really weren’t good deals. Man I am glad I didn’t get any of them, but at the time I would get so mad that they wouldn’t accept my offer. My thoughts are stay away from the MLS, there is way too much competition there. For example I spent alot of research and time on this MLS deal: ARV 135k, repair 25k, asking 80k, offer 72.5k. In five days they had 17 offers the highest being 110k, the second highest of 105k got it because it was all cash. A new investor thought he got a good deal and then he tried to wholesale it to my experienced investor/mentor friend when he talked to him, and he said he was crazy. Just keep on looking you will find something.
Chris
Congrats on your deal! I love to hear people’s success stories. Just wanted to throw my two cents in about the MLS listings. We have focused our MLS searches away from brand new listings (even though we take notice of them everyday) and looked at REO’s that have been on the market for a while. We picked up one just over a month ago that had been sitting for 160 days and are close to getting an offer accepted on one that has been sitting or almost 90 days. We are going to make 15-20 K on each with a holding time of less than 3 months start to finish. So to say “stay away from the MLS”… eh. That’s what I love about rei, there are so many different ways to do it and make money!! GOOD LUCK!! :beer