I am located in new orleans la and I am going head first into lease option investing. The market is full of owners willing to lease option, but they are asking for 2000.00 leases and 20,000.00 down payments. I am pretty crafty at negotiating the price down and the lease itself, but I still need advice on what really works in that kind of investing to get the owners to stop being so greedy and allow me to get cash? :banghead
If you have homeowners asking for $20K in option money, that’s your clue they are not the least bit motivated. Move on, and quickly.
Working with serious, motivated sellers who need a helping hand is what will get you deals. I did two deals in March, and neither required any option consideration to be paid on my part.
It’s true that you need to be dealing with motivated sellers.
That said, from what I’ve seen in New Orleans, I’d guess that L/Os are hitting hot and heavy down there right about now, as lenders have been very slow and low on giving out loans, and with Katrina and such, many people in the area have less than stellar credit at the time.
What several of them do have, however, is $$$. Not enough to purchase homes outright, but definitely enough to be putting down some big option fees.
Also, don’t know exactly what the $2k/month covers, but if it includes flood insurance, then that’s not too bad of a deal either.
Raj