NEWBIE and Found A property

General Real Estate Investing
1

Hello

A realtor sent me a list of properties and I found one that has caught my eye. What is my next step? Should I make an offer or should I actually view the property first? Should my offer be lower than the asking price?

Thanks for you help

2

The first step is to set your criteria:

  • The max price you’re looking to pay

  • The min equity position you’re willing to accept

  • The type of deal you’re looking to do (fix/flip, buy/hold, wholesale, etc.)

  • How long you’re looking to hold or maintain ownership

After all that is done, that will let you know what to do and when. Basically, if it meets your criteria 100% then go ahead and put an offer at 87% of what they’re asking (I just threw a figure out there), if it’s priced too high for you then put an offer at 10% lower than your ideal figure. Hope that helps a bit.

3

I’m guessing the property has met your initial criteria, so the next step would be to see it. If you like what you see, make an offer that satisfies your criteria.

4

Ah, I did forget to address “seeing” the property. Depending on how far you plan to take your real estate investing I would not make a habit of having to “see” property. As you invest on a larger and larger scale and in areas across the nation, it simply will not be practical to visit all of your properties. I would instead develop relationships with people I know I can trust and rely more so on detailed pictures and documentation for information.

5

Thanks for the tips. Should I ask for the finaicial information (schedule E, financial statements, or schedule 8825) upfront or wait until the due diligence period?

6

Now JL and I do not “SEE” eye to eye on that.

I do things totally different. Offer on the property make it contigent to passing inspection that the seller pays for.

If the numbers work and the inspection passes there is NO point in looking at the property.

That being said I am the only one that I know that never looks at a house. That is why you pay appraisers and Inspectors.

Do what you do best and outsource the rest!

7

“Offer on the property make it contigent to passing inspection that the seller pays for”

When I make an offer on the property, do I make the offer in writing?

8

Sure do here is another quick key to it. Never offer a even number. Say the owner wants 250k and I want to offer 190k on the house I offer 188,953.23 that way they think you really did your homework. and when they come back for some reason they do not negotiate as hard they will come back at say 195k then the fun starts.