Investor · Phoenixville, PA · Member since 2008 · 257 posts · 18 votes
Lately I've been thinking of ways to capitalize on distressed sellers of SFHs for flipping purposes. What if you put out some newspaper ads saying that you'll buy any house for 80% of the appraised value, and once you flip the house you'll give the seller an additional % of your profit. That way the desperate seller has their cash and they can move or pay off their debt or whatever without feeling like they got F'd over because they know they have more money coming their way. Basically, they're buying the time it would take to sell their house. Anyone do this?
Do sellers really feel that way?? My cup-half-full thought is that if they are truly distressed sellers, they will be glad to get out from under the stress of owning their property for whatever reason.
If you buy it for 80% of appraised value, your profit will most likely be less than $0. It takes about 15% to resell and hold a property and if repairs are more than 5% then you are in the hole.
I have brainstormed several ways to possibly "partner" with sellers, but I haven't put any of them into practice. Vicky's point is one major issue I have and the second is the homeowner playing "investor". I think it might be a set up to make a complicated situation even more complicated.