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3 Easy Ways to Get Your Offers Noticed and Accepted

Mat Piche
2 min read
3 Easy Ways to Get Your Offers Noticed and Accepted

We’ve all heard the expression, “If you’re not writing offers, you’re not finding deals”.  You’ll hear many “gurus” say you should be writing multiple offers per week in order to get that deal. But what if you didn’t have to? What if all you had to do was make your offers harder to reject? If you’re writing 100 offers and only getting 1 accepted, or none, you either love wasting your time, or there’s something wrong with your offers. So how can you get your offers accepted more frequently?

1.) Less Conditions

Reduce the amount of pointless conditions. The more conditions, the more confusing the offer becomes. A confused mind ALWAYS says NO! Insert the conditions that are essential to your deal. I know many investors that add a number of pointless clauses in order to feel more important. More like a sophisticated investor. Most of the time, their conditions are just repeating the pre-written clauses already within the offer i.e. “The seller must leave all drapery tracks and fixed items. The seller will leave any rental equipment as part of the sale etc.” These types clauses are already set in the offer! By adding them, you’re just adding cluster and making the sellers eyes cross with 3 pages of conditions. The reality is, if you’re buying single-family properties, 9 times out of 10 you’re dealing with a homeowner who is uneducated with your “savvy” tricks and clauses (9 times of 10, so is the seller’s agent!). Keep it simple and straight to the point.

2.) Cover Letter

“A cover letter? I’m not applying for a job here!” You would be surprised by how much of a difference a cover letter will make. This is where you can say that yes, you are an investor but that also means you can meet their needs in terms of having a flexible closing. This is also where you can justify the price you have given them with a short description of how you arrived at this price. Maybe the roof needs some work and you pulled some comparables with your realtor and that’s why you offered them $10,000 less than their asking price etc. It makes the offer that much more personal and also shows them that they’re dealing with a human, not a faceless mean investor looking to steal their house!

3.) Give Two Offers

Here is one for all you investors who love savvy “tricks” to get the seller to say yes. Give two offers and a cover letter for each explaining the deal. For example, you could give one close to their asking price with a longer closing and one for a lower asking price but with a shorter close. It’s a scientific fact that when you give someone options, they are more likely to pick one of them rather than say no to both.

Remember, you should be a geographic specialist focusing on one type of property. When something in your target neighborhood pops up that fits your criteria, give a fair offer(s) using these tips, and you’ll be hearing more “YES!” and less “No way!” Stop wasting time throwing garbage offers at the wall to see what sticks because you feel you are entitled to a deal because you’re an investor. Yes, you may get a few here and there but your portfolio will grow much slower using that strategy. Not to mention that this is a business and if you’re known around town as the “mean investor”, that definitely won’t help your business grow. Trades, realtors, mortgages brokers etc won’t want to work with you either. You’re wasting their time! How fast will your business grow without these essential services??

Photo: Kristian Bjornard

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.