8 months of persistence and hard work for this deal! Finally!
After 8 months from initial contact to closing, I can finally say this baby is done! After cold-calling hundreds of houses in one of my farm areas here in Miami, I received a call back from the son who told me I called asking about his mothers home and that she was interested in selling. We both agreed to an appointment to see the house and meet his mother but he cancelled on me 3 times.
After the last time, I thought the deal was dead...and it was until I got a call from the mother herself about 2 months later. I meet with the mother (80 years old) who had been living in her house for 50 years and just wanted to leave Miami and go up to Alabama to simplify her life/surroundings. In the midst of that first meeting she mentions that she also owns another house a few blocks away that used to belong to her mother who passed away in 1981. I asked her if she would be interested in selling that one first since it was a rental and would be a faster/easier closing than her own personal residence and she agreed.
The house was rented but needed a full rehab, it was very outdated and old. It was also still in her mothers name since 1981 so she was going to have to file for probate. Also once the tenant found out she was going to sell the house, she stopped paying rent unfortunately.
So long story short...I helped her evict the tenant by filing the eviction, I then helped her with probate and got it into her name. While waiting months for all of this, I drove by the house once a week to keep an eye on it, got to know the neighbors and even cut the grass!
In the midst of this deal her younger sister (72 years) got diagnosed with cancer and things aren't looking to good :( I still vividly remember the night she found out because I spoke to her, hanging up the phone that night I remember thinking to myself..."all these real estate books I've read and still none prepared me for that".
Throughout the entire time I tried to be of service and provide value, always trying my best to make the entire process as easy as I could for her. The rapport and trust was so high that even after she received a call or two from other investors she called me first to ask me about them.
Happily I was able to make it as stress free as possible for her to sell her rental and we got a good deal in a good part of town :)
Yea the deal is great but the feeling of genuinely being of service is pretty hard to beat.