Investor · Monterey, CA · Member since 2015 · 62 posts · 7 votes
I am seeing a number of properties in my target markets that are 20-30% above my strike price. Many sellers are willing to drop 10-15%, but what do you do to deal with that remaining 10-15% that will make or break the deal for you? Do you use assessor information to contact owners directly, propose a basically 0 interest seller second, give them a free puppy? What works for you?!
Residential Real Estate Broker · Saint Louis, MO · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 567 votes
11y
Offer what you can afford; if you can't afford it you can't afford it. You can do some sort of magic by not requiring them to fix things that come up in the inspection, but you'll have to fix those issues anyways.
Ultimately I think if you just have everything lined up and make your first offer what you honestly want the property for, that's your best bet. A big part of how I operate involves speed, so I try to be the first offer and have everything ready to go from the start. The second step is finding out what the seller wants and doing your best to make that happen within reasonable bounds. There are more creative ways, but I like being upfront with people about what I want and doing my best to meet their needs at the same time.
I definitely start here or very close to it. At the same time it is frustrating to miss by a small amount. The reality is that the impact on financing and cash flow can make a decent deal a risky one. I think I might experiment with a seller second as a means to make the deal work through aggressive amortization and a better debt ratio, rather than as a means to get a "no money down" deal.