Making an offer to a billionaire.

Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 16 votes

My husband and I want to purchase a 4plex as our first investment property (owner-occupy). I found a fourplex in my area, looked up the owner, and finally got his cell phone number. This guy is a multi billionaire, who owns over a 1k properties in different countries, and has like 4 businesses. Anyway, I called him up, asking if he was interested in selling and 4 plex properties that he has, there are 4 in Broward County. He stated that I would first have to make a preliminary offer to him for him to decide if it's worth talking about selling. So he gave me his email, and here is what I was thinking about doing. He is a very busy man, so I don't think taking him to lunch would work. It makes me nervous just asking. I want to send him a short email with a picture of myself and my husband and a little bio of us and why we are trying to go into investing. At the bottom of the email, I would like to put my offers for all 4 of the properties just in case he says no to one but agrees to another. What do you think?

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Jay HinrichsBusiness Member

Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes

I find very few truly wealthy individuals would deal at the street level.. let alone you could access their cell phone.

Be that as it may.. these are business guys.. write a letter of intent.. you dont need the picture and story I doubt that will curry favor.. just be professional and make sure some one proof reads your corrispondance you dont want grammer or spelling errors or not to sound professional.

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Victor S.
WorldWide · Member since 2016 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7y
Originally posted by @David Zheng:

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:
I find very few truly wealthy individuals would deal at the street level.. let alone you could access their cell phone.
Be that as it may.. these are business guys.. write a letter of intent.. you dont need the picture and story I doubt that will curry favor.. just be professional and make sure some one proof reads your corrispondance you dont want grammer or spelling errors or not to sound professional.
"Correspondence" and "Grammar" :p

gotta practice what you preach @Jay Hinrichs! lol
Jay doesn't need grammar. Grammar needs Jay.
8 Reply
Zachary Beach
Specialist · Los Angeles, CA · Member since 2018 · 291 posts · 231 votes
7y
@LaVonna Shannon
Just be yourself, you sound genuine. In my experience you get from people what you expect. If you expect and treat this like a shrewd business deal he will also. If you are real and looking to grow but not for a handout you will be surprised by generosity. I would add the letter but keep it short. Remember guys with huge net worths have tons of people looking to suck up to them for money or even mentoring but few have people genuinely loving them for who they are. Remember first and foremost he is man that longs to be loved just like everyone else.
2 Reply
Quito Keutla
Real Estate Agent · Renton, WA · Member since 2017 · 204 posts · 151 votes
7y
@LaVonna Shannon Sounds like you're on the right track and good job with doing your research on the seller. Again don't get intimidated by his wealth cause everyone had to start somewhere. Happy Investing!
2 Reply
Alan D.
Rental Property Investor · Columbus, MS · Member since 2018 · 10 posts · 4 votes
7y
No personal story , makes you seem desperate, stick to the facts that you have money and you can pay x amount of dollars and ready to proceed with purchase if offer accepted!
0 Reply
LaVonna Shannon
OP
Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 16 votes
7y
@Ed Emmons love this!! Thanks so much.
0 Reply
LaVonna Shannon
OP
Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 16 votes
7y
@Quito Keutla thank you so much. I appreciate that.
0 Reply
Account Closed
Lender · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2017 · 658 posts · 626 votes
7y
To play devils advocate, does it matter if the person who is interested in selling his property a billionaire, millionaire, or dollaraire? You want to exchange your money for his property and he wants to exchange his property for your money (with the idea both of you will come out ahead). Neither the money nor the property cares who owns it. Treat this guy and the deal as you would any other (with the full dose of due diligence). The worst that can happen is one of you says NO to the deal and you move on.
3 Reply
Karen MargraveBusiness Member
Moderator
Realtor, General Contractor, and Developer · Redding, CA · Member since 2009 · 7k+ posts · 4k+ votes
7y
Billionaires are as varied as everyone else. My grandson, his wife and two children rented a house on a ranch that had frontage on a major river, and was owned by a billionaire (whom also lived on the ranch). A few years ago the rains caused flooding and the river came over the banks, flooding the portion of the land where my grandsons home was located, and became very dangerous fast, having to evacuate by boat. My grandson, a firefighter was off work due to breaking his back while fighting a wildfire in southern CA. When it flooded, he and his family had to relocate for a few weeks. The landlord nor his property manager didn't even offer to pay for a hotel room, though they were aware of the situation. (and my grandson didn't ask)
Point being: Don't think just because someone is a billionaire that they are generous good people, nor think all billionaires are selfish and cold hearted. Business is business. Present your offer as you would with any other seller.
5 Reply
Dan H.Pro Member
Investor · Poway, CA · Member since 2015 · 7k+ posts · 8k+ votes
7y
Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

Originally posted by @David Zheng:
Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:

I find very few truly wealthy individuals would deal at the street level.. let alone you could access their cell phone.
Be that as it may.. these are business guys.. write a letter of intent.. you dont need the picture and story I doubt that will curry favor.. just be professional and make sure some one proof reads your corrispondance you dont want grammer or spelling errors or not to sound professional.
"Correspondence" and "Grammar" :p

gotta practice what you preach @Jay Hinrichs! lol
when talking to BP audience I don't really care LOL. If I was talking to a big time potential money partner etc.. I have my staff proof my stuff before it goes out..
Most the pretty wealthy dudes I know have money managers so they usually lay you off to them. but I do know some other that would engage on the phone.. but they are not billionaires more in the 25 to 50 mil range. and self made entrepreneurs
I had thought the typos were intentional because of where they appeared ("Correspondence" and "Grammar"). I had thought they were intentional to drive home the point.
What are the odds of typos on those words and all other words are typo free????
3 Reply
Bjorn AhlbladPro Member
Investor · Shelton, WA · Member since 2017 · 6k+ posts · 6k+ votes
7y
@LaVonna Shannon Lavonna if you respond to him via emai you become just another email. So, you already spoke to him once on his cell phone. Call him back, tell him you are ready to talk and say you would like 5-10 minutes to go over your proposal and how about Tuesday. And then shut up; give him time to answer. You can always go back and do the email; but why take a step backwards when he already spoke to you on his cell phone? And yes, forget all the cute stuff. All the best.
2 Reply
Mitchlyn D.
Rental Property Investor · Jacksonville, FL · Member since 2015 · 342 posts · 142 votes
7y
@LaVonna Shannon - Give him your introduction on who you are and goals. Show him your hungry and really eager to get into the business. Then present your offer. Try and establish a relationship with him even if he doesn't offer to sell at your price. Either way, you will learn SOMETHING from the event which you can use for the FUTURE. End.
1 Reply
LaVonna Shannon
OP
Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 16 votes
7y
Originally posted by @Mitchlyn D.:
@LaVonna Shannon - Give him your introduction on who you are and goals. Show him your hungry and really eager to get into the business.
Then present your offer.
Try and establish a relationship with him even if he doesn't offer to sell at your price.
Either way, you will learn SOMETHING from the event which you can use for the FUTURE.
End.
Thank you, I think it is really important for me to at least briefly introduce myself. Either way, I put my best foot forward and I learn something. Just my opinion. Thanks! I appreciate your response.
0 Reply
Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
7y
LaVonna as usual I have a story in my play book that you might find interesting.
I was probably 28 ish.. in my 10th year of selling ranch land and hobby farms in Northern CA..
I lived in Palo Alto but enjoyed the land game commissions were higher almost all of it owner finance so no apprasials no banks just willing buyer willing seller.
So I have this buyer for this 10 acre plot just north of Napa valley.. the listing agent is non responsive.. and in our world if the listing agent wont respond we have the right to go direct.. Now this was a listed property.. but regardless I looked up the owner and he lived in Los Altos hills off of Page Mill above hwy 280.. if you happen to know the area this is deep into silicon valley money.. Not knowing him from Adam.. I just called his office and got to him.. He was WAY type A said if his agent did not respond just send him the offer.. I said well i bring my offers in person when can i meet you. Next day I am at his office in Menlo Park and it turned out he owned a software company.. I put the deal together he liked my hutzpah and fired his agent and gave me all his rural lands to sell.. And invited me to his Christmas party talk about a duck out of water.. He sold his company for just under 300 million in 91.. and bought a yatcht and we lost touch.. But I had no clue as to his wealth at the time I just acted like I normally do a very aggressive 28 year old trying to feed my wife and 2 kids. :)
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8 Reply
Marisa R.
Developer · Atlanta and Detroit · Member since 2018 · 601 posts · 821 votes
7y
Originally posted by @Victor S.:
Originally posted by @David Zheng:

Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:
I find very few truly wealthy individuals would deal at the street level.. let alone you could access their cell phone.
Be that as it may.. these are business guys.. write a letter of intent.. you dont need the picture and story I doubt that will curry favor.. just be professional and make sure some one proof reads your corrispondance you dont want grammer or spelling errors or not to sound professional.
"Correspondence" and "Grammar" :p

gotta practice what you preach @Jay Hinrichs! lol
Jay doesn't need grammar. Grammar needs Jay.
I would be totally screwed without spell check...:)
0 Reply
Mitch Price
Rental Property Investor · Atlanta, GA · Member since 2014 · 83 posts · 21 votes
7y
Yeah just like @Zachary Beach said be yourself. Don't sweat over it too much. And don't be intimidated because he is a billionaire. EVERYBODY starts from humble begins at some point. Even if half of his wealth was inherited, hypothetically speaking, hell his father, grandfather, great-grandfather started from humble beginnings. All Im saying is that everybody starts somewhere at 0, at some point!
1 Reply
Joel OwensBusiness Member
Moderator
Real Estate Broker · Canton, GA · Member since 2010 · 15k+ posts · 11k+ votes
7y
I think lot's of times people do not think about TIME properly. They tend to ask for FREEBIES and want successful investors time. See if an investor typically averages thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for their time per hour then if they spend time with you they are not only not making money but losing that return per hour.
So if someone spends time with a potential investor and they take 20 hours at 2,000 an hour that costs the experienced investor 40,000 in time.
What Is great about Bigger Pockets is you can post when you have some time and then thousands or more can read it at their leisure and learn something without constant direct one on one involvement. Some people can think money is the most valuable resource but TIME at least to me is. It doesn't matter if you have 1 million or 100 million the time keeps ticking away. Now if you have more money you can start to leverage teams of people in different facets of your business that can do particular things much better and faster than you likely can. These days I pay people to do stuff I am just okay at. I say what I want, throw money at it, and get out of the way. When someone starting out has more time than money then is when someone can learn, learn, learn.
For someone to take an interest in an investor to pour knowledge into them they usually have to see something extraordinary and not average about the person. They want to know if they take valuable time that their investment will pay off.
A deal is a deal. I was involved with a deal one time for an apartment building where the owner is a billionaire. Worth right at 2 billion. Basically for some of them it can be a power game to sell if they get their price. They like to win negotiations. People with that kind of money are really just their own bank pretty much. They have lenders falling over to lend to them. I had a client one time where bank waived 70k in fees just to win the loan because they wanted the relationship of someone with 9 figures of wealth.
This person it could be they control 1 billion of assets but are not a billionaire. Most assets people see when they drive around that are larger properties are syndicated deals. The key whether they are worth one dollar or 1 billion is what is their motivation with the property and how can you craft an offer that creates a WIN-WIN to get to a yes where both parties meet their goals?
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4 Reply
Account Closed
Lender · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2017 · 658 posts · 626 votes
7y
For billionaire due diligence, check the Forbes 3-Comma Club list.
Not every billionaire is on this list. A few years ago, Warren Buffett said a couple of his investors are hidden billionaires -- people who invested with him in his early days and through buy-and-hold, are now very wealthy. One advantage of being a hidden billionaire is you can shop at your local supermarket without a security detail.
1 Reply
Matthew Paul
Severna Park, MD · Member since 2013 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
7y
I have some customers that are mega wealthy . They put their pants on one leg at a time like anybody else . If its to their advantage to sell a property , they will . @LaVonna Shannon i think you are missing a larger opportunity . You knocked on a door , it opened , you have made a contact . He may not want to sell that property , but has others . Its a contact .
2 Reply
LaVonna Shannon
OP
Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 16 votes
7y
@Roger Steciak Exactly!! Thanks.
0 Reply
LaVonna Shannon
OP
Fort Lauderdale, FL · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 16 votes
7y
@Matthew Paul thank you Paul. I couldn't agree more.
0 Reply
Jay HinrichsBusiness Member
Real Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
7y
Originally posted by @Joel Owens:

I think lot's of times people do not think about TIME properly. They tend to ask for FREEBIES and want successful investors time. See if an investor typically averages thousands or tens of thousands of dollars for their time per hour then if they spend time with you they are not only not making money but losing that return per hour.
So if someone spends time with a potential investor and they take 20 hours at 2,000 an hour that costs the experienced investor 40,000 in time.
What Is great about Bigger Pockets is you can post when you have some time and then thousands or more can read it at their leisure and learn something without constant direct one on one involvement. Some people can think money is the most valuable resource but TIME at least to me is. It doesn't matter if you have 1 million or 100 million the time keeps ticking away. Now if you have more money you can start to leverage teams of people in different facets of your business that can do particular things much better and faster than you likely can. These days I pay people to do stuff I am just okay at. I say what I want, throw money at it, and get out of the way. When someone starting out has more time than money then is when someone can learn, learn, learn.
For someone to take an interest in an investor to pour knowledge into them they usually have to see something extraordinary and not average about the person. They want to know if they take valuable time that their investment will pay off.
A deal is a deal. I was involved with a deal one time for an apartment building where the owner is a billionaire. Worth right at 2 billion. Basically for some of them it can be a power game to sell if they get their price. They like to win negotiations. People with that kind of money are really just their own bank pretty much. They have lenders falling over to lend to them. I had a client one time where bank waived 70k in fees just to win the loan because they wanted the relationship of someone with 9 figures of wealth.
This person it could be they control 1 billion of assets but are not a billionaire. Most assets people see when they drive around that are larger properties are syndicated deals. The key whether they are worth one dollar or 1 billion is what is their motivation with the property and how can you craft an offer that creates a WIN-WIN to get to a yes where both parties meet their goals?
other thing with a true billionaire is security.. I was at the fishing lodge I go to every year in British Columbia this last May. ( Douglas Ranch).. its owned by a B guy from Denver he owns the Denver avalanche and i think might have married a Walton.
So we get word he is coming to the lodge for dinner.. and oh man you should have seen the staff.. but what happened was his security team came in that morning for a sweep.. and this is a lodge on a 500k acre ranch.. behind locked gates. and then we think we are going to dine with him and he no showed LOL. And I had the great honor to be a guest and play golf at Augusta National back in 07..
and walking through the lockers its the whose who of American and international business.. mainly All the Heads of these corporations. but even at Augusta they had to share lockers :) and at dinner that night I saw the head of Sony corp.. having dinner with Keith Jackson the announcer as his guest.. but they came in sat down ordered their bottle of Screaming Eagle and had dinner just like anyone else.
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2 Reply
Daniel Banic
Member since 2018 · 37 posts · 8 votes
7y
I contact billionaires all the time. If he's legaite and he talked with you , that's a good sign. If he's famous and has links to charities that he dontates , check out his profile on press and articles on him to see what his needs are then offer to help in his needs. If there is hardly no information on him through the net then in the e-mail tell him what does he need and want besides selling this property. If you get a conversation going and can help him then he will deal with you. Billioniars have wants in needs too you just got to find out what they are and act apon them. I use this technique all the time. In fact you can use this on anybody wether they are rich or not , it's a way to get ahead , help someone and they help you.
1 Reply
Mary M.
Rental Property Investor · Portland OR · Member since 2018 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes
7y
The one thing I want to add is that this guy knows exactly what his properties are worth. He is not desperate. Therefore if you want to be taken seriously you need to offer a realistic retail price. you need to research the area and know what this type of asset would sell for at “highest and best”
If you are not a commerical agent I would find one to help you, even if you pay them a fee. You will learn a lot and up your chances of sucess.
Good luck
1 Reply
Account Closed
Lender · Pensacola, FL · Member since 2017 · 658 posts · 626 votes
7y
There is also a difference between Old Money and New Money. Generally speaking, Old Money has been in the family for generations and is kept largely hidden from public view. These folks have lived through many societal upheavals and don't want to put their lives at risk by attracting unnecessary attention. New Money, on the other hand, wants you to know it. For example, some people who get rich from an IPO spend it on the expensive homes and cars they could only dream about before the IPO.
When I worked as a contractor at the chip company Broadcom, the technical publications manager would tell us some zinger stories every time she visited us at its Northern California facilities. After the company went public, for example, the Lamborghini dealer displayed a model in the company parking lot at its Southern California headquarters. Several now-wealthy employees owned Lamborghinis, which they drove to work.
This story has been repeated so many times that some tech companies are cracking down. Based on articles in the San Jose Mercury News, for example, Google and Facebook made it clear to their employees on the eve of their IPOs that ostentatious displays of wealth were not going to be tolerated. The Google CEO used a baseball bat as his prop (he promised to break the windows of every expensive new car he saw in the parking lot). The Facebook CEO scheduled a 24-hour codeathon on IPO day to keep people's attention focused on work rather than their IPO wealth (while he quietly snuck off and got married).
Billionaires are only human. For example, the Wikipedia page on Henry Nicholas III, one of Broadcom's founders with a net worth in the single-digit billions, mentions the good things he has done for charitable causes. It also mentions his dark side. When I Googled his name just now, I found an L.A. Times article mentioning him being arrested (again) in Las Vegas last summer on suspicion of drug trafficking. The guy has a PhD in engineering, which dispels the myth you need to be a college dropout to start a successful tech company. He also presumably lives in an A neighborhood.
1 Reply
Quin Williams
Charlotte, NC · Member since 2018 · 4 posts · 2 votes
7y
@LaVonna Shannon
To become financially free and fire my boss!
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