1st wholesale or short sale deal?

[Carol Mthimkhulu]

Hi my name is Carol from South Africa

...Pardon my introductory anthem.... but I still have to since im a newbie to the forum and investing in general.

I have recently been exploring the concept of "Driving for Dollars"as well as Direct mail approach. I find vacant or almost vacant homes and leave yellow letters in their mail box. Every time i go out driving for dollars, I make sure i have top 5 homes which i will pursue wholeheartedly and at least to a point where the home owner agrees to talk to me. 

**I should add, Its not easy driving around in a suburban market at 20km/h without one neighborhood watch and insecure resident calling the cops on you, but its fun once they learn the driver is a woman.**

Anyway, an owner of a Duplex home has been in contact with me regarding offer negotiations. He has disclosed that the home has a mortgage bond of $45.8k ~R700k and he owes $7856 in rates. The home is currently unoccupied.

My plan is the following:

1. Meet and view the home before placing an offer.

2. Get a home inspector ready.

3. In the offer to purchase, a contingency clause that will be added is the home inspection.

4. Use ARV calculations to put an offer down.

5. Dont forget the legal team.

Yesterday someone told me something that's still echoing in mind..."Always plan for the worst case" .....and its surely an art to plan for the worst case.

When the offer I will make, is accepted by the seller......trust that i will share the journey every step of the way.