Finding Good Deals

[Robert Burns]

I am working with a great realtor who sends me many listings like the ones below. The action steps I take now are:

1844 Bay St, New $55,000
831 W Grant St, Photo Added $67,500
1264 Perkins Road East, Back on Market $80,000
1843 Carolina St, New $82,000
1334 S Mike Dr, Photo Added $87,900
30626 Shannon Dr, $66,000

1. Open and review the MLS Public Report
2.Go to Zillow.com and look for active and sold comps for the area.
3. Then I pick out the most appealing properties based on pricing and location and drive by to take a look.
4. On the ones that look good with the drive by, I call my realtor to get actual sold/active comps for past 6 months.
5. Then I make an offer on the best ones @ 60% of ARV minus repairs minus my assignment fee with a 2 week inspection period escape clause.
6. Advertise to my buyers.

I would appreciate any addtional action steps to improve my success rate on closing good deals.

Thanks,

Bob Burns

[Robert Burns]

Great relies!
I use Zillow mostly to locate the area the property is in. I grew up in Baton Rouge so I know all the areas pretty well. Once I know where the property is located I also know if it's an area I am interested in. Zillow is not a good source for comps. Their values are almost always too high. I call my realtor, who is excellent, and ask her to run active and sold comps for the area for the last 6 months. This gives me a better idea on ARV. I agree that I'm probably dueling with many other investors who are seeing the same listings but I've also discovered that many do not make offers or do not followup well. The deals come through at various times when other offers are rejected or don't go through so I monitor the properties I'm most interesed in and then I stay persistent and make additional offers.