Patience is not my virtue...but it paid off with this deal

Patience is not my virtue...

I am not a patient man.  Honestly, it has served me well when building this business from the ground up, so I am not afraid to admit it to anyone.  But I will admit that the deal I closed on yesterday was an exercise in patience that tested me.

The deal

We wrote a letter to the owner of this house in December of 2019...which seems so long ago after this year...I got a call from him and we discussed the property there and then.  It took some time, about 2 months, to come to a price, which was a steal of a deal.  

It may have been mid-March by the time we signed a contract and I got it to my lender.  If you remember what happened in March in the United States in 2020, then you will know why this deal stalled completely.  I literally didn't hear a word from my lender for a month because they basically halted all transactions due to the pandemic.  It was not even until sometime mid-April that I even got an official "not right now" from the bank.  I told the seller that I was still interested, but it would have to wait.

The summer time blues

I actually caught the virus in July, and was fairly ill for close to a month, during which time I did not think about this house one time. After I emerged from the cognitive haze of COVID-19, I was back at my real estate and asked my banker again if he could do the loan.

I'll admit that I thought he would deny it, because that's what happens often times when you don't hear back from a banker for weeks.  It looked like the deal was dead, and I forgot about it (on purpose).

Surprise

I got a call from my banker one day out of the blue, I thought maybe just to check in, or see if I had my return filed yet, something of that nature.  He told me that he got the loan approved.  I actually asked him what loan he was even talking about, and when he told me I laughed a little.

I still needed at new contract, because at this point the guy and I only had a verbal agreement to "revisit the sale after the dust settles".  To my disbelief, he was still willing to sell at the same price, and didn't even want earnest money (side note-I am not a legal professional, I have heard that it is required to make a real agreement, but that is what happened).

What would you do?

I know at this point in the story you must be thinking, ok hold on, what's the catch?  This seems really good, too good.  I thought the same thing.  In fact, I did every single thing I could to find a reason to walk from the sale.  I even got the sewer scoped.  It turned out to be bad, but the quote to fix it was very little money.  So what I had on my plate was guaranteed rent from the government, a tenant who wants to buy the house (important in a tenant caring for the property), new roof, new windows, comps all over $100k, one even being $169k...I couldn't see a reason to back out.

The verdict

I closed it 9 months after I first made contact with the guy!  I don't love single family properties, but I am on the way to where I want to be with one more unit in the bag and $30K added to my net worth!