All Forum Posts by: E. Jacobs

How can you negotiate over the phone if you don't know what the property is worth or what kind of condition it's in? What kind of terms do you include in that initial contract?

Is that 'one guy' on BP? That sounds like someone worth getting in touch with!

Even if it's not money, you aren't offering any other form of consideration though. The seller is offering to give up their right to sell to anyone else during your contract period. You're giving up nothing. I'm sure this has been discussed elsewhere though and probably varies state-by-state as well so I'll go do some researching on that

Thanks Max. So if you clear up all that information on the phone and it still sounds like a good lead, then you should schedule to go see the place. Otherwise it's just a waste of time obviously. I'm still looking for an overview of how the process works when you do arrive at the house though. Brian, I sent you a colleague request. And I have books with some scripts and stuff like that but I'm wondering what proven methods you guys have used to work out profitable deals.

I meant sites like zillow, city-data, and the like. These will offer you (usually pretty inaccurate) value estimates of homes as well as provide a list of comps that have sold in the area. These are retail values, so you would want to probably multiply these by .60 or so to see what a wholesaler might offer. Either way, you still need to figure the amount of repairs required and determine how the subject property measures up against the comps that you have found. Good luck!

Thanks! Great advice. Just wondering if it affects the enforceability of the contract with no earnest money given? What consideration are you providing?

Don't rely too heavily on anybody else's figures! Do your own due diligence to verify any valuations. If your investors are only willing to pay 10K less than what you thought they would based on the MLS or other valuation sites, pointing your finger and saying "but so and so said it was worth this!" isn't going to get you your money back or help your reputation.

You're definitely right Mitch. Unless it's an extreme situation, I wouldn't expect someone to pay that either. The confusion came because my original post was about the 10K deficit, but then someone mentioned the seller paying to get out of the house and I suppose new numbers should have been introduced at that point there since 10K is obviously a lot of money for a house of that value. I could see a few thousand being more realistic, but who knows, people do crazy things and tend to be pretty unpredictable!

I'm curious if anyone would mind sharing a step-by-step of what you do when you go to meet a potential seller for the first time. How do you dress? What is the first thing you discuss when you walk in? What parts of the house do you look at first? Do you negotiate a price there or tell them you will get back to them? How long are you usually there? What do you bring? Do you take any pictures? With the negotiation being the most important part of doing the deal, I was hoping someone would share their tactics and describe this process in a little bit more detail. I think this would make for a good article! I'm guessing your first discussion would have to be about why they are selling, what is owed on the property, if there are other liens, and what kind of time frame they need to sell in. If your criteria is still met, what happens next? Thanks in advance. I'm really hoping for a detailed response so that I can visualize myself approaching the front door and working out the deal until the time I walk out.

Would the tax credit apply if a purchase agreement was signed by April 30 even though its terms allowed for a closing at a much later date? I've heard that April 30 is the last date to "choose" a property, but I'm not too sure what that entails.