All Forum Posts by: Marc M.

That's exactly what it was, an excuse.  I couldn't agree more and I wrote that in my original post.  I won't agree that it was "laziness" but I fully admit it was a lack of prioritization.  As I mentioned above, I could and should have made time for it.

I don't see how you could possibly interpret that I was trying to pass blame.  Am I missing something or did you go off on some tangent?

EMD = Earnest Money Deposit

POF = Proof of Funds

PDX = I think he's referring to Portland Airport in OR

I was fully pre-qual'ed from a lender with their letter as part of the submitted offer; this was some form that I've been told is really outdated and only really used by old-school agents. I did try to up the EMD after the fact but it was too late at that point.

 I believe she may have been told after being informed the other offer was accepted.  I'm not sure though but she's a very experienced and well respected agent so if it could have gone through, I'm sure she would have mentioned it.

The $60-80k in rehab was really to update it since it hadn't been since the 60's.  In reality, it was completely livable except for the kitchen.  I planned on redoing it myself at a cost of $5-8k and tackling the rest later on as needed.

So I'm buying a personal residence for myself.  Came across this house that fit nearly all my parameters but the place needed a lot of work and they were asking more than I qualified for.  Passed on it and kept searching.

A week or so later, my agent gets an email from the listing agent saying that the owners needed to sell and wanted to know what I would offer.  It had been on the market for about 4 months.  House was listed for $399k, was worth about $450k fixed up but needed between $60-80k in rehab.  

I put an offer in for $300k, really thinking they weren't going to take it but that's the price I would have needed to be for the rehab cost and equity I was looking for.  Signed the offer, sent it in, then the listing agent asked for a financial information sheet, which I'm still not clear the point of since it doesn't require any supporting docs.  Due to an insane work schedule this week, it took me about a day and a half to get the info sheet back to the listing agent.

Turns out that just before I sent it back in, another offer came in which they accepted.   Come to find out that my offer had been accepted and signed, they were just waiting on my info sheet.  Poof goes about $150k in nearly instant equity and a great house I was starting to believe might actually become mine.  I'm kicking the crap out of myself right now but I learned a valuable lesson.

Moral of the story: don't sit on paperwork when it comes in.  Knock it out and get it back to your agent so someone else doesn't swoop in and steal a deal out from under you, regardless of how far-fetched it may seem.  I'm beating myself up because blaming my work schedule is really just an excuse, I could and should have made time to get it done and I explicitly remember thinking to myself, "It's been on the market 4 months with no traffic.  It can wait another few hours."  No, apparently it couldn't.

Next step is to send out a direct mail campaign to owners in that neighborhood.  I'm going to find a better deal than that one; it won't be easy but I'm sure as heck going to try.  First offer will be for $299,999. :-)

Cookies.  Lots of cookies.

I've been tempted to reply to these types of ads before just to see what the deal was but in the back of my mind, I couldn't rationalize why in the world these guys had to resort to CL to find someone to fill those "positions."

 Agreed.  There's likely a reason it's so cheap.  Delinquencies over 15% will usually cause denial of financing, which brings prices down.  So do inadequate reserves, pending special assessments, and deferred maintenance on the common areas.

One of the primary benefits of a franchise is the dissemination of business processes, materials and suppliers.  In a contracting business, success or failure is generally defined by the particular skillset and communication of the individual rather than external factors so I don't know that the franchise model will be a major advantage here.  In reality, if most of the factors are based on the individual himself, why would he need a franchise?  Just my two cents.

Apparently my phone is trying to boost my post count.  Sorry for the multiple posts.