All Forum Posts by: Brian Gibbons

...I was taught to expect to talk to 100 people to look at 10 to make offers on 1 and that held pretty dead on when I worked them. ...try to talk an unmotivated seller into being motivated. Don't bother. Make your offer on your numbers, its up to them to say yes or no. "Some will, some wont, so what, who's next". (Ron Le Grand baby)

...Make enough offers and you'll get your yeses IF you are talking to motivated sellers. If there isnt much investor activity in your area, which I'd guess to be the case if you're getting this kind of action of a Craigslist ad, you can probably make lowball offers from MLS and get 1 out of 40 or so talk to you.

......On your comps, I like redfin so you can see what things are selling for at $/sq/ft. You need MLS to see pics on solds, but the online stuff can give you an idea (Zillow, Trulia, Redfin), especially if you drive by them.

.....Basically you just want to find similar houses and see what they sold for...there is no "real value" of a house, its worth what you can get someone to pay you for it. Period. Appraisals and BPO's and you running comps are all OPINIONS. ....

....First thing I look at is solds on the street, in the neighborhood. I make adjustments for intangibles off the pics/driveby. Curb appeal? Recently updated? On train tracks? Whatever. Some of that is just thinking "would I want to live in this house at this price" or more accurately "would my wife want this house at this price"

....I like redfin because you can get $/sq ft in the zip code, a good indicator. Comps are just to help you get an opinion of value. Lots of things will affect that, including financing. Its hard to do mortgages around here under $50k so I dont want my finished ones being under that unless my exit is owner financing.

.....If they are easy to buy, they are easy to sell. Probably why this guy bought it on a CFD. Not a lot of people that want to live in a $40k house have $40k in cash, it limits your market a great deal trying to retail them under what banks will lend at.

Keep in mind I'm a rehabber, I'm buying to fix and sell. Rentals are a different ballgame.

BTW, using the numbers above, you need to read some of the threads on hidden costs, I dont know your market, but

a) your offer needs to be one number, not a $9k window on $30k.

b) You need to read some of the threads on here on hidden costs. If you are wholesaling $2k on that thing is fine, but you need to have a buyer that wants rental property in the area and talk to him about what he wants and structure your offer to fit what he will buy. There isn't enough room in this thing for you to purchase it for a flip. This is a double close type of deal.

....Also, if you are playing this game the way you are currently playing it, you might as well go get licensed. You're basically acting as a realtor. Doing grunt work for one of the heavy hitters in town would probably teach you a lot. 20% of realtors do 80% of the business in most markets. Those 20% have staff.

Good luck, I love how you are just diving in, my mentor when I was started told me to "fail forward fast". I was a desk jockey in my former life, I learned a lot of the stuff they dont teach you in seminars the hard way. You'll get there if you keep taking action and get guidance.

Darrell you rock! I am a fan!

Brian Gibbons