New Madison WI Investor How to Write an Off Market Deal

[Kaylyn Geiger]

Hi all,

Kaylyn here. I am coming up on my first year as a Realtor in the Madison WI area. My boyfriend house hacked the duplex we live in now and is looking to add more to his investment portfolio. We've been searching mainly on-market deals for the past 10 months and have had no luck. 1.) the numbers don't necessarily make sense for him and 2.) there is so much competition, it's nearly impossible to get a deal. 

I've been using Bigger Pockets to educate myself on real estate investing and have started to look into off market properties in our area. I understand how to analyze if a property will work for us but when it comes to actually writing and presenting an offer, I'm not sure where to start. I've written to a number of owners and in the event that someone actually gets back to me, I'm not entirely sure where to go from there. How do I come up with a purchase price to offer them? Would it be silly to ask for a tour of the inside? Basically, how do I not sound like a dumba**?  Obviously, as a Realtor, I can determine what the market value is but we're hoping to find something under market value. We aren't big fish that can come in with an all cash, no contingencies offer at this point. We could waive inspection but we would at least have financing, thus, an appraisal contingency. 

Any suggestions or investors in the Madison area that has experience with this?