Number of Bids to Place on Average Before Securing a Property

[Angela Barrere]

New to the business, I have read that you have to place a lot of bids in order to snag a good deal.  On average, how many bids did you place when you first got started in order to get one accepted... and has that number gone down as you have become more skilled at making bids?  Thanks!

[Christopher Telles]

Originally posted by @Christopher Brainard:

Originally posted by @Angela Barrere:

On average, how many bids did you place when you first got started in order to get one accepted... and has that number gone down as you have become more skilled at making bids? 

When I first started flipping houses, we had a 100% win rate. Quite frankly, we were paying too much. As i became more seasoned, we've been offering progressively less and less and being far more picky about the projects we take on. This year, we've had about a 30% acceptance rate, with 5 purchases total. We've had a couple of properties get away that I wish we had bought, but you can only do what you can do, right?

-Christopher

 Less is often more. Working to gain work is very different than working to earn gains. When your hard earned capital is on the line even the most liberal of folks tend to get conservative.

In a recent conversation with a prospective investor I shared a project proforma with him. When we discussed the maximum number I'd be willing to buy the deal he balked and said there was more room for use to go higher if needed.

I reminded him of our discussion moments before of the minimum gains (%) we'd use to guide the investment. He laughed, reminding me I hadn't any "skin in the game" since he was proposing to fund the deal 100% so what was I so worried about if we paid a little higher price if it meant "getting the deal". 

As much as I need an investor to fund my deals right now, I can't buy simply to gain work. My buys need to work gains.

Greed will guide fools, and fools will follow greed.

Your experience has guided you to never be made a fool. Stay disciplined.