How many houses is too many?

[Joe D.]

Hello everyone, please forgive me if this question has been answered before. As I'm reading and listening to the podcast it is recommended that you look at at least 40-50 houses before you make any offers. While I understand the reasoning behind this I'm just curious as to how many houses are you going to go look at before the realtor decides not to work with you anymore? I live in a smaller area and I pretty sure I'm going to run into the same realtors after a while.

[Kevin Siedlecki]

@Joe D. I've never heard that number before, and it seems very, very high. If you're doing some analysis up-front, only visiting properties that have a reasonable chance of working for your target ROI, you should be making an offer as soon as you see something that works.

You're right that dragging a realtor to 40 or 50 showings without buying anything is not going to make you any friends or give you a good reputation. My only guess is that 40-50 number comes from how many properties investors see, on average, before making a purchase, but that might be just looking on zillow and eliminating it because you know the numbers aren't going to work.

My number is closer to 10, and shrinking as I get more experience and know what to expect in certain neighborhoods. I've actually made an offer on four of the last five properties I've visited. That doesn't mean that I've bought all of them. I was outbid on two, about to close on one, and hoping to get the offer accepted on the most recent one.

If you've been learning and are ready to go, don't let a silly "rule" like this keep you from making an offer. Find something that is going to work for you and jump in!