Submitting an offer to a Buy Owner sellor

[John Andrews]

So I've been through the ringer this past week...looking at a few houses here in South Florida. I'll tell you what... I give credit to all of you real estate investors out there with cash on hand to buy property. Without a cash offer, a great property is hard to come by down here (at least an affordable one). 

I've found an off market property that my wife and I love. We want to make an offer on it today before anyone else sees it... and my attorney is taking forever to get back to me. 

I'm going to do an online search about submitting a legitimate offer to this buy owner seller..but what better resource is there than Bigger Pockets!

If anyone can steer me in the right direction with submitting a legitimate offer to a buy owner seller I appreciate it. I need something acceptable to give to an attorney so that he can write up a contract. 

In Florida apparently the seller chooses the title company, so his own attorney will likely be handling it. Should I just not wait for mine to get back to me, and have his call me after I discuss an offer over the phone with the guy? 

First time doing this soo.......

Thanks!

[Paul Palmer]

@John Andrews Hi John, Two things to dig into ASAP. 

# 1, Who is the decision maker?  in many of these estate deals there are the worker bees and then there is the queen bee who makes the final decision. Make sure you identify all of the parties so you can sit down with right person, eyeball to eyeball to get the deal done.

#2, Sweeteners,  Usually the best sweetener for any seller in an estate sale is to not have to lift a finger. That can be everything from taking the house as is (no contingencies and close immediately) to cleaning out the junk that is non saleable. Sometimes the cost of dumpster and some time can knock 1,000's off the price and lock the deal in. 

One final point, even though I'm a broker in MN (for the record, it was a great All Star game last night in my opinion) there are times that some seller's just want the deal negotiated in a one page agreement on terms and conditions before a full blown contract is written. I've developed a one pager that works very well and can even be used for exchanging personal goods (additional sweeteners) in a deal. If you want to see it, just fiire me your email or send a colleague request and I'll forward it. 

Glad to hear you found your first dream home - stick to the numbers though as you move forward.