The deal that WON'T DIE!!!

[Christina R.]

I would very much like to hear from BPers who have had lengthy, crazy contracting (by this I mean putting it under contract, nor rehabbing lol) and closing proceses on their properties.

I'm currently "in the middle" of a potential deal that came out of my first campaign with @Jerry Puckett.  Having invested a good chunk of change and not wanting to let any potential deal go until it's sold to someone else or I drop dead, this deal (which involves a tax sale property) was alive, then was on life support, then seemed to die . . . now it may be coming back from the edge of the grave!  It's such an emotional rollercoaster - not one that I will get off until the fat lady sings but I thought some stories from BPers who thought their deals were dead - when ultimately they weren't - would help me ride out the emotional wave.

Thanks in advance for sharing!

Christina

[J. Martin]

@Christina R. ,

let me entertain you with a wholesale story from a few weeks ago.. I'm looking to close on  a deal from a wholesaler this week. A few weeks ago, I moved quick to schedule an inspection w/ the tenants before an existing appointment for other potential buyers. I saw it the next day, talked to my partner, and told him I'd bring a check down the next day for the wholesale fee and sign the contract.

I drove down to Silicon Valley to their office to drop off the check, and get escorted to the Board room. Then a frazzled female walks in and says "who are you?" and sits down.. Ummm.. ?? Weird greeting.. (never been to these offices before..)

The wholesaler and his partner walk in and explain that we are both after the deal. One had told me that if we were first to act and come sign the documentation/cut the check, it was ours. The other potential buyer was under the impression another partner had offered it to her, and that she was just waiting to see it (but had funds ready and was ready to put them down that day.)

I thought I had this deal locked up, and now it looked like it might turn into a bidding war.. Yikes! So quick negotiating thinking - the first thing I did was ask both of the wholesalers to step out for a minute so the two of us could talk. The last thing I wanted was to drive this up, or have to lose it (my investment partner w/ most of the cash is on vaca in Yosemite, mind you, partially out of reach..).

So we spent more than 45 minutes talking/negotiating. I found out what her motivations and plans were, what price it was offered to her at (higher wholesale fee through a different individual), etc. We weren't sure what we were going to do. I considered just offering her $5K or $10K to walk from the deal. Until I found out she was going to flip it, and thought the tenants were going to leave. Then she thought she could just kick them out. This is in Oakland, with some of the stronger tenant protections in the country, and you just can't do it without a lot of legal and financial risk.

I ended up educating her a bit, confirmed some things jointly with the wholesalers, she talked to her partner.. and at the end of the day, she decided to walk from the deal, because it wouldn't fit her flip strategy, and THANKED me for not letting her walk into this deal with the tenant issues associated with a flip in this city.

So, it ended up a win-win. And we should be closing very shortly. But I was sweating bullets for about an hour there that I was either going to lose the deal, or spend an extra $10K+ of my partner's money while she was on vacation out of reach.. All's well that ends well, and I'll have to tell you about that once I close and can post it on the "Success" forums!

PS. The wholesaler got his $20K wholesale fee, and we should close shortly. He is on BP, as is my partner (who was not there), and maybe he can claim it someday if he wants.. This was a few weeks ago..