Do you really stick to the 70% rule?

[Ryan Adams]

I have been trying to pick up a property for a fix and flip locally but am having a difficult time.  I've put in a few offers but they are just languishing.  I'm looking at properties with arv ~175, asking price ~135 needing about 25 in repairs.  My initial offer was 80 cash, as is with inspection, fast closing.  I'm not even getting a reply.  While that might be a tad low, I wanted to have some room to move up when they countered.  If I offered 95, I'd be pretty much spent and couldn't negotiate.

This is still my first deal so I wanted to make sure I had a buffer for when I inevitably miss something.

[RIchard Roop]

The 70% of value minus repairs rule is there to protect you in the event of something being wrong with the house that you didn't see or catch which happens a lot. 

We've found that about 1 out of 20 sellers will accept an offer that low which essentially means you're going to have 19 people tell you that it doesn't work for them.  That's ok.  Move on to the next one. 

If you're targeting the right markets - divorces, late mortgages, probates, vacant houses, etc. then you'll be finding more people who HAVE to sell, not just WANT to sell.  That's the market you want to go after.