Sometimes the best deal you can make is to walk away

[Kelly Conrad]

We were *this* close to finally getting out first rental property, and we were excited. The place was cheap, had tenants already who seemed nice, had a professional management company taking care of it, and during the first look things seemed to be in good shape. It was in a bad neighborhood though...We put in a full price offer and they accepted it.

That night, I didn't get the feeling of excitement I was expecting, but a feeling of panic instead. Panic that caused me to stay awake at night with a pit in my stomach feeling that something was wrong. A few days go by and I try to ease this feeling that we were making a bad mistake, and we get the inspection. 

Upon second look, we found serious water damage that was caused by the landlord/property manager's neglect to fix. They claimed they had been doing inspections, but you can't miss some of these items. We also found that the gas lines all had to be replaced because if there was an arch, it would poke a hole in the gas line.

So after this, we said we're walking away. That feeling came back stronger than ever, and something told me we would be making a huge mistake taking this property.

After we did that, the sellers were PISSED. I am talking not disappointed, but saying our inspector doesn't know homes of that time period (he does, he actually used to buy & hold and manage homes from the exact era! He told us what was expected and what wasn't) and how he caused them to lose a deal on a different property because he "doesn't know anything". Then, they came at us saying it cash flows (it does), and we were getting an awesome deal on the price (sure), and they were SO mad that we said it didn't pass our inspection. It was clear that they were being slumlords and their tenants were fine, but them not doing these repairs caused it to be such a problem. They said this was a great deal and we're missing out. We're wondering...if it's so great, someone else will buy it up in no time, why the huge fuss?

After seeing how angry they were, it just seemed to confirm in my eyes that they were wanting to offload a property that is a pile. The feeling of severe panic was right, and the best deal we've made so far was to walk away and keep searching for something else that doesn't cause a panic that we're making a bad deal. Just wanted to share my experience and say to others that if your gut is telling you over and over that you're making a mistake (and not just butterflies of doing something new-this was a different, much more severe feeling of panic), to trust it.