BRRRR and making the numbers work

[Brian Stieler]

I've been steadily mailing my yellow letters, and have actually had a dozen phone calls (woot!). With these leads I'll do by due diligence by going through the following steps:

1. Get the sellers desired price and gauge motivation to sell (Michael Quarles, podcast 77)
2. Do a walkthrough of the house and calculate my estimated rehab costs
3. Look at comps in the area and determine my ARV

Now I have all my numbers, but they just don't seem to work. For example, a guy called me with a house he would really like to get rid of. He would be happy getting $40k, the rehab would cost me ~$25k, and the ARV is $59k. This means I would have to go back and offer $20k max. Here's how those calls have typically been playing out:

1. Explain to the seller the pro's of selling to me ("no need to do repairs, all cash offer, close on the day of your choice")
2. Try to get them to lower their asking price, otherwise tell them my highest and best offer
3. Get rejected, but thank them for their time, and to consider me if they're more motivated in the future.
4. Start over

Other deal examples:

Asking $140k, rehab $65k, ARV $185k. Offer price $70k (turned down)

Asking $120k, rehab $40k, ARV $140k. Offer price $58k (turned down)

I understand it takes time and effort to find deals that work. However, I just want to make sure I'm not missing something. For those flipping houses, how many of these calls do you go through before finding something that lines up? Other BRRRR strategists, are there any tricks you can share that would improve my process?