Making a Forcosure Offer

[Account Closed]

So after looking at the market in Houston for the past few months, I'm noticing a couple things.
First, there are many many foreclosure homes in Houston listed well below ARV.
Second, the offers are all turned in to the bank at the same time, so highest offer wins.

So my question is this. Do I keep offering just over their list price and hope that one of my offers will eventually be picked, or do I calculate the highest offer I can afford to make while still making a profit on a flip? And if so, what is the best way to calculate that?

[Will Barnard]

That is great advice Jason, I posted a follow up question on your blog which I will also post here:

"This is a great tool for others. I would follow up with the similar question as Justin made: How do you come up with your profit amount, is it based on a specific cash on cash return, based on a % of something or what?"

I always have a minimum profit amount and that amount is never below $30k here in CA, of course my cash invested is much higher than the units in GA. As such, I use a % of the cash invested to arrive at my minimum profit margin and typically, if I stay at no more than 75% of exit value less repairs, I have a deal worth doing here in CA.
In GA, with lower exit values, that model would not work.