Why I made my offer less competitive on purpose

[Austin Hughes]

Today, I made an offer on my second property. (Haven't gotten one under contract yet.)

The discussion I had with my realtor might benefit you guys, so I'll share it.

The property was a trustee sale; AKA the owner died and their kids who don't live there wanted to get rid of the house as quickly as possible.

Today was its first day of being listed. With the repairs and everything, it was listed at about 90% of market value. I wanted to make an offer that allowed me to come in with repairs at 76% ARV.

Knowing the children of the deceased wanted to move the property quickly, I asked my realtor if we could make an offer to close in 7 days. I guessed that the money wasn't as important as the time to these people. Wisely, he said he didn't think we could get an inspector out in the next 7 days, as they are usually scheduled 2 weeks out.

So I proposed this:  Let's offer to close in 7 days with no inspection and just get a few General Contractors to inspect it for us.

He brought up two very good reasons why this wasn't a great idea.

1. 1. The house was built in the 60's and had a higher probability of something being bad enough not to do the deal. A contractor might miss that, but an inspector wouldn't.

...but the second point convinced me...

1. 2. If the General Contractor did indeed find something badly wrong with the house, but I hadn't paid the option fee of $50, I would be out my earnest money of $500.

While typing this post up, I had an idea..

What if I PAID the option fee and still got a GC to look at the house for me? I could still back out for any of the other reasons listed on the option clause. Hmm... I think this is the best option.

As always, y'all DROP SOME KNOWLEDGE BOMBS on me!