How long did it take you to close your first deal?

Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 142 posts · 55 votes

From the time you started seriously looking and making offers, how long did it take you to buy your first property (excluding house hacks)? I'm also interested to know how many offers got rejected before the first one got accepted if anyone wants to share that.

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Frank Wong

Real Estate Broker · Bay Area · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 3k+ votes

Hi Steve,

In today's market, a new investor should spend 3-8 months learning and educating themselves before even looking. This is so important I can't stress this enough. Once ready in today's market if you are looking for solid market deals (Not house hack) it should be 60-120 days depending on the market. Some areas are more difficult than others.

It also depends on the investor if they are realistic or not. This part is key. An investor needs to understand that the market dictates the price not them. So you need to structure your offer so it's competitive to get the property. This usually means paying a little more than what you want. Its human nature to try to get the best deal but this sometimes causes you to miss out on good solid properties. My area you probably get rejected 5-8x before an offer is accepted. Just how the numbers work out. These numbers could be lower depending on the property, the strength of the buyer, and if I'm repping you =).

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Frank Wong
Real Estate Broker · Bay Area · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 3k+ votes
7y
Hi Steve,
In today's market, a new investor should spend 3-8 months learning and educating themselves before even looking. This is so important I can't stress this enough. Once ready in today's market if you are looking for solid market deals (Not house hack) it should be 60-120 days depending on the market. Some areas are more difficult than others.
It also depends on the investor if they are realistic or not. This part is key. An investor needs to understand that the market dictates the price not them. So you need to structure your offer so it's competitive to get the property. This usually means paying a little more than what you want. Its human nature to try to get the best deal but this sometimes causes you to miss out on good solid properties. My area you probably get rejected 5-8x before an offer is accepted. Just how the numbers work out. These numbers could be lower depending on the property, the strength of the buyer, and if I'm repping you =).
7 Reply
Caleb Heimsoth
Rental Property Investor · Durham, NC · Member since 2016 · 7k+ posts · 7k+ votes
7y
@Steve Emling. Took me 10 months
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Brian Ellis
Rental Property Investor · South shore, MA · Member since 2017 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes
7y
Took me a long time to find my first deal.. might have been 9 months, cant remember exactly. I stuck to my game plan and didn't settle. I looked at about 50 houses, and put offers on maybe 10 of them. Eventually one stuck, but I had to get extremely creative. Where there is a will, there is a way.
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Tony WooldridgePro Member
Rental Property Investor · Walla Walla, WA · Member since 2016 · 480 posts · 346 votes
7y
@Account Closed is absolutely right you need to take a GR8 deal of time to not only educate yourself on what your niche/strategy is going to be but really learn your local farming area. Depending on how competitive your market is can really dictate how well your offer's will be received. The main thing to remember is not matter what don't get discouraged, just chalk it up as a learning experience and learn from ever offer not accepted and move on to the next one. Persistence is the key to success! Thanks for allowing me to share and here is to wishing you nothing but GR8 success in your future in RE investing!
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Josue Vargas
Real Estate Agent · San Antonio, TX · Member since 2017 · 814 posts · 466 votes
7y
@Account Closed said regarding markets dictating the price. Some markets change drastically, specially depending on the economy trade sector they are, but on most markets there is a pattern. Look and learn from it.
Answering your question, if you are ready and making offers, you should not take more than 3 months. When I buy houses, it takes me 15 showings with my broker, before I reject about 100 of them by just looking them on paper (not actually seeing the property). If you are ready, you know it, if it takes more than 3 months, maybe the market is not good, you are not ready, or you may just need to hold and wait or explore on different alternatives/areas.
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Spencer Cornelia
Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2017 · 321 posts · 524 votes
7y
My first property closed roughly 18 months after I began to really spend my time looking into real estate investing. The owner agreed to sell the property 12/2017 and I didn't officially close until 12/2018 so my timelines are pretty interesting. This question is extremely market dependent. In the midwest, I could have grabbed deals within the first month or two. Additionally, the amount of capital needed is drastically different between coasts and midwest which adds a layer of difficulty for those without one deal.
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Scott Anderson
Rental Property Investor · AZ · Member since 2018 · 212 posts · 183 votes
7y
Started late November reading, learning.
Close next week on #1.
Made 4 offers over 4 days. 3rd was countered and came to find out seller distressed. Move in ready.
Paying $161k, appraised at $183k.
Should Cashflow $200 with capex/maint/vacancy.
Zero out of pocket.
Think I did well for my first.
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Account Closed
Rental Property Investor · Central, FL · Member since 2016 · 950 posts · 821 votes
7y
Originally posted by @Account Closed:

From the time you started seriously looking and making offers, how long did it take you to buy your first property (excluding house hacks)? I'm also interested to know how many offers got rejected before the first one got accepted if anyone wants to share that.
It took me four years to take the plunge for the first property. Once I started looking it took me 3 months and 7 rejections and the 8th one stuck
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Michael J Callinan
Rental Property Investor · Clinton, CT · Member since 2016 · 49 posts · 36 votes
7y
I would say it took about a year and a half looking at markets to even determine where to start. Once I found a market it took another 6 months to research, meet brokers, realtors, other investor to get the information I needed to make an educated decision on moving forward. It may seem like a long time but I have purchased over 20 homes in my area and now when some thing comes on the market I know immediately the arv, rents, taxes, and areas to stay away from. It probably took 10 offers and looking at about 80 properties to acquire my first one.
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Account Closed
OP
Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 142 posts · 55 votes
7y
@Frank Wong I'm on rejection number four so hopefully that means I'm due for a win! Thanks for your thoughts
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Account Closed
OP
Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 142 posts · 55 votes
7y
@Brian Ellis I'm hoping! Thanks for sharing
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OP
Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 142 posts · 55 votes
7y
@Tony Wooldridge thanks for the perspective!
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OP
Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 142 posts · 55 votes
7y
@Josue Vargas I'm coming up on about 3 months now, had a few close misses but nothing closed yet. Thanks for the thoughts
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OP
Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 142 posts · 55 votes
7y
@Spencer Cornelia wow I've heard of some long times to close but I think that one takes the cake. Hopefully it worked out in the end!
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Account Closed
OP
Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 142 posts · 55 votes
7y
@Scott Anderson nice, that's a lot to take on for your first one. I've made offers on a few real beat up properties but have gotten beaten out. I'm looking at some stuff in better shape now. More cash out of pocket but it seems like it removes some of the challenges that might be hanging me up
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Account Closed
OP
Rental Property Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2018 · 142 posts · 55 votes
7y
@Michael J Callinan good to know the pace picks up after the first one!
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Spencer Cornelia
Investor · Las Vegas, NV · Member since 2017 · 321 posts · 524 votes
7y
@Account Closed I wrote about it here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/223/topics/64...
I'm very fortunate that my first deal took forever, I had to deal with lawyers, title company, and owner for nearly a year which led me to understand the process of closing a deal very well as compared to just buying one off the MLS. Additionally, it was seller financed (seller carry) so I had some experience with creative financing right off the bat.
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Frank Wong
Real Estate Broker · Bay Area · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 3k+ votes
7y
Originally posted by @Account Closed:

@Frank Wong I'm on rejection number four so hopefully that means I'm due for a win! Thanks for your thoughts
Don't worry stick with it. All part of the game. Take a look at your previous offers and what the final sale price is. This will give you an idea of how far you are on price. Talk to your agent about how you can strengthen your offer with your terms. You need to create an edge on your offer from the other buyers.
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Russell Gronsky
Specialist · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2016 · 384 posts · 318 votes
7y
@Account Closed, when I first moved to Baltimore and decided to set up a flipping business, it took me 14 months to nail down my first deal. I have a full time job so between working and learning the local market, it took 8 months. It then took another 6 months and about 15 offers before I hit it. But don't look at the number of rejections and freak out. I don't worry about rejections. I use them as tests to see what the market (and sellers) will bare.
People are much more willing to give you your price (or close to it) if you drop your "outs" and shorten your time to close (or leave close flexible, based on seller's needs).
But I'll tell you where it gets interesting. After my first, I closed my second, 21 days later. And after that the flood gates opened. I hadn't even finished my walk through of the 1st property, I already had a neighbor asking me if I was a flipper and if I wanted to talk to her friend who was looking to sell a property down the street. I'm at the store buying 2 sets of kitchen appliances and the guy taking my order gives me his brother's number because he has a house near one of my projects who is looking to sell. I was taking some pictures of the exterior of another project and the neighbor comes out to tell me the guy across the street just passed and his family is looking to sell the house since none of them want to be landlords.
The streets are watching what you're doing so keep at it. Make those offers, drop as many outs as you feel comfortable with and be patient. The market resists you at first but once you break through, you are quickly rewarded.
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Jordan MoorheadBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 5k+ posts · 3k+ votes
7y
@Steve Emling I spent 9 months actually seeing properties and made 7 offers.
Before that I had been working on getting ready to purchase for 2-3 years.
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JD MartinBusiness Member
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Rock Star Extraordinaire · Northeast, TN · Member since 2015 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
7y
My first true rental property? I guess about 4-5 months from the time I started seriously looking until purchase. But I had a lot of experience with real estate before that, including building new construction, so I was coming into it with a lot of knowledge. If I had no knowledge at all, I would probably try to get some first - maybe work in a related construction/service field, or buy a house hack and learn as I go (and paid my living expenses at the same time).
I also spent a number of years building up a pretty significant bundle of cash to use in this endeavor before I did anything. I bought & rehabbed my first three houses from cash on hand outright.
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Matt P.
Investor · Columbus, OH · Member since 2015 · 625 posts · 601 votes
7y
@Steve Emling @Frank Wong well said Frank. Steve, i spent about 2 years researching and getting myself worked into a solid personal financial situation. Once I had good credit, money in the bank and a good job I bought the first deal I offered on lol. I announced to some close friends and family I was looking for a fixer upper house and someone turned me onto a house that they noticed sitting on the market over a year with steady price drops. The house was finally pulled off market and I offered less than half of it's lowest listed price, met them in the middle and haven't looked back since. It wasn't easy as I was starting with absolutely nothing, no money and bad credit when I started my research. Once I made my initial offer I closed on the actual deal in like 3 weeks with cash. It's been great ride so far.
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Matt Leber
Rental Property Investor · Orlando, FL · Member since 2015 · 353 posts · 269 votes
7y
@Steve Emling My wife and I made only one offer to get our first rental property back in late 2016. I think the fact that it had tenants that still had quite some time left on the lease may have been unappealing to others. Turns out they’re awesome tenants though, we still rent to them! We only spent one day physically seeing properties.
9 months before that, we bought out primary home - also the first house we “saw”. Made a couple bids on Hubzu and got a great deal on it! It’s not a rental yet, but we bought it with the mindset that it will be part of our rental portfolio one day. Most importantly the numbers work, and for the time being we love living in our area with an affordable mortgage.
We had a few offers rejected on different properties while we were looking for deal #3. Maybe 3 or 4 offers before we finally landed the right one. Deal #4 and #5 were off market so we didn’t really have much competition.
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Ned CareyPro Member
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Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 17k+ posts · 13k+ votes
7y
@Account Closed it took me 6 months to get a property under contract. It was another two months before it closed.
I jokingly say I cheated. I bought something at auction. It didn't take a lot of creativity or marketing to get that first deal but It did take a while to learn enough to move forward.
It was probably a year before I bought my second property, which came trough more creative means.
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Jeffrey H.
Baltimore, MD · Member since 2018 · 169 posts · 82 votes
7y
29 years
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