First win - What a rollercoaster

[Christopher Beale]

So I have finally made my first sell.  It seems easy to me to talk with sellers and negotiate the pain points to get a better price, but I had a block finding a buyer.  The block has finally been broken.  I managed to sell my first wholesale this weekend.  The house was one that I had given up on selling, it was a complete mess, in a less than desirable neighborhood.  But I had built rapport with the seller, a very unique old man,  and he was willing to let me keep trying to sell the property for him.  I had the property listed on several sites, as well as doing craigslist postings several times a week.  It has been ongoing for most of 2 months and I would get a hit here or there, but no bites.  I even offered it to another investor whose signs I called on for a mere $500 more than my contract; to no avail.  Well I had steadily dropped the price on CL, but had forgot to update my listing on zillow and trulia.  Then one day last week I got an email inquiry about the property.  The man simply asked if the property was still available.  I told him it was and he asked if owner financing would be acceptable with $6000 down (I still had the property listed at $12000 on these 2 sites) and payments of $1000 per month for 6 months.  I couldn't believe it, he didn't ask to go in (I did have several pictures posted) nor did he try to drop my asking price.  I was stoked, but I had to ask my seller if the offer was agreeable to him.  He agreed to a contract for deed on our original asking price of $8000, and said I could take the difference out of the down payment!  I immediately replied back to the buyer and said that his offer was accepted.  He wanted to close the next day, and he named a notary firm.  I drew up a contract for deed and met him and my seller at the firm.  They both signed and I walked away with a check for $4000!  Talk about an ecstatic afternoon!  I guess other than to share the story, my point is, for all newbs like myself, persistence is key.  Never give up even if it is a crap hole property!