Small Wins Count - Forward Progress With Leads

[Christos Philippou]

The small wins in real estate certainly need to be celebrated, especially with new investors and real estate professionals.

I purchased my primary residence on a nice "quieter" street in the city about 2 months ago and have been loving it. We bought it for $128. Since then, another flip across the street is currently for sale for $135, and another a few houses up for $130. There is one house though, in particular, that caught my eye. It's directly across the street from me and appears to have been vacant for many years.

Yesterday, out of curiosity, I wanted to see how far I could get with some googling. I did a parcel search and found the owner. Owner seems to be deceased though and possibly co-owned by a relative. Did some more googling on the property and found an old related court case, listing 2 owners (husband and wife). Seems like the passing of the owner triggered some kind of court settlement to pass on to the kids.

After more googling, linkedin, and FB searching, I found the owner. Shot her a message and said hey, if you are the owner of this place, let me know! I would love to go take a look at it and see what we can come up with.

Several hours later, boom. Email provided, she explained the situation and said I can go take a look at it at any time. Now, this place is  certain to have problems as it's been vacant for years. But definitely excited to see what's in store! There are always leads to be found!

[Steve Vaughan]

Well done detective @Christos Philippou!

I kind of did a similar thing recently.  I was checking CL apts/ house for rent ads.  Saw one under market in a 4-plex in my target neighborhood.  The phone number was in there and I called, hoping it wasn't a PM.  Sure enough it was a nice lady that's been landlording for 35 years and will be at the property shortly.  She invited me over to see it and talk shop.

No deal is happening or anything right now, but I think she will call me first when the time comes.  We had a great conversation and I offered value to her with some landlording tips.  Rules have changed she wasn't aware of over the years. 

Good luck with your deal!