Where to focus your efforts when investors are vague on location?

[Sage Jankowitz]

I'm beginning to run into a similar situation with my investors over and over again. I ask them what neighborhoods they want to invest in and they list an area of the state covering well over 50 towns. Then I ask for their top 3 and they tell me they will invest anywhere within that area at X% of FMV. So my question is, if all my top buyers are giving me a HUGE range of towns to choose from, what should I look for in picking MY top 2-3? My top couple of buyers are looking for roughly 65% FMV, can spend up to ~$1M cash, and can close quickly. What kind of area would you go after? I should mention that in MA we have a WIDE range of towns in just a few miles, from $1M mansions down to $35K REOs. What type of area would you go after?

[Nick J.]

I would first verify that they're actually buyers. Just become someone tells me they're a buyer, doesn't mean jack and the bean stalk to me, prove it is what I say. I can care less how much they 'can' spend or how quick they 'can' close if they're all talk and no walk.

If they can't respect your time by giving you non-vague answers to your direct questions, the consider giving them the same level of respect by working with someone else.

If you still feel loyalty to someone that doesn't reciprocate (sp?) then I would seek out where they have bought before and use that as a starting point. If you find that they've bought in a certain area 7 times more than other areas, that would be an indication that they like that area more etc......