All Forum Posts by: William Allen

@Nancy Roth  I went back with a price close to asking and agreed to the higher closing cost assistance. They agreed and we are moving forward with the contract. My biggest concern after that was the appraisal but it came in high so we are on our way.

@J Scott  I have read a couple of places about the art of negotiation and making the other party feel like they got a good deal. That is where this question stemmed from, wanted to see others take on it. I must have read that blog post of yours a while ago or maybe you have similar verbiage in your book. That could be where my question came from... Thanks for the link!

@Jose Martinez  Have a look in your inbox for my colleague request.  Now that our rehab is finished I should have some time this week to sit down for lunch if you want.  

Thanks for all the comments.  When the written offer came in, the closing cost help was even higher than the agent said it would be. We ended up countering with an increase in purchase price to make up for the high closing help. We will see what comes back  

For you house flippers out there, do you always counter an offer in some way? We received a good offer today, slightly below list price and a little high on the buyers closing costs but overall it is good. I would like to counter with a few thousand less in closing expenses paid, however the offer is pretty good. I don't think we will have any problem selling this house but with it getting close to the holidays it would be nice to get this one locked up. The main problem I see with paying such high closing costs is that if there are any problems with the appraisal we may need to lower the price slightly. We could always reduce the closing costs at the same time but that may cause more problems. I would prefer to address it now.

What do you other flippers do? Ever accepted a deal out of the gate with no negotiation when it was below list price? I think people like to feel like they got a deal and some back and forth usually makes them feel like they did.

Came across this post when searching about keyword alerts. I'm not getting any notifications, only the newsletters. Are others still having this problem?

Heather, sorry I haven't updated the post in a while. We closed on the property about 2 weeks after we had a fully ratified contract. Everything went smoothly and we got a $500 closing credit from the seller for closing early. There were a couple of unforseen issues with the house that I didn't catch on the initial walkthrough but nothing major. The biggest problem was that the deck was built on top of the gas meter. We were already planning on doing some work on the deck so we just cut a section off to expose the gas meter. Other than that, the budget went up slightly due to some of the finishes we picked but that has nothing to do with the auction site.

Like I said in the original post, I tried to go through the listing agent but they must have been under a contract with homesearch.com and didn't want anything to do with my offers (eventhough they were higher than the final sales price). I am glad we went with the auction site as it saved us a lot of money. Also realize though, my experience may not be the same as yours since I'm sure it is property specific so beware. The communication between their attorney and myself were good throughout the process. If you have any more specific questions feel free to send me a message, email or call. Good luck!

@Zantiago Zurita , I have a rental house in St Mary's County that is turning over in December and we are also rehabbing a property here now to go on the market early November.  The market does slow up down here in the winter months but there are constantly base employees and military personnel looking for rentals.  I have noticed it slow more this year then in the past.  If you have any questions on the area let me know, maybe I can help out.

-Bill

Caleb,

When just starting out, I would certainly invest somewhere I have a presence. Preferably somewhere I live. I invest in Pensacola from a distance and eventhough I thought I had a good property management company, when push comes to shove, nothing beats being there yourself to make sure things are done right. The logistics certainly become reduced when you are in the area, at least in my experience. If you are looking to move and do this full time, find a market in an area you like and invest there. Maybe that is why you posted this question... Pensacola isn't scenic enough for you? I think you can find deals in any area, you may just have to tailor your investment strategy to the location in which you want to live. Good luck!

No idea what the reserve price was as it was never met. I posted my bidding experience here:
http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/41/topics/145970-homesearchcom-experience

Paid cash and special warranty deed. They also offered us a $500 closing credit if we were ablet o closer early which wasn't advertised beforehand. Overall, it was a very good experience and I was surprised at how well it went.

Colin,

I closed on a property with homesearch.com two weeks ago and it went very smooth from my end. There wasn't a HOA lien but there were back HOA fees due. The seller settled the full tab at closing so I wasn't stuck with the bill. Hopefully someone will have a more solid answer for you but overall I was happy with the transaction. Good luck!

-Bill