All Forum Posts by: Brian Volland

Well, keep an eye out. I drive a grey RAM 1500 covered in my wife's realtor ads. Good luck with the mailers and I hope to see you at the next meeting.

I'm surprised we haven't meet then. I go to the AZREIA monthly, PREC, and buy and hold meetings each month.

I hope to meet more folks at the AZREIA meetings but I figured I'd reach out here as well. It never hurts to try to network when and where you can.

Good suggestion on the find members though. Thank you.

@Joe Splitrock, truth be told I know I am likely wasting my time. If this property were moving fast (or likely to) I'd not have even bothered putting in the research that I have. This property is just a unique circumstance which appears to be scaring off other buyers. I can try both the "just have the realtor ask" and LOI methods but, as mentioned, I'm not expecting success. Then again, how will I know if I never ask?

I have always been a fan of the 3 offer method as it helps keep the seller from feeling trapped or defensive. I haven't tried it with a LOI yet but I'm thinking it may be time.

@Ryan Murdock, putting in the offer w/ contingencies is a good way to go and will likely be what I end up doing. It does lock me in to the deal but based on conversations with other colleagues, I'm pretty sure that it's about as good as I'm going to get. Thanks

@David Sanford, the verbal is a good idea as well and shouldn't bind me to anything, but then the realtor is not bound to show the offer either. He may just sit on it and reject it since it directly effects his commission. I don't think he would, but it's something for me to consider, so thank you.

Hi folks,

The question here is fairly simple: Is there a way to pitch an offer unofficially to gauge the seller's motivation/willingness to negotiate.

The first assumption is that it is considered unprofessional or illegal to contact a seller directly when they have a real estate agent for a property being sold. If this is not the case, obviously, that makes things a lot easier.

The longer version here is that there is a property which is listed overpriced even before investigation into it. It's a solid property in a solid location so I looked in to it anyway thinking I could negotiate during due diligence to a more reasonable price. What I've now found is that the listing information is deceptive, if not outright incorrect. To complicate things, I'd be pursuing private money to fund this deal but I don't want to waste the financial backer's time if there is no hope of a deal. SO, assuming I were to try to move forward with the property, I'd be coming back with an offer at nearly half price. I don't want to make an offer without having the money, and I don't want to try to get the money if the offer is going to fail. 

So how do you pitch an offer that's not binding so that you can go to your money lender with a firm number and not waste everyone time?

@Mark H. ,  the short answer to how I would use this as a bargaining chip is that in it's current split up form, only cash buyers are looking at the property because they are the only ones that could do this somewhat hassle-free.

If these were just two four unit properties on two parcels or even an eight unit, traditional lenders could be used for either residential or commercial loans. For someone to try to leverage these parcels as they stand, they'd require, at a minimum, 8 loans that are continent on all the others. 

As far as the time it takes to combine the parcels, I honestly don't know how long the owners have been trying to combine them but I know it's been at least 60 days. I haven't had to combine parcels yet so I don't know what kind of timeline to expect.

Hello fellow BPers,

I find myself in a unique situation that I am hoping someone with more experience will be able to help clarify for me. The short explanation of the situation is that an 8-unit, 2 building property (land and building) is for sale, however, the land is owned by an HOA that lays no claim to it ($0 taxes) and the units were condos and have not had their tax parcels merged (8 parcels not including the land).

I've spoken with the HOA and they've informed me that they lay no claim to the land. Historically the buildings were apartments that turned to condos which are now apartments again. When the buildings were made into apartments again, the county left the common area (the land) in the HOA name.

The seller's realtor has said that the parcel will be split into 2 separate parcels including the land when all is said and done and all in the building owner's name. They have no timeline on when this will be accomplished. 

I want to jump in before all this happens and use it to drive a better bargain. Then I'll have far more time to accomplish this task myself without competing with other investors.

The REAL question is, since the parcels are currently split, would this be simultaneous 9 closings (8 parcels + land)? If so, does that mean 9 individual title searches, insurance, etc. If so, is that not going to drive the closing costs through the roof?

@William F., as has been mentioned above, building the relationship is key. The easiest way to do that is by trying to establish a common ground. Ask them where they've seen the market going, reciprocate with your insights, maybe ask what issues they've faced so that you might be able to avoid them, share bad tenant stories, etc. Each owner, especially local, is a repository of information and you need to figure out how to get as much of it from them as possible while maintaining a friendly, non-aggressive attitude. They know why you're calling as soon as you start rambling off your script. They will be defensive. Do not start with "Do you want to sell?" because now you have nowhere to go. Try to get them to want to talk to you. 

I hope that helps a bit.