All Forum Posts by: Larry Turowski

@Ronald H. a business card will not make a difference in either of these situations.

To find the article you are looking for try using the site:biggerpockets parameter in a Google search.  For instance, I entered:

How to get a Yes from Seller site:biggerpockets.com

into Google's search bar and maybe one of these is what you are looking for.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/05/21...

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2014/06/20...

I suggest you find a mentor at your local REIA whom you can offer to help and learn from.

Good luck!

Michael Q said on a recent podcast that he never give the seller a price.  He controls the conversation and makes (guides) the seller into giving and lowering the price.

I can't seem to make that happen.

I had a seller who was relocating and needed to sell his home in order to close on his new house in 5 weeks. He gave me a price of $84, the assessed value and likely a little above FMV. I tried the "$84K? Hmmm....is that the best you can do?" He said he was negotiable. When I asked what he could do he asked me to come out and see it and tell me what I thought. I said I need to know that we are in the same ballpark before coming out and again tried to get him to give me a price, but he kept saying, you tell me.

I felt like I was trying too hard to control the conversation and it became adversarial.  

I finally told him it would likely need to be in the high 50s.  And he  said it would need to be at least $80.

Okay, so maybe it wouldn't have been a deal  regardless, but how do I do a better job of controlling the conversation when the seller keeps putting it back in my court?   How do I overcome, "Just come out and look at it," or "What can you offer me?"  This happens to me a lot.

I'm fairly new to BP, but I think I'm hooked. This isn't marketing per se, but what good is marketing if you do not land the deal. Here are some that got away from me.  (The ordered list formatting doesn't seem to be working for me, so I am putting in my own bullet numbers.)

1. HUD property. 2009. Needed a very minor rehab, but I was new to investing, scared, and couldn't pull the trigger. LESSON: Be ready to pull the trigger. You get ready by educating yourself and, yes, making mistakes like this.

2. Wholesaler. 2009. Could have gotten a property for $21.5K that would have been worth $60K with a $20K rehab. LESSON: Same issue! It’s okay, there will be other deals. Keep getting educated—specifically on cost of rehab.

3. HUD property. 2009. Another one! I haven't done HUD in a while; I assume it still works the same way. You submit bids nightly and it is either accepted or rejected. Just because they don't accept your bid today, doesn't mean they won't tomorrow. I submitted (through my realtor) a bid for $52K, if I recall. Rejected. Submitted a couple more times and then stopped. I noticed one day they dropped the asking price to $50K! I figured, great, I'll offer $48K. Got outbid by someone who bid $50K. They flipped it after modest rehab for $130K!!! LESSON: Don't monkey around in a competitive situation. Make your best offer.

4.Bandit sign lead. Saw house and made an offer. Seller wanted to think about it over the weekend. Then sold to someone else that weekend. LESSON: Close the deal! Try to figure out what the objection is and what will help the seller overcome that objection.

5.Online lead. Seller already contracted with someone else by the time I got hold of them. This was good deal in a B area in the suburbs. The seller was motivated from the outset and offering the house at a great price. But they were not answering their phone. I finally stopped at the house a few days later to find it was taken. LESSON: If it is a definite deal, respond to them as soon as possible. As I heard Michael Q say in a podcast, you’ve got to settle their sense of urgency right away. I should have driven to the house immediately and if they were not there left a note saying, I am ready to buy their house at their asking price. Call me.

These are fairly representative of deals that I have lost. It basically comes down to

A. Not being educated about a market and rehab enough to be comfortable taking the deal. I can solve this by getting more educated, getting mentoring for situations that are new to me, or getting the contract but having an out and a plan in place to quickly fill in the knowledge gap—like getting contractors over to give me bids.

B. Not responding quickly enough. I’m not sure how to solve this yet. I’d appreciate any help.

C. Being greedy. I need to make my best offer, especially if I know I’m in a competitive situation. But I still try to minimize risks. A deal may be worth $10K more than I am offering, but until I KNOW that, I’m not speculating. I’ll get outbid, but then watch to see what happens with the house so I’m ready next time.

D. Not closing the deal. I need to get better at discovering what the seller’s needs are and satisfying those needs so they are willing to sign.

Yes, it stings a bit to lose a deal, but I take the lesson and move on. Here’s another lesson. If you are not losing some deals you are probably not finding any deals.

I thought about doing something similar at one time and asked my atty if I could sell the LLC just before closing, sort if like a double close. He said yes, I could.

I never did it but it is an arrow in my quill for situations like yours.  Congrats on your deal. 

@Jason Fraser Jason, sorry I missed your question yesterday.  I didn't notice the Next arrow to see more replies.

Well, I don't know what the best is.  I was thinking foreclosures two years ago, but I've found the BPO comes back too high on 9/10.  On the other hand, it's a lot easier to get those deals than to get someone who has equity and is going to give you a huge discount.

I'm just exploring doing more direct marketing.  Online marketing has been okay, but is expensive and I've only gotten a couple of deals that way, one of them marginal.  I did get one other wholesale deal.

So, really I stil feel like a newbie, as I said.  I also haven't tried courthouse auctions because I have a day job and can't go to them.  There are deals there, though.

22.  Realtor.  A area, suburb.  This will be a flip.

It is just coincidence that this happened right after I made this post.  When I am in buying mode I sometimes check zillow for listings and price reductions that are 1 day old.  

I sent an email on Thursday to the listing agent explaining that I was a cash buyer and had no buyers agent.  (This means they get the full commission and hopefully advocate for me with the seller.)  Saw it Thursday evening.  Sent an email Thursday night after doing some research asking her to write up an offer.

Got the offer to sign on Friday.  Got a counter this morning, and after some back and forth we inked the deal this afternoon.

It's a quirky house, but I think we can make it work.  Gotta take some educated risks!

@Tim Coppola Got it!  Thanks!

 I would love to do what you are doing!  By the way, how do you get the nice highlighted @ link?  I figured out how to do a link, but it looks different from everyone elses.

 But you don't know my results!  They've been middle of the road.

@Mark Whittlesey, there are several sites that allow you to set key word triggers, just as BP does.   I use https://ifttt.com  (If this then that).  You set key words and have it email you the postings when they match.