Ask the right questions, pause, and truly hear what your sellers are telling you before offering solutions.Bring the Value: Educate.

Even better, I might be able to snag it well under market value since it's an estate sale that's been sitting on the market for nearly 200 days.Here’s the challenge: while I could afford to purchase the property under market value, I’d be stretching my budget thin to cover the mortgage during the period I’d be remodeling the basement to make it rentable.

You would need an extremely high grossing property under market value on a something like a 5 year lease to profit, and you probably will not profit after startup costs until Year 2 or 3.Do not even think of trying it with 1/2 bedroom apartments or condos nor 2/3 bedroom homes. 

Start small with strategies like house hacking, leveraging your hands-on skills for value-add properties, and building a strong team or network to reduce risks.

Here are the key details of my situation:Rental Property Details (Note: This was our primary home till 2017):Current Value: $970,000 to $1MPrimary Mortgage Loan Balance: $505,000 (@ 2.6%)Took Home Equity Loan on this house to make down payment for my current primary residence.Home Equity Loan Balance: $123,000Total Loan Balance: $628K (Primary Mortgage + Home Equity Loan)Rental Status: OccupiedPrimary Residence:Purchased in 2022Mortgage Rate: 7.3%Current Loan Balance: $650KMy goal for 2025 is 2 fold: #1.

Rent value is based on the county and number of bedrooms.

Self managed HOAs are usually undercapitalized so you want to take a thorough review of the condition of the community to make sure there isn’t deferred maintenance because you might get hit with a special assessment if the board isn’t setting aside cash for those capital improvements.At face value, taking into consideration my typical financial objectives, I wouldn’t do this deal unless it was a much lower price.

What value did you offer agents to make the relationship mutually beneficial?

How did you add value to the deal?

With that being said we tend to see a lot of CA buyers relocate here for the lower cost of living including lower home values, property taxes, insurance, no state income tax, gas prices etc.