Posted by Chris on March 02, 2000 at 17:49:22:
Robert-
Don’t forget to look in the newspaper for rentals-you can ask the seller if he would be interested in selling or L/O to you. Also look for FSBO ads (For Sale By Owner). Drive neighborhoods and look for signs.
Also check out Garage Sales (also in the newspaper and when driving ) and indicate your interest in the property.
Many brokers to ensure they get the listing will give an overly optimistic(high) value of the property to the seller. The seller thinks right away that is what the house will sell for. The house does not get many offers and the ones that are received are a lot lower than the price the broker gave the seller. The broker has the listing locked in-so then the seller is notified that the price will need to be lowered to move the property.
The listed properties that you will have the best chances with are the ones that have been listed for sometime. Look for 60days+. Many listings expire after 90 days. A broker who has a listing that is about to expire will be more cooperative and the seller will also start to understand that they need to be flexible if they want to sell their home. When you visit a realtor one of the criteria you tell them for properties that you are interested in is that those properties should be listed for 90 days or have a listing that is close to expiration.
When a realtor lists a property they do not always get the mortgage information from the seller or the seller does not wish to provide it. You will just have to make a lowball written offer on the property-that will ferret out the payoff on the mortgages. I assume that is the information that you are having trouble finding. Remember that if you give the broker a written offer they are required to present it. Make sure you have weasel clauses in place in case the deal is not a good one.
Your county has the information you need recorded in the public records-that will fill in a lot of the blanks. If there is still some confusion please feel free to repost.
-Good Luck, Chris