Posted by michaela-ATL on June 29, 2003 at 13:30:01:
Drive around the neighborhood and call every for sale sign. Go to open houses in the neighborhood and talk to the agents. They ahve probably done a market analysis and can tell you some comps etc.
michaela
FSBO seller moved to another city - Posted by Mike Freeman
Posted by Mike Freeman on June 29, 2003 at 12:06:55:
I am posting this message in hopes that someone with more experience than I have can offer some advice.
Last week I found a house FSBO with an out of town phone number on the sign. I called the owner and it turns out her husband was laid off and they moved so he could get work. Now they are making two house payments and want to sell this house quick.
She said the house is not listed anywhere and no one has looked at it. It’s been vacant almost 2 months.
She is driving back to town later this week to show it to me.
This home does not appear to be a rehabber from the outside. It looks to be in great shape.
Now I know I need to find comps etc, but I don’t know where to look. She is asking 97,000 which seems to be high. I looked up the county tax appraisal and its appraised at 78K. Another home in the neighborhood is selling for 80K but it is a run down house on ugly property (and listed with a Realtor).
She said her mortgage payments are $420/mo. Houston rents for a 3br average at $1060. I have friends in the area who rent a 3 br for $1050.
I have a gut feeling that this could be my first deal, but I am unsure how to proceed. I could try to buy and flip (if I can get the price reduced significantly) or I could try to secure a L/O (which would take the burdens off of her), but I don’t even understand what forms to take with me. I’ve tried finding someone more experienced to help me in my area (Houston) but haven’t had any responses yet.
You know, I’ve read so many articles, books, websites, and BB posts over the last month or so that it’s like one big encyclopedia with no index and no table of contents.
I know one thing. I have someone here who really needs to sell this house ASAP.
Any specific advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mike in Houston
Re: FSBO seller moved to another city - Posted by B.L.Renfrow
Posted by B.L.Renfrow on June 29, 2003 at 13:04:39:
In addition to getting a better idea of market values in your area, when you meet with this seller, your goal should be to find out what it is she NEEDS – not what she WANTS, but what she needs.
As she’s already bought another house, my guess would be she doesn’t really NEED a big wad of cash right now. Instead, it’s probably painful for them to be making two payments, so what they really need is to get rid of that extra payment.
If you can show them a way to do that which works for them AND allows you to make money, you have a deal.
One other thing: you said SHE is coming, but you also mention a husband. If both names are on title, it won’t do any good to have just her sign an agreement; you’d need both signatures for it to be valid.
Brian (NY)
Re: FSBO seller moved to another city - Posted by michaela-ATL
Posted by michaela-ATL on June 29, 2003 at 12:51:36:
Mike,
to just get an idea of the values in the area, go to www.domania.com and www.homeradar.com . You can then drive by those houses and see, whether they compare in style etc.
Tax values don’t mean a whole lot. The house i live has a tax appraisal of 125k, yet my last appraisal was 405K.
michaela
oops! non disclosure state - Posted by Mike
Posted by Mike on June 29, 2003 at 13:22:04:
Well, learn something every day. Turns out Texas is a non-disclosure state, meaning sales prices are not available to the public.
Thanks for the site addy’s but they won’t work for me.
Any other suggestions on getting comp values?
Mike
Re: oops! non disclosure state - Posted by Tom-FL
Posted by Tom-FL on June 29, 2003 at 19:22:00:
Here yah go:
http://www.creonline.com/wwwboard/messages/76308.html
Re: oops! non disclosure state - Posted by Tom-FL
Posted by Tom-FL on June 29, 2003 at 19:10:11:
Search the message board for “non-disclosure”. Someone posted recently that they found a way to trick one of those sites into giving the info.