Posted by leslie on April 19, 2000 at 02:56:13:
Pretty tough to get sellers to give you a break when buyers are lined up to throw money at them. i remember doing two things when the market was hot in my area.
a) involves a quicker turnover than a l/o.
b) is finding owners who are less aware of the hot market, or are in more need of “management type” service than selling.
calling “for rent” ads with a long distance area code will produce out of town owners. they are less sensitive to the market, and/or need managment help, ie. the sandwich lease/option . distressed landlords are your market, can you run “eviction solution” ads ?
now for “a” the quick turn. write many offers on homes that need just a little spruce up, like the porch needs paint, landscape trimmed, that first impression stuff that you can fix quickly. the key is to get your offer accepted and escrow long enough to resell it. i wanted 60 to 90 days. my buyers would need 30-45 days to get funding. check with some local agents to learn about closing time for you local real buyers. simply put you clean it up, then add 10-20-30k to the price and resell. this works great in a hot market, especially if the seller is not marketing it well. you are looking for a fsbo with a little sign out front, or no sign just word of mouth. you mow it, wash it up and advertise like crazy, signs, flyers, ads. the seller will be aware of it all so don’t try to hide it. its work you get paid for, he lets you do all the work, and says “thank you for all you’ve done”.
your risk is that you dont resell it before escrow runs out. you should negotiate an extension clause for the closing date in your offer for an additional payment to the seller.
you might think this is a lot of work. you might over estimate the value and loose out. if you do you will be wiser and do just fine the next time. some of us buy and spend tens of thousands to learn the same lesson. here you want to keep the improvements small, or none at all, jut know the market, and write offers.
leslie