Realtors say...prequalify?!?!? - Posted by Scott

Posted by Rob FL on February 25, 2001 at 18:00:35:

I agree. I work with several investors and I know the ones that can close, no questions asked. However there are some sellers, mainly HUD, VA, and most institutional lenders who simply don’t care who you are. Even if you are Donald Trump or Michael Jackson they will ignore your offer if you don’t have proof of funds.

Realtors say…prequalify??? - Posted by Scott

Posted by Scott on February 24, 2001 at 10:57:30:

I could use some help to ease my frustration.
I havn’t been at the creative investing process long. And I have yet to make my first deal (I can’t wait)! But it seems that everytime I talk to a realtor about a property with a hint of promise (good price or motivation), they always ask about prequalification. I have bad credit from ‘life experience’ and I feel I can’t even attempt to make an offer without running into this obstacle. Would I need to have an investor partner prequalify for me first or is there any other way I can “somehow” tie up a potential investment ON MY OWN? How does one work with Realtors anyway since most seem inflexible and unknowledgable to the CRE process themselves!!! Thanks for the help!
Scott
Orange County, CA.

Re: Forget about being - Posted by Ed Copp (OH)

Posted by Ed Copp (OH) on February 24, 2001 at 11:20:45:

prequalified, since you do not quality for new financing (at least as your Realtor knows it). If you want to continue looking for a good deal by using a Realtor tell them you need the CASH price. Cash is king (always) and should not need to be qualified. If they still want to pre-qualify you just move on, you are attempting to deal with someone who is not knowledgable.

There is a difference between pre-qualified, and pre-approved. Learn the difference, just because it is interesting; and most Realtors have difficulty explaining that to you.

Since you are what I like to call “credit impaired” or “credit challenged”, you will need to find other ways to buy (or to control) the property that will make you money. There is a lot of info on the boards about: leasing, options, assignment of contracts, purchasing “subject to” existing financing; and on and on. Read all you can. After you have made a bunch of cash, then you will not need to be concerned about financing so much, cash is always king.

Incidentally if your credit was perfect, and you bought and owned about four properties on new loans you would find yourself again “credit impaired”, as almost all lenders would fear that you were about to go belly up because of all of your mortgage payments.

Re: Forget about being - Posted by Rob FL

Posted by Rob FL on February 25, 2001 at 10:54:53:

In my neck of the woods, all Realtors want to see either a pre-qualification letter OR proof of cash to close. You can’t get around it. I guess they now teach this on day 1 of Realtor school, no proof and the offer is flimsy at best.

On the flip side though, at least two-thirds of the deals I do don’t involve Realtors (and that coming from me, a Realtor/broker.)

Re: There are always exceptions. - Posted by Ed Copp (OH)

Posted by Ed Copp (OH) on February 25, 2001 at 11:42:01:

My suggestion is to learn how to be one of the exceptions.

There is a very wealthy man in my town, who if he wants to buy something he just does that. His name alone is good enough for the people who know him, and that is just about everybody.

I once bought some land from him. We talked and agreed on price and terms. I (I am a real estate broker) asked him, do we need to write this up some way? His answer was no, it’s a done deal. We shook hands. His attorney took care of everything. I showed up and we had a closing (took about 8 minutes)…Done deal, I would like to be like this man.