Posted by Rob FL on February 11, 2001 at 11:07:53:
I’m certainly no expert on flipping, but I will try to help best I can.
Having someone take you seriously is truly an attitude and self-esteem thing. It’s the way you act and the way you come across. Certainly a strong offer also helps, but it is attitude that does it in my opinion. Of course developing your attitude and self-esteem into that of a confident winner might take a lot of work. Everyone is different. Heaven knows it took years for me to get there (and I still have to work on it on a daily basis).
I am not aware of you having to qualify for anything in order to flip property, but it would not be a wise idea to make offers that you can’t actually close yourself if you have to.
My general rule of thumb as far as earnest money deposits go is $100 for FSBOs and $500 for Realtor listings. On the more expensive Realtor listings, I will up my earnest money deposit as necessary. Low earnest money deposits are a key to Realtors that the offer is not serious.
In a nutshell, how I orchestrate a flip is to: 1) get the property under contract and make sure I have the right to let other people take a look at the place (usually I tell the seller/Realtor that these people are my “contracters” or “inspectors” – they also happen to be investors looking for rehab properties), 2) I get the investor/rehabber to sign a sales & purchase contract to buy the property from me. They also reimburse me for my earnest money deposit. 3) We close.
It’s that simple. The true trick though is being to orchestrate things. It might take alot of mistakes before you get it right. I made plenty and still do sometimes.
I hope that helps some.