The other day I flabbergasted a friend of mine.
(I’ve always wanted to use that word in a blog post. Score!)
I explained to him my simple funnel for getting real estate deals:
- I get leads coming in (direct mail, MLS, driving for dollars, etc.).
- I qualify the leads to see if they deserve a deeper look.
- I do a quick analysis of the property (using the BiggerPockets Analysis Calculators) to see if it warrants a site visit.
- If all looks good and it’s a bank foreclosure, I make an offer.
- If the offer gets accepted, I go look at the house and proceed to closing.
As I walked him through this, my friend was befuddled! (Another word I’ve always wanted to use in a blog post!)
“Wait a minute,” he said to me, “you are telling me you make an offer BEFORE ever stepping foot in the house?”
“Of course!” I responded. “At least, if it’s a foreclosure. If it’s a motivated seller, I still make a verbal offer.”
“That’s crazy!” He laughed. “How would you know what to offer? And how do you know the condition?”
As I explained it to him, I thought it would probably interest others as well, hence this blog post!
So before I explain how I do it, let me tell you why I do it this way.
Why I Make Offers Before Looking at the Property
I realize that to newer investors, making offers sight-unseen probably seems crazy.
When I think back to my early days investing in real estate, I used to do exactly what my friend does:
- Walk through the property
- Walk through it again
- Measure everything
- Make a detailed spreadsheet
- Panic
- Walk through it again
- Get scared and overthink everything
- Then make an offer
- And the offer gets rejected 80-90 percent of the time still.
Today, I make my offers before I step foot into the property.
Why?
Related: 8 Tips to Put Your Real Estate Offer in the Best Light — And Get it Accepted
Four reasons:
(click to continue reading on BiggerPockets)
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