selena1
Verified member
Recently I closed on the sale of two homes. They were located about a mile apart and had comparable market values. However, beyond these two similarities, the two deals were very different from each other. Let me discuss in more detail the similarities and differences of the two deals.
My business partner and I purchased both properties from families who were in preforeclosure. The leads for each property came from letters that I had mailed to families who had recently received Notices of Default. The one family responded to me within 24 hours of receiving my first letter. I met with them within two hours of receiving their phone call and signed a contract with them on the spot to purchase their home. The other family responded to me after receiving the fourth letter from me. After a couple of broken appointments and two meetings we signed a contract to buy their home. With each home we did a "kitchen table" type closing within a couple of days of signing the contract. Both homes were purchased "subject to" the existing financing remaining in place. The earnest money given for each home was one dollar.
First Deal
We began marketing the first house by advertising it in the newspaper at market value and putting signs in the neighborhood and nearby intersections. We had a verbal agreement with the seller that they would clear all of their belonging out of the house within two weeks. The house was very messy and dirty. When the sellers failed to make any progress clearing the house we went ahead with the marketing and reduced the asking price. Within two weeks we had only received a few phone calls from mostly non-interested prospects.
At this point we reduced the asking price further and changed our signs to notify the public that owner financing was available. At that point we started to get a larger number of phone calls from truly interested prospects. Our owner financed terms and the lower than market value asking price separated us from the hundreds of realtor represented homes that needed bank financing.
My business partner and I purchased both properties from families who were in preforeclosure. The leads for each property came from letters that I had mailed to families who had recently received Notices of Default. The one family responded to me within 24 hours of receiving my first letter. I met with them within two hours of receiving their phone call and signed a contract with them on the spot to purchase their home. The other family responded to me after receiving the fourth letter from me. After a couple of broken appointments and two meetings we signed a contract to buy their home. With each home we did a "kitchen table" type closing within a couple of days of signing the contract. Both homes were purchased "subject to" the existing financing remaining in place. The earnest money given for each home was one dollar.
First Deal
We began marketing the first house by advertising it in the newspaper at market value and putting signs in the neighborhood and nearby intersections. We had a verbal agreement with the seller that they would clear all of their belonging out of the house within two weeks. The house was very messy and dirty. When the sellers failed to make any progress clearing the house we went ahead with the marketing and reduced the asking price. Within two weeks we had only received a few phone calls from mostly non-interested prospects.
At this point we reduced the asking price further and changed our signs to notify the public that owner financing was available. At that point we started to get a larger number of phone calls from truly interested prospects. Our owner financed terms and the lower than market value asking price separated us from the hundreds of realtor represented homes that needed bank financing.
