[Dr. Howard]

(09-28-2015 03:37 PM)worldwidetraveler Wrote:  

Are the houses meant for investments?

Most sellers are emotionally attached to their houses. Many think they are worth far more because they added some special wallpapers or some other nonsense.

You won't be able to show them the truth. Only time will and if/when they get to the point where their reason for selling is more painful than the reducing the price of their house.

There are also times when these sellers overextend themselves on the loans. They may be trying to break even at that price. At this point there really is no way to negotiate a better price because their hands are tied.

If you are looking at investments, you have to go through a lot of marketing and talk to a lot of sellers to get to the good deals. If there is equity, in the property, you need to find out the motivations behind the sellers.

Unfortunately, this cannot be done through a agent. If these houses are sold through agents, the only thing you can do is shoot them offers. They can either be cash offers or, if the numbers work, a offer where the seller finances part of the purchase for a higher selling price. This is more of a shotgun approach. I tend to think this type of approach is better for properties that can built upon to increase value. Stuff like rehabs, acreage that can be split, houses that can be turned into multi-units, etc...

I agree with this when it comes to houses. I just bought a while ago and there were some homes that were just insanely priced because they people (read single women) who owned them "felt" that they were worth that much...and because they were emotionally invested couldn't be negotiated with.

There is a flipside to people that overvalue/emotionally price things if you are patient though. They run that high price and then when crisis hits they panic/give up and will sell it for anything just to get it off their plate because their emotional investment is shattered.

The home we bought came from such a "I'm done with this" woman. She was selling because she got married and was moving in with the guy. She wanted to sell before her wedding but the buyer bailed on the deal...so she was 'done with it' and just wanted to move on with her life....her realtor was also a horrible representative for her and was also 'ready to be done' with that sale.

So, they greased the skids to make the sale happen and this chick put close to $20k into the house of her own money between repairs, replacements, cash and closing costs that we asked for to make the deal happen.

Tl;DR - as advised above, give them a low offer and leave your contact info with them saying that you are open to discussion down the road and are not in a hurry. Cross your fingers that they get into a bind down the road and panic.