I met with a woman in Fort Smith, AR who wanted to move back home (somewhere in Indiana), and she was very ready to leave. Her time frame to stay in the house was about a week. When I met with her, she showed me the property. It was a fairly small home with some very nice landscaping in the front yard, some rose bushes and other flowers, but inside was a different story. The floor needed replaced, the walls were studs and sheet rock, the counters all needed replaced, and it smelled foul.
I checked in the attic and saw that there was no insulation. I made a comment about how old the roof was. Basically, I gave the house a very, very good once over. When I was done, it only took about an hour. I asked her how much she was asking. The asking price was $29,500 CASH, no room for negotiating.
Time to negotiate a bargain deal
I told her I would get with my partner and see what we could do, but I felt at the time that that price may not be something we could do. But I would get back with her in two days. My counter offer was $9,000 cash in 30 days.
She wanted to go back and forth on the price, but I stayed firm. Within a week we had a contract for $9,000 cash in 30 days. I turned and flipped the house to another person with cash for $11,500. It took me three weeks do finish this deal. I was very happy. (Only took me three trips to Ft. Smith.)
Deal #2
I received a call from a woman who wanted to sell her house as quickly as possible. She had rented it to her son for a year, and he had “trashed” it. I went to take a look at the house and found that it was full of trash, and need some minor cosmetic repair, paint, and carpet. The oven/stove was missing. I went to her house to get a contract signed.
The house could easily sell as is for $90,000 to $100,000, but after repair could sell for up to $120,000 or more. At her house, I offered $65,000, with an explanation of the repairs needed; she countered with $80,000. I countered again with $70,000 plus a cruise of her choice to Bahamas or Mexico, wherever.
Her response was she hates to fly and hates the water. Could I come up on the price. I told her the “best” I could do was $75,000, and she has to buy a new stove with her part of the profit–final offer only good as long as I sat at her table. She agreed, and we signed a purchase contract with me as the buyer with “and/or assigns” next to my name.
I assigned the contract to someone an hour later for $3,000 and walked away from the deal to go on to the next one!
[This is Dustin’s second Success Story. Read the first one here: How I Made $20,000 Flipping Real Estate]