I’ve been reading everyone else’s success stories for a long time; I just had to share mine. First, my local agent with whom I have dealt frequently called me about a motivated seller from out of town.
He was asking $82,000 for a two-story, federal-style home on a nice street in our town. My wife and I looked at the house and made an offer of $39,000. (My mother-in-law thought we were crazy and insulting.)
The seller countered at $49,000, and we eventually contracted at $42,000. (Not so crazy now!) After some siding repair, central heat and air, and some light landscaping, that same agent found us an out-of-town buyer at $81,900.
After repair expense, commissions, and all expenses we netted about $21,000. Not bad for a couple of afternoons.
Deal #2
A friend of mine who knows I buy houses told me his aunt–who lives about two hours away–had a house in a neighboring town she wanted to sell.
I wasn’t interested, at first, but I thought why not at least look. It was a 2/1 brick ranch on a quiet street with a nice yard. Through some checking, I found that houses on the street were selling in the low $70,000s.
It needed updating and some repairs of about $15,000, so I offered her $36,000. She accepted! I called a real estate agent friend of mine to take a look so I could list it conventionally. He offered me $46,000 on the spot, before repairs.
I bought and sold the property without ever leaving my chair and my agent friend paid ALL the costs. So I was out no money, no repairs, no effort to speak of and walked with $10,000. What a great business!