137 - Before Giving Up Explore The Options

One thing will always improve your success rate when buying real estate. Every time you sit down to have a face to face conversation with a seller, you must ask yourself the following questions: “Did I take adequate time to build an adequate rapport with the seller?” You’re not going to have a very successful negotiation if the person on the other side of the table doesn’t believe in you. “Did I find out why they are selling?” Without that reason, you’re going to have a difficult time negotiating. How can you know what to provide if you don’t know what they need? “Did I determine what the highest and best use of the property really is?” Are you going to flip the property wholesale or retail, or alternatively, are you going to rent it out long term? It’s going to be one of those three and you must figure out what the best option is. “Did you find out what the sellers really want?” Maybe you can give them what they want, but you will never know if you don’t ask. “Did I find out what they need the money they are asking for?” If you find that out, maybe you can solve their problem a lot easier. “Did you find out where they want to go?” If you know that, maybe you can help them buy a property or move into the area they are looking at. “Did I do a thorough inspection of the property for repairs?” If you don’t do that, you are going to be sorry later if you end up buying that property. Even if you have to bring in a contractor to give you that quote, you need that info in order to make a good buying decision. “Did I thoroughly explain why I need terms that will allow that property to work for me?” If you’re going to rent out the property, it has to pay for itself from the rent it brings in after expenses. To get that you have to get a payment that will cover you costs and allow for cash flow. “Did I give the seller several options to buy their property?” Cash is not the only thing that people want. Once you know what they want, you can present several options that will help the seller get exactly that. “Did I thoroughly explain each of your offers and how it will be good for them?” There are a lot of advantages that seller financing comes with but you may have to lay them out for people to see them. “What offers did I make?” If you have access to funding, did you offer all cash? Are there other things other than cash that you can also come up with? There are hundreds of ways to structure an offer that can make it better for you and the seller, but you have to know what they want. Never leave until you’ve exhausted all your options and you will have considerably more success in your real estate investing career.