Liens aren’t fun. They aren’t fun to talk about, and they certainly aren’t fun to deal with. But sometimes, the ability to negotiate a lien will make or break your deal.

That’s why I’ve brought my friends Gavin and Melissa onto the show today. Melissa recently was able to work a $106,000 lien down to only $6,000, and she’s going to tell us all about how she did it.

“It was just really a matter of spending a lot of time and talking to them and explaining to them what was going on and a lot of being nice to people that weren't very nice to me because they're collections people.”

That’s really the key. At the end of the day, negotiating a lien is going to require you to use the same negotiation skills that you already rely on to make the deals. You have to reach out and build those relationships, and then people are going to be willing to work with you.

Melissa says that this even applies to IRS liens, which are typically the hardest to work with. The IRS is willing to negotiate, but they have a lot of legal hoops to jump through. You’re going to need a lot of documents from the seller. Melissa even recommends hiring a transaction coordinator to help handle the documentation. That way, she is never in possession of personal information like the seller’s social security number.

Melissa and Gavin also discuss probate laws, heirship affidavits, and the importance of buying properties at a discount. Melissa actually overspent on the renovation for the house we talked about earlier, but since she bought it at a discount and negotiated the lien down to almost nothing, she still made a nice profit.

What's Inside:

—How Melissa knocked $100k off a lien.

—IRS liens and how to negotiate them.

—Be a relationship-builder.

—The importance of buying discount properties.

—What is an heirship affidavit?