I HAVE LEARNED A WEALTH OF INFORMATION
In the two months that I have been involved with Prosper Inc, I have learned a wealth of information, and am well on my way to building a portfolio. I have looked at dozens of properties and have made 8 offers on properties ranging from 2 bed 1 bath houses to 4 bed 2 bath houses. Some have been rejected out of hand, and others have come close to being accepted. If nothing else, I have learned that in order to get a good deal, you have to make a lot of offers, the training materials say to expect one deal out of 12 or 13 offers.
My latest offer is a 3 bed 2 bath home that has a large office/den that only needs a closet to become a 4th bed. The owner was asking $250,000 and told me he would be willing to replace the washer /dryer and the stove if someone would purchase his house. The appliances are in good shape but are “used”. The only other problem with the house is that it has limited street access on a busy street.
I offered $230,000 with the appliance replacement, figuring I could put in a closet for little if anything, and contacted an asphalt company and found it would only cost about $1,000 to turn the driveway into a “u” shaped driveway, vastly improving access to the property. I have a 2 bed one bath house within 1.5 miles of this home and it was recently appraised at $230,000, so I figure my offer was pretty good.
While we were in our coaching sesion tonight he counter offered $232,000 with a $2,000 allowance for new appliances. I am going to get back to him and offer $230,000 and drop the appliance replacement. I am pretty sure that this deal is going to get closed on pretty quickly, as we are not far apart. Similar homes in the area, (4 bed 2 bath) approx 1300 square feet, have recently sold in the $260,000 to $270,000 range. Even if I put $5,000 into the house I stand to look at about a $30,000 proffit. That is not too bad of return for 10 to 15 hours a week for two months
Well, gotta go make that counter-counter offer, keep your fingers crossed for me, and next week I’ll let you know what happened.
Larry T.
Tukwila, WA
