A few years ago, in a week, I was able to locate forty-one probate notices in my local newspaper. After investigating in court, I discovered that twenty-two of these properties had real estate (real estate). So on Friday of that week, I sent twenty-two letters to each of the personal representatives (20-25 is a pretty typical week).
In my letter, I told the Personal Representative that I might be interested in purchasing the property that the heirs had inherited. I told them that if they were interested in selling to call me.
Three weeks later, on a Tuesday afternoon, I received a phone call from a lady in New York saying that her husband had received my letter and that he might be interested in selling the property he inherited when his sister passed away. The property turned out to be close to where I live in Oregon. She also said that she was a very successful real estate agent, so she would represent her husband to make sure I didn’t “take him to the dry cleaner.”
I said that I had no intention of taking anyone to the dry cleaner and that if my service didn’t benefit both of us, we probably wouldn’t do any business.
He gave me the address and I went out to see the property, which turned out to be a condo. Fortunately, the exact same condo model next door was for sale at $ 104,950, so I had a pretty good idea of the fixed value early on. Five days later, that condo was sold at full price, so I knew what the market would pay for this little old condo.
When I first walked in, I noticed that there was a pretty strong nicotine smell. The lady who died was a chain smoker and had lived there for 23 years. Other than that, a small repair was needed (painting, cleaning or replacing carpets, new countertops, kitchen floors, and some landscaping in his backyard) which I estimated would cost $ 3,500.
The next day, I called the lady in New York and told her that I was interested and that I would pay her $ 68,000 for the property and that it could close in three weeks. She told me that she thought the offer was “ridiculous” but that she would pass it on to her husband.
On Saturday morning, I received a phone call from the husband, who turned out to be a semi-retired attorney who seemed quite capable of negotiating on his own. He proceeded to tell me the story of his sister’s life, how many times he had already flown to liquidate the property, how damaging this was to his life, how the money from the sale of the property meant nothing to him while he was unloading. donated to a university, etc. etc.
In short, however, my offer was too low. So I said, “Well, what would it take to buy this property?”
“I will not accept less than $ 70,000!” he said.
After pausing for a few moments, I said, “You know, I think $ 70,000 is a fair price for both of us. Why don’t I write a Security Agreement and ask you to sign it?”
He said, “Are you sure we can close this month? My wife and I are going to Europe next month and we have to close before we go.”
Now here’s the real problem, isn’t it?
You really didn’t care about money, did you?
He just wanted this deal to be made so he could go on vacation without it weighing on his head.
The extra $ 2000 was really about he narration I why would I sell it, no I narration he.
No problem! “You can bet we can,” I said.
“I’ll open the escrow right now, you sign the security deposit that I will give you overnight (by the way, I gave you a check for $ 100 as security deposit) and fax it to me and we will close 21 days “.
Twenty days later, I signed the papers, buying the condo at 1:15 in the afternoon. I immediately sold the condo to an investor friend of mine for $ 80,000, getting $ 9,300 after closing costs.
By the way, my investor friend, who is an auto mechanic, worked on the property after work and on weekends, spent $ 2450 plus his job, and seven weeks later he sold the property for $ 98,500, making about $ 15,000 after all costs to himself.
He called me a few days after it closed and said, “Bring me all those bargains you can find and I can stop working on cars!”
So let’s take a moment and take a look at this deal.
The heir – He got rid of the property around his neck and went on vacation.
I (This could be you) – I made a nice profit, $ 9,300, for writing a few letters.
My investor (This could be you too!) – He made a nice profit of $ 15,000 for fixing the property.
The buyer – They bought a very clean condo that was fixed up for about $ 5,000 less than market value.
Talk about a win-win deal — this was career for everyone!
And that, friends, is the matter of succession in a nutshell!