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OUCH Greg!
I bet you don’t make that mistake again.
You can’t steal them in slow motion. When the numbers are that good, you don’t walk – YOU RUN – to get the contract signed.
Jackie
I am sure this website is replete with stories of woe such as this one, but I need to cathartically dispel what happened this morning.
Four weeks ago, a friend and I put up 55 signs around town (my first big campaign). That week I receive a call from a guy who was in foreclosure (sale June 5th), getting divorced, living 4 hours away from his old house AND paying his wife $1000/mo. He owned the house 24 years. BIG equity. When I asked him what he was hoping we could do for him (not necessarily a price question) he threw out $110000. Comps showed in the last 6 months from 140-150k. This was a hot one. I found out he owed 50k, so I thought we could split the equity. I was going to wholesale it to a friend for 10k since it was immaculate and much nicer than the recent sales. He could put a sign in the yard to rent it that day.
I called the seller the next day knowing he had court, then was planning on returning home. No response. Called him again twice in the next few weeks. No response. Finally called his daughter who was the first one to call me from the signs. She had to coax her Dad to call me in the first place. She called me this morning.
Turns out, he was wrong about the sale. June 5th was the final court date. Someone purchased the house at an auction for $55000!!! HIS DAUGHTER HAD TOLD HIM THAT EVEN 85-90k IS BETTER THAN NOTHING! She was doing the negotiation for me! That was my range. Buh.
The takeaway is this: Do follow-up with sellers. I wasn’t overly aggressive, but I reminded him in the messages that June 5th was coming. I was glad to find out that the sale was a done deal by the time he called me. It wasn’t my neglect or procrastination that resulted in some shark getting a great deal. I had my buyer and title company lined up ready to close with cash in a few days time. Even though I feel like I just took $10k out of my bank account and threw gasoline and matches on it, I did get a good dry run out of it. Back to the drawing board. Poorer, but wiser.
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