The Fastest Way for You to Find A Real Estate Deal
What’s the Fastest Way to Find a Real Estate Deal?
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Deals are literally everywhere.
Don’t believe it?
Open your eyes whenever you leave your home.
You know those things you see out there with a roof and front door? Those are called properties… a.k.a., deals. And that’s what I talk about in a recent livestream. Take a look…
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Want the quickest way to find a deal?
Okay.
You’re at your computer, right?
That’s the fastest way. Start with Craigslist in the locations in which you want to invest. (Yes, Craigslist.)
Follow these quick steps:
- Find the “housing” area.
- Click the “real estate for sale” link from the menu.
- Browse the properties you see using the key words “FSBO,” “for sale by owner,” “OWC,” and “owner will carry.” When you search by these key words, it means the seller is willing to carry some or most of the deal. (You won’t need so much money to get properties under contract if the seller is willing to work with you!)
- Narrow the parameters of your search – Craigslist works by filters based on keywords.
- Hit the “reply” button and make contact with the seller. That does NOT mean you will send the seller a letter or card or flyer.
- Build a relationship with this seller through conversation. (Deals are not done magically. It’s done through relationships and negotiating.)
You can find all sorts of properties on Craigslist. It’s a highly underutilized tool that more real estate entrepreneurs should be using more often. But it’s not the only one.
There are lots of sites online that show you in minutes just how many deals are out there just waiting for you to find them.
Craigslist is a highly underutilized tool that real estate entrepreneurs should embrace. Click To Tweet
In fact, you’ll see listings from some of these other sites on Craigslist!
Here’s a fun homework assignment… Go there and see if you can find a few. (HINT: Look at the contact links at the bottom of some posts or inside the images.)
So, what’s all this about “seller will carry” and why should you care?
Lots of people can’t believe a seller would be willing to help you buy his/her property. But it’s true. You can do it all day long!
But you need the right skills.
Like you need to know how to talk to sellers, buyers and investors so you can find properties and make offers on them.
Whether you are looking for deals as a wholesaler, fix-n-flipper, rental property owner… whatever you want to do inside real estate… you need to go through the first upfront processes.
Whenever you can get the seller to work with you the better the deal!
I talk about this in a few episodes of my podcast and in the videos on our CFD YouTube channel. Here’s one:
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There are different ways to work with the sellers, too.
It’s called creative acquisition strategies and creative financing strategies!
This is something I’ve covered before. In fact, if you want to read a good article on this topic, go here:
You’ll see that there are about 6 great ways to get a property under contract creatively.
These are tools you need to learn, and you have to understand that it’s not a one-size-fits-all thing. You will use different strategies for different deals.
When you structure deals as a win-win for all sides, you walk out the biggest winner. Click To Tweet
You’ll structure them in a way that’s a win-win for the seller and you.
When you bring investors into the deal as lenders or partners, you get to structure that part as a win-win, too.
Should you worry about the details when you’re looking at properties?
You might be surprised, but you don’t concern yourself with any of the details until AFTER you’ve determined that you’ve found a property that fits your criteria and “go” formula.
You don’t concern yourself with the details during your initial phone call with the seller.
You will deal with the details after the seller has received your offer and you have negotiated the deal.
Then you’re in the due diligence phase…
That is when you do your discovery work. None of it matters till that point.
If you find something amiss during the due diligence process, it’s time to renegotiate your terms. That’s what we investors call bargaining chips.
Don’t be afraid to ask for exactly what you want in a deal! Click To Tweet
For example, maybe you learn that there’s a lot of things that need to be fixed in the property that the seller had not previously disclosed.
Does that mean the deal is dead?
Nope. (Well, it can be if you’re not willing to work out the details with the seller… which is completely up to you.)
You can ask the seller to fix those things… or shave a chunk off the price… or something even more creative.
As you might have guessed, negotiations is one of my favorite topics. So much so, I’ve devoted a number of videos to it. Here… take a look at this one:
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Maybe you discover that the seller isn’t the person on the title… he’s not the one with the actual rights to sell the house.
Ouch.
That’s a big one.
But it may be a misunderstanding or something that can be worked out given more time.
Everything can usually be negotiated in a deal. Click To Tweet
The long and short of it is that you are working with the seller; the seller is working with you. In a way, you’re a team that is trying to get a deal done.
It benefits you to be a good communicator.
Even if you’re shy, you can develop that skill. I talk about this in one of my YouTube videos. I’ll make it easy. You can watch by clicking below:[youtube id=”NnkzlS_QzYA” width=”600″ height=”350″ autoplay=”no” api_params=””][/youtube]
Shy people can do lots and lots of deals. They just can’t let their shyness get in their way of talking to sellers.
Remember… sellers are just people.
They put their pants on one leg at a time… just like you.
They have families, they work, they play, they’re your neighbors, they’re the people you meet at the coffee shop, and they might like an opportunity to play Cashflow 101 with you…
Sellers are just like you… they’re humans and you can talk to them! Click To Tweet
My point is that they are human and you shouldn’t be afraid to have a chat with them to see how you can solve their problem through your real estate transactions.
In this case, they’ll be helping you, too, by carrying some of the mortgage on the property you found through Craigslist, right?
You won’t know until you try… and the sooner you try the sooner you’ll close your next deal. (Or your first!)
You can move faster than you ever dreamed possible. If you don’t think so, take a look at this:
