Decided today a deal I had u/c was just a little too skinny. Buyers weren't biting, even with just a $5k wholesale fee and zero buyer's agent commission. During a long convo yesterday, I convinced the agent to work with seller on price. She thought maybe they'd go for $280k (off the $305k I had u/c), and passed along an email analysis I sent her (attached below). Got word late today that the seller is sticking with his bottom dollar price — which was too high for my buyers — and will fix it up and rent it himself if he can't get it. Much learned in the process, including building a strong buyer bench, having a solid dispo plan, and knowing when to fold if the deal isn't right. In the end, the most valuable gain however was the following pair of text messages from the LA about an email I sent her summing up our convo: "𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦, 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵. 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘰 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩." And then this, about the seller's response: "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 $305 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘏𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘹𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 $305 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴. 𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭." Now that's what I'd call a win! 🥇😊

Here's what I learned (or was reminded of) in a recent deal I decided to pass on during due diligence: 1. Have a strong bench of buyers lined up. 2. Make sure you understand the market. 3. Look closely at the property - a physical walk-through if you can 4. Get a sense of your sellers motivation level. 5. Be professional in your communications. 6. Don't just look at the house, look at the surroundings. 7. Bring a home inspector's checklist when you visit the house. 8. Don't let an appraisal sway your opinion. 9. Sometimes no deal is the best deal of all. 10. Don't give up until you know in your heart nothing else that could've been done. You either win, or you learn — by taking action and taking note, you simply can't lose!

At the listing agent's request, I plunked down $51 to give CTMe (a real estate contracts platform) a chance. And boy, did I blow it at first! Fortunately, the agent was very patient with me and provided helpful feedback with each (failed) iteration she received. Finally got an executable offer across the finish line. Fingers crossed, the deal goes through for a 5-figure profit. What's a challenge you pushed through to success, in spite of repeated failures?

Today I received a counteroffer at $305k that was already reduced from $440k. Even at that, I realized after looking more closely, it was still overpriced. What to do? Consulting with my Ai oracle, based on Ryan Zolin's Agent Investors approach, I accepted the $305k counter. For now. Given that agents expect retrades to happen during inspection, I'm betting that's the best way to drive down the price to where it needs to be without losing all credibility with the agent. After all, that's the real objective here — to build solid relationships with agents. Where will this land? Stay tuned! Have you ever run into a difficult negotiation like this? If so, how did you handle it? Share in the comments below!

Every so often a seller caves and accepts an offer that makes sense to you as a buyer. Got back with a listing agent today with the news that after my offer at 20% off listing price being accepted (verbally), I would need another 10% off, for a total of $140k off their asking price of $440k. To my amazement, this too was accepted. Now, of course we’ll need to inspect carefully, but in any case, so far so good. It doesn’t happen often, but the more often you offer, the more often a great deal is accepted. What’s your “threshold of amazement” when it comes to an offer you thought would never get accepted actually turning into a profitable deal?