If a seller goes all Vito Corleone and won’t tell you what they’re thinking, what do you do next?
Hey Moguls, Steph Davis here, and I say the best thing to do is to make them an offer—one that they might or might not refuse. But it should be an offer that works for you.
So, in my previous lesson, I explained how to make an offer to a seller who won’t give you a price. If you’re familiar with the neighborhood, you can probably ballpark a price range that would work, based on the info the seller shares about the property.
But how do you handle properties in neighborhoods you’re not familiar with?
My Real Life Godfather
Recently, I got a call from a seller in my area who had a rental property in another state where I’d never done a deal. The seller gave me the information about the property over the phone. When I asked the seller what they were asking for the property, they seller said, “Make me an offer.”
Now, I’m not going to drive to another state to look at this property. But I’m not just going to walk way, either.
The priority here is to figure out if I’m on the same page with this seller. I don’t want to spend hours researching because I don’t even know whether the seller wants full market value…
So I’m looking for a quick and dirty number, a range where my offer needs to be, so I can quickly go back to the seller and see if we’re even on the same page.
When I go back to the seller, if they seem agreeable to my numbers, then I’m really going to crunch the numbers and do more research.
Quick and Dirty
To get your quick and dirty number, go to Zillow and look at the neighborhood. Use the dropdown menus to find recently sold homes. You’re looking for properties that match your seller’s property, so use the filters for home types and how far back you want to go on sales history.
For my godfather seller, I set my search filters to cover the past 90 days of sales in his neighborhood for single-family houses. The seller’s property is a 3 bed/2 bath, 1,100 sq. ft. home.
Here’s a summary of my 5 results:
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3 bed, 1 ½ bath, 1,200 sq. ft. sold for $160,000
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3 bed, 2 bath, 1,000 sq. ft. sold for $160,000
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3 bed, 1 bath, 1,500 sq. ft. sold for $170,000
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3 bed, 1 bath, 1,250 sq. ft. sold for $87,000
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3 bed, 1 bath, 1,200 sq. ft. sold for $50,000
Based on these numbers, the ARV (after repair value) for this seller’s property is probably around $160,000, and it looks like investors are picking up properties in this neighborhood anywhere from $50,000 to around $85,000.
I gave the seller a call back and told her that I had done some preliminary research and before I do any more research I just wanted to make sure that we’re on the same page price-wise. I said my offer was most likely going to be $50,000–$85,000.
My Results
When I presented this ballpark number to the seller, she told me that she owed $135,000 on the property, and there was absolutely no way that she could sell it for that little even if she wanted to.
So I saved myself a bunch of time. I took about 15 minutes to do this research and call her back.
When you run into situations where the seller wants you to make an offer, don’t waste lots of your valuable time… unless you need some practice looking at properties and meeting with sellers. Just don’t get into the habit.
Save yourself time (and money) by ballparking figures for sellers who go godfather on you. After all, it’s only worth your time if you’re making an offer the seller can’t refuse…
Your Take
How do you handle sellers who won’t give you a price? Let me know below.
1. Compare your seller’s property to recent sales in their neighborhood on Zillow.
2. Call your seller back and offer a ballpark figure.
3. Make a final offer with more research if the seller likes your ballpark figure.
4. Save time on no-deal situations with ballpark offers.
Steph Davis
started wholesaling in October of 2006. At the time, she had been stuck at a job bartending for the past 10+ years. She was broke and miserable, and desperately wanted out of the bar scene, which I had been stuck in for the last 10+ years.
She ended up closing four wholesale deals by the end of 2006.
Since then, she's closed more deals than she can count, has written two best selling wholesaling courses (Flip This REO and The Cash Buyer Ninja) and continues to teach others how to wholesale with videos, interviews, and as much useful information as she possibly can, because she knows what it’s like to be a broke beginner, struggling to get that first deal.