The Fellow Investor

Up to this point the sellers that have been mentioned had no interests in being investors. They usually saw the extra property as a burden of some sort. Now negotiating with a fellow investor is different because they know the value of their property and/or its’ potential. When negotiating with an investor you need to be at the same experience level. If you are new to real estate investing and are trying to “fake it til you make it” in negotiating with seasoned investors, they will see right through you and move on to another buyer. Admit that you are new to investing and the selling investor may even cut you a deal to assist you in getting started. There are two distinct seller investors one of which are investors selling to retire or just wanting out of investing and then there are investors that are just checking to see what they can get for their property but are impartial to whether is sells or not.

The selling investor that is selling to retire and/or stop investing is the seller you are looking to buy from. The selling investor in this category that is selling to retire has already spent his profits in his mind and wants the money ASAP to make it a reality. They are not going to take low ball offers but they will take a reasonable low offer to realize their dream sooner. This seller may also still love being an investor but due to his age can no longer deal with everything that comes along with it. In this instance, you may have found yourself your first owner financed property. Remember, you never know unless you ask. The selling investor that no longer wants to be involved in investing is usually because all the things that could have gone wrong did go wrong. They want to sell and sell fast! However, because they have already spent money correcting everything that went wrong they are trying to make up for it on the sales price. Do not present your all cash, no contingency offer to this seller over the phone. Present this offer in person and be prepared to support your offer. You will then need to explain to this seller how much more he will potentially loose if he does not sell.

An investor that is not attached to his property is a smart investor. If you ask any successful investor if he has any properties for sale he will probably reply with, “All my properties are for sale for the right price.” You can save yourself plenty of time if you can identify this type of seller early. This selling investor is happy cash-flowing his properties and now and again will test the market to see what he/she can get for the properties while they are between tenants. If you realize this is the seller type you are dealing with, just move on. They will be there again in a few months when another property becomes vacant. By “move on” I mean stop negotiating but do not loose contact. Eventually, at least we hope, this seller will become the seller type we are looking for and we will be there to make the right offers.

There are tons of scenarios in which a selling investor decides to sell but these are the few I have seen to be the most common. The one thing that still remains constant is to make a win-win offer and execute.