Cheap, Bargain, Real Estate; Good deals, below market, low priced properties are available if you know how to shop for them. By Jody Hudson – Real Estate Agent Since 1972. How to FIND and BUY: Cheap Real Estate, Good Deals, Below Market, Low Price and Less Expensive; houses, lots, land, businesses and condominiums. They are everywhere and easy to find. Here’s how to find and buy them from anyone, anywhere. This article lays out the steps: how to find and buy a bargain, a good deal, on real estate; that is; how to get it very cheap! Yes, there are ways! Almost every call or email I receive asks me to find a bargain for the buyer. We all feel that way when we’re shopping too. We all want a good deal. We all want to get cheap real estate. And we can all do it. However, there is a small challenge. Every buyer I’ve had in my thirty-two years of selling real estate has wanted to sell their property for more than it’s worth. Herein lies our challenge as real estate agents and of course for you as a buyer. To get those GREAT deals on real estate, there are at least three things you need to do: 1. First, as a buyer, you must be able and willing to act faster than any other buyer. 2. Second, you must be able to know a bargain when you see one. This requires experience and education in the specific market. Any assumption made from other markets, about the market subject to interest, will condemn you to certain failure… 3. Third, you must BUY. That is, write a deposit check and write a contract that wins over the other contracts that may come along around the same time as yours. This set of three steps sounds simple, but only one buyer in every ten-year period is willing to do all three of these things to get the cheap property we’ve been asked to find for them! I have several people, and also the majority of real estate agents, who are the majority; Ready, willing and able and we call you first! If you want to be one of those called you must be MORE ready, willing and able! As recently as August 2002, the oceanfront home next to ours was listed for $249,000 and was worth about $350,000 at the time. Kate and I called each of our family members, our wonderful neighbors across the street (one of whom is a local builder and the other a mortgage broker) and some of our best clients and a best friend of ours, a builder and investor, who had already said that he liked the good house. (Keep in mind that the property is now worth around $800,000 as of September 2004.) We explained to them that the house would be on the market in a few hours and that they needed to act fast. Our neighbors on the other side, the most knowledgeable of the bunch, wanted to make an offer of $180,000 saying they thought that was all the property was worth. They knew better or at least should have and should have bought it. They just “hoped” they could get it for less and that they wouldn’t have to move fast. The offer they made was ignored and wasted our time. However, they got another property within a few days, for much more money, worth much less, as a result of improved alertness and consciousness after losing the one next to us. Our savvy investor friend put in a couple of offers below the asking price with various contingencies. In the meantime, we’re telling everyone to write a contract for full price with no contingencies and to call our phones as fast as we can. None of our best friends or family would pay attention. They were all too greedy. They knew the property was way below price, but they wanted it for even less… Lesson: When it’s a good deal, ACT instead of getting greedy and losing the deal entirely. Then our lovely new neighbors came by and viewed the property. They also had knowledge about similar properties and had lost several properties they liked by moving slowly, drawing up unreasonable contracts, and not paying attention to actual values. This time they got it right. In fact, they wrote a contract on the spot, with no contingencies, and for MORE than full price, so if someone offered full price, you would still have the best chance. They paid $5,000 more than full price on the spot, told the sellers they could settle anytime they wanted and before hearing from the sellers, they arranged a mortgage for MORE than they needed and asked the money out Immediately available. They didn’t ask for a home inspection, a survey, or for the sellers to fix anything. The house is 30 years old and has not had a bit of maintenance. There was a burst hot water tank, a roof that needs to be replaced, and some HUGE cracks in the foundation. All these problems cost them about $15,000. As I write this, they have owned the property for several months and worked on it every weekend, before they were able to take a break and enjoy it. They love. If they had to fix all the things that need fixing, paint the trim and freshen up the yard and landscaping; we could get $900,000 to $950,000 for this house for them in a few months on the market. And, the city sewer will be here in a few years, at which point the property will instantly go up another $200,000 and everyone we called knew about the pending sewer as well. The buyers did not find out that the sewer was coming to the city until after they had entered into a contract to purchase the property. The sewer is still not in — WOW. They’re glad they did the One, Two, Three to make it happen! By doing all three of the things listed above, the buyers of the house next door to ours have made the wisest purchase decision yet in their lives and have one of the best deals that has been available in recent years. The sellers are also happy because they just wanted to sell it as quickly as possible, due to a sudden and dangerous illness of one of the owners. I am writing this article to serve the reader. But you should know that it is also selfish. Much of our time as Real Estate Agents is spent trying to successfully educate our buyers and sellers. If they would follow our advice, they could be much, much more successful in selling or buying. The articles I write here [http://www.kate-jody.com/essays/index.html] It’s those tips that I give to my clients and clients – if they ask me. Most don’t and when they do, very few follow the advice. Just like in any other profession, we professionals do what we can to help those who come to us, but it is up to them to follow the advice. Bargain homes are always available, but they are hard to sell. They are homes that need some repair or cosmetic improvement or that are in a transition zone. We have several on the market right now and they are a hard sell. Someone with vision will eventually buy them, fix them up, and perhaps sell them at a large profit, often to someone who says they want a bargain but won’t do what it takes to get a bargain. Funny, isn’t it, and this kind of thing happens all the time. It has happened consistently in my 35 years in the real estate business and being a licensed real estate agent since 1972. Just know this, if you want a fixer-upper, so does everyone else, but you need to be very, very educated and capable. spend the time and money to renovate the property effectively and affordably. And you have to do One, Two, Three! If you want a bargain; Get informed and prepare to DO: one, two and three. We will try to help you. By Jody Hudson Copyright 2002-2004 www.Kate-Jody.com Jody Hudson: [email protected]