I STAND CORRECTED!

thats funny, because i just gave somebody advice on how to make offers and, i feel that LOW BALLING is the smartest way to negotiate right now with the market being so bad.I also said "a LOW BALL offer to you might mean a decent offer to a homeowner thats had a property on the market for over 100 days or more." so if you did't used to think this way, i would start it's only going to SAVE YOU money.YOUR HERO,SULLY.

oh, by the way CONGRATULATIONS ON A NICE DEAL,SULLY.

Thanks, Sully.

By the way, I've been wanting to tell you that I really appreciate how encouraging your answers are to people. You really try to help and you don't discriminate as to WHO you try to help. Thank you, Hat's off!

Sincerely,
Rina

your pretty impressive yourself,with 15 years of SUCCESSFUL INVESTING,thats POWERFUL STUFF.YOUR HERO,SULLY.HA,HA

I learn something new from you everyday. Keep up the good work ad post it for inspiration to the others on here.

Thanks, Anita! Same to you!

I just did kind of the same thing a few days ago. There's an REO for sale through a realtor in town and it's been on the market for 42 days. The house is in very good shape. The previous home owner started fixing it up but must of run out of money because it's a foreclosure. They put on a brand new roof, started a privacy fence around the perimiter, and just a few small things in the house. It's listed at $66,500, and it's a handy man special. It needs new gutters (none), new carpet (smells horrible from pets) and I'll update counters, paint, hardware, faucets, etc. I'll be in there for only a few weeks tops, provided there's nothing hiding like bad subfloors. I offered $45,000 and it should be pretty safe to list it around $70K, with only around $5-$6000 in repairs. The reason it won't sell is because the smell, the owners must not cared to much to clean up after them. Good luck everyone, and keep up with all the good work!

find this property, on-line, MLS,? YOUR HERO,SULLY.

One thing that scares people away from buying some REOs in the winter up here is when the heating system isn't functional. The house is basically "frozen". 1: not a pleasant environment to view a house in (you just want to run back to your heated car!) and 2: scary to most, thinking of what it might cost to fix it.

The 5 senses have a lot to do with how people respond to anything, I guess.

I have to make a confession on this post. When Gail gave our final offer back to the bank, the woman that was supposed to present it said she wouldn't because it was too low! The house hasn't sold yet, and I'm sure we will still get it, but she was SO SURE at the time. I was too embarrassed to come back in here and update you guys. I was going to wait until we actually got it. Stinks, huh?

One of my real estate agents in town actually found the property for me because it is listed in the MLS. He doesn't generally like to work with REO's because there is so much paper work. The other agent that I'm working with (yes, they both know that I'm working with both of them) is new as a realtor. She just got her liscense and I won't try and make her do that yet. Now, I am also working with a few of the local banks in town that let me know when there is any new ones so that is also another option. I constantly check the classifieds for any foreclosures that are being filed also. Kudos to you waiting Rina on the price to drop. There was one REO in town that was in dire need of work listed at $6900 a few months ago, I had kinda forgoten about it and just yesterday I saw it dropped to $2900. I was going to make an offer but then I found out that it is pending. In short, it is beneficial to wait, but don't wait too long like I did. That was a mistake on my part to wait so long and not checking back on opportunities. Good luck everyone and keep up the great work!

I also understand what you mean about the winters, but most of the banks in town keep them warm enough to prevent them from freezing. The realtors also know that if they want them to sell they need to either winterize them or keep them warm. But, if it's the dead of winter and it hasn't been taken care of then you may want to have that reflect your offer to allow you to make repairs, or make sure that you have it inspected.

I'm pretty confident on the house because our realtor is the listing agent, and she usually fills me in if there are other offers coming in. We could afford to go up another $10,000 on it. I probably should give her a call.

You're right about the winterizing. I've seen several REOs this winter that were tagged "winterized" and yet had frozen pipes. There was one with the label on everything, where the toilet was actually full. of ice!
The way most of the banks work the heating issue here (at least the ones Gail works with) is the realtor pays for the heat and then gets reimbursed by the bank. Some of the agents can't afford that. You can be talking up to $600 per month!

Thanks for the advice and good luck to you, too.

Rina