by: Steve Gillman
Buying FSBO real estate, or houses for sale by owner, has its own particular problems and opportunities. Dealing with an uninformed seller who thought he knew enough to handle everything by himself can be frustrating, but it can also be very profitable if you are prepared. First you need to understand the FSBO seller.
People try to sell a house on their own for one primary reason: To save the sales commission. Unfortunately for them, they usually underestimate the cost and complexity of going it alone. They'll often get frustrated and tired of the process, and be ready to drop the price and be done with it. If you help them solve their problems, your reward can be a good price on a good investment. Just keep the following in mind:
1. A seller isn't an agent. You have to be more careful in what you say and ask. Avoid negative comments about the house. Like it or not, the truth is that it's difficult to get a good deal if the seller doesn't like you.
2. Sellers think they're being smart. If you encourage that belief, they'll be more open to your offer. If they have a good idea, tell them so. It's not unethical to make people feel good about themselves when negotiating.
3. FSBO real estate has often been on the market a long time. Seller's are usually tired of the process, and want it to be done. This means you'll get a better price if you are willing to close quickly and easily.
4. Seller's usually don't have a plan. They don't know where to close, where to buy a title policy, where to keep a good faith deposit, etc. Have simple solutions ready for all these problems. If you walk the seller through the process while letting him feel in control, you'll both be happier.
5. Skip over problems and return later. After a seller has invested more time with you in a negotiation, he'll be more inclined to give you what you want.
6. Sellers have often spent more than anticipated. Classified advertising and other costs have already eaten into their imagined extra FSBO profit. You may want to be generous in negotiating the many closing costs - as long as you get your price and/or terms.
Real estate professionals will tell you that most houses "for sale by owner" net the seller less than those sold by an agent. By the time a seller realizes this, it's often too late to recover his money and time spent. At this point, he usually just wants to get the thing sold as easily and quickly as possible. If you help sellers with that, you can get a good deal on FSBO real estate.
About The Author
Steve Gillman has invested in real estate for years. To learn more, get a free real estate investing course, and see a photo of a beautiful house he and his wife bought for $17,500, visit http://www.HousesUnderFiftyThousand.com.
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Finding The Best Real Estate Agent
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Finding the appropriate time to leave behind the unforgettable moments that you experienced in your home is sometimes stressful, but it's always the time to move forward to get a new investment. Statistics in Las Vegas real estate show that the average family is ready to jump into a new home almost every 5 years, so how you interview the best candidate is going to help you to sell your most valuable asset and move to the next step of finding your next "dream home." Here is some advice for you:
Find an agent with a marketing plan that is designed to incorporate all the resources, tools, and systems accomplishing your goals and needs as the seller of a real state property.
Look for somebody who is going to get you the most amount of money in the least amount of time and the least amount of inconvenience.
Sometimes looking around and interviewing so many candidates can make you...
Finding The Best Real Estate Agent
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My wife and I were on vacation, and stopped in Farmington, New Mexico for a few days. We were about to buy a house for a winter project. The plan was to fix it up and sell it in the spring for a profit.
Just prior to making an offer, we took a last walk-through. As the owner showed me around, my wife started to talk to the woman who was renting the home. She told Ana that half of the outlets in the home didn't work, as well as other useful information.
This got me thinking, and I went down to the basement for a second look at the wiring. Not only did the house...
Real Estate Research - Talk To Everyone
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Cutting Edge Real Estate, Is the Bubble Ready To Burst?
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What I am going to reveal to you are some basic truths about Real Estate investing - truths that may totally affect the Real Estate investments you have now - and certainly I intend to modify the way you do Real Estate investing in the future.
Let's get right to it - and into the heart of the real estate investing issue?
You have been programmed all your life to become what you are today - from school, friends, relatives and, yes, your parents.
Recent studies show that you are who you are now, more from what you learned prior to age 8 than in anything else you have learned since.
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Real Estate Investing LIES Unveiled
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Replacement cost is not really a very useful measurement. It is difficult to say what the land is worth in a city center where none is left for sale, for example, and tough to gauge depreciation. It is used as a secondary method, and for unique homes that can't be compared easily...
Real Estate Appraisal - Do Your Own
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To help you to decide whether or not real estate investment is right for you, here is some additional information on investing in real estate for both resale purposes and rental purposes, as well as some of the advantages and disadvantages of this type of investment.
Investing for Resale
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I?m waiting for a friend to pick me up. There are nine people coming for dinner and I?m cooking. Our whole evening depends on my hasty retrieval from the train station, and I?ve forgotten my mobile phone. I was standing on the platform, fumbling for it in my bag, when I realised my phone was absent. I had told my friend that I?d call her when I arrived at the station. Unsettled,...
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