Use this free ebook as an opt-in download on your website to get more motivated sellers and build your pipeline, so you can wholesale and flip them.

Grab Part 1 of the ebook and swipe the copy here.

Look out for the final installment in Part 3 next week…

Ebook Continued...

4. Not Scheduling the Closing Well

In a traditional old school listing and sale you have very little power in setting the closing date. There are many other parties involved with their own interests. You are most likely waiting on a buyer’s mortgage company. You can negotiate it, but there are many other factors to negotiate as well.

Being able to pick a smart closing date, of your own choosing is important. You may need to close in less than 30 days. You may need to buy a little more time in order to get your next move in order.

You want to be careful of trying to schedule a sale and home purchase too close together. Delays can happen. You don’t want your family living out of a uHaul truck for two weeks.

There are certain days which are more likely to lead to delays as well. The end of the month and end of year are notorious for delayed closings as closing agents are so slammed. Friday afternoons can be tough too. If your closing happens late, you might not get your funds in your account until the following week.

5. Not Picking the Right Buyer

It may feel amazing to finally get an offer if you’ve been trying to sell for a while. Picking the wrong buyer might be even worse than the wait.

Ideally you’ll want a truly qualified cash buyer with no contingencies in your contract. If the buyer doesn’t really have the money, or they are relying on getting a mortgage or selling another home, it can become a drawn out process, with no guarantee of a closing. Worse, you usually don’t figure this out until the day you are supposed to close. That may mean a couple of months of costs down the drain, missing out on the best buyers, and having to start over again from the beginning, when homes may be selling for less.

6. Giving Up to Soon

Maybe you have seriously tried to sell your home yet. Maybe you’ve tried and had previous contracts fall apart. You may not have found the right agent, or there was a title issue, your owe more on a home than it is worth today, you’ve got past due property taxes, or other liens, or are in foreclosure or half of your home is burned down. Still, it is extremely rare that there isn’t a way to get the home sold.

You may need a specific kind of buyer, who has experience in these challenges, though it’s quite possible you can get a deal done.

7. Putting Yourself at Risk with Open Houses

Open houses are popular for two reasons. One because they generate buyer leads for other homes for real estate agents. Secondly, homeowners think that more open houses will help sell. Yet, according to the National Association of Realtors only 7% of homes sell as a result of open houses or yard signs. Less than a 7% chance. Those are pretty terrible odds.

Open houses are a big investment. They take time to plan and promote and host. They mean cleaning and accessorizing and curating the right smells and sounds and providing materials on all the area schools and crime rates and comparables.

All for what? Realtors and property managers have some of the most dangerous jobs. They are often hurt or robbed at open houses, or worse. Then there is the risk of theft and ID theft from letting people in your home. If your home is vacant the rest of the time, and they can see that, there is the risk of squatters moving in and claiming adverse possession.

 

Use this free ebook on your website as an opt-in download to get more motivated sellers to get on your list and lead them to selling their homes to you, so you can wholesale and flip them.

Look out for Part 2 next week...

The Top 10 Fails To Avoid When Selling Your Home

Plus, How to Beat the System & Get More Money, Faster, Without the Stress

Selling your home doesn’t have to be that complicated. You can save a lot, and sell a lot faster, with less drama if you can avoid these ten common pitfalls.

Whether you are in a financial bind, just inherited a home, have to relocate and don’t want to juggle two mortgages, flopped on your first house flip, can’t get those trouble tenants out, or it’s just time to move on, selling your home should be simpler.

Don’t fall for these common mistakes, and you could be financially better off in days, and be enjoying a lot more peace of mind again.

1. Not Pricing it Right the First Time

By far the most common mistake home sellers make is failing to price their homes right from the beginning.

Here’s what happens…

What’s the harm in asking for a little more or pricing a bit more than the neighbors?  Many sellers do. Then it becomes a ‘boomerang home’. It’s what real estate agents call a home they use to show their buyers in order to make their other listings that pay them more look like a better deal. You might get showings, but they aren’t from buyers who will actually buy your home. It’s a lot of wasted time and stress for nothing.

Even more likely, potential buyers will think you or your agent just aren’t being realistic or serious about selling. They don’t have the time to try and convince you otherwise, and don’t want to waste time placing bids when they could just make an offer on a more accurately priced property with less hassle.

So, that fresh listing which gets the most eyes and attention in the first few hours starts getting stale. Few buyers see it, because they and their agents are only focusing on brand new listings popping online by the hour. Then it’s an old listing. If no one else wanted it, the assumption is there is something wrong with it, and they don’t want it either. Way down the road, you might get some low ball offers from the vultures.

Some sellers then try to slash their asking prices. By then the market may be down even further, creating a downward spiral, without ever catching up. All while you’ve incurred a lot more expenses, and if you do sell, pocket way less money.

If you do decide to list with an agent, then there is real science and strategy to pricing. You need to be within certain parameters to fall within the right searches. Or you’ll really be invisible to the right buyers.

Right priced properties can sell in any market conditions. Unfortunately, overpricing is often accepted and even encouraged by hungry new agents who just want to sign listing agreements to get their office numbers up, and hope you’ll lower the price later.

2. Investing in the Wrong Repairs & Improvements

All too often home sellers are told they need to be making repairs, upgrades and even staging their homes in order to sell. Of course every agent wants that. It makes their job a whole lot easier, gives them the hope of a bigger commission, and may put you in a tighter financial position with fewer options.

At best, spending on these things is usually a risk. If you are already struggling financially, this can be what finally sinks you.

Here’s the truth. Home makeovers are typically not the big money makers you see on TV at all.

According to the Cost vs. Value Report, all of the most common home remodeling projects are financial losers.

By far the best financial investment of all of them is an upscale garage door replacement, returning 97.5% of your money. Unfortunately, a master suite addition or upscale major bathroom remodel will only return about half of your money. Meaning you are immediately throwing half of it away, just like driving a new car off the lot.

These things might help sell your home. They may get more buyers to look at it. However, if you aren’t adding a dollar to the real appraised value, you are just going to wind up having less money.

3. Not Calculating Your Net Proceeds

The top line price of a home can really be irrelevant. It’s firstly what selling the home does for you, and secondly how much you actually net.

If this home is a financial burden right now, simply getting it off your hands is going to save you a lot of money and stress. Each day you own and hold it, you are spending money. Investors say every day you aren’t selling it, you’re buying it.

Really total it up. Mortgages, insurances, association dues, property taxes, utilities, internet, etc. That isn’t even calculating the risk of damage and devaluation of the property over time.

So, every day it takes to sell it, you have to deduct those costs. For example; even at $200 a day, if you list with a Realtor and it takes 100 days to get a buyer, and another 60 to close, you’ve lost $32,000. Money that would have gone in your pocket if you sold faster. Living in Southern California, your daily rate of loss may easily be 10x that.

So, number one, get rid of the bleed. Two, calculate your net from different scenarios. If you are working with a Realtor, title insurance company or real estate attorney, they should help provide a ‘Net Sheet’ showing your potential net proceeds. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples and all the costs are added in when evaluating your options.

For example; if you list with an agent, you may end up with a host of costs coming out of the sales prices, including 6% of the sales price going to Realtor commissions, taxes based on that higher amount, paying off liens, recording and wire fees, escrows, etc. Depending on the price of your home, that can easily run $100,000.

Compare that to selling direct to a buyer who will pay your closing costs, with no Realtor involved. Even if they offered you 10% less for your home, you might actually pocket a little more money. If the offer was the same price, you’d pocket way more in this second scenario.

 

Remember to deduct the cost of all the days you expect it to take to get to a closing, and any money you chose to put into repairs or improvements and staging.

How can property wholesalers overcome plateaus to generate more seller leads and increase deal volume this year?

This is the time of year when most wholesalers are setting new goals and preparing new real estate marketing campaigns to spearhead their efforts to ramp up business. However, some property investors, including those that have been wholesaling houses for over a year are finding they seem to be hitting a plateau in lead generation.

For some this may just be an annual blip and because they failed to spend the last few months setting up deals for January. For others efforts can be buffeted by new competition, the fact that they are just doing the exact same real estate marketing to the same prospects and expecting different results, which can be hampered even further due to much of that pool already having been tapped.

So how can those serious about wholesaling more houses in 2014 smash through these plateaus?

Those familiar with the best approaches to fitness, bodybuilding and martial arts training, as well as operating businesses in other industries know that plateaus will happen. They are avoided or broken through by shaking things up and adding new exercises or pushing up weight for more gains.

So perhaps the first point of attack could be to look at making new contacts, expanding into new segments of the local market and exploring new niches.

Expanding into new ad channels or switching up ad targeting may also be wise. For example changing the followers you target for Facebook or Twitter ads and running advertorials in new genres of magazines or blogs online. For example; if your properties are ideal for vacation home seekers or entrepreneurs consider business or travel mags and blogs which can help you stand out more easily than marketing among 200 other real estate services in a property publication.
Diversifying into new areas is the next logical progression after this for most.

Consider PR moves to boost visibility and stay at the front of the mind too. Yet, while recharging your real estate marketing mix is smart don’t forget how important consistency in mediums is for maximizing results.

Finally; work backwards – try to line up more end buyers and funds, even using Best Transaction Funding to be able to take on new, more and bigger deals fast and then use that advantage for stronger deal prospecting.