Posted by Joe Kaiser on December 12, 2000 at 15:59:06:
You need to have your ducks in a row.
from . . . THE HUNT FOR ABANDONED PROPERTIES
Chapter 27 - Packaging the Deal
Stacking the deck in your favor
I like getting that house ready for showing by taking care of some of the basics right off the bat. So, even before my investor has a chance to take a look, if I?m on top of my game, I?ve completed my ?prehab? to knock off some of the rougher edges and eliminate the obvious problems. Once he sees the place for the first time, if I know my investor, he?ll be interested at my price. But what if he is interested and even better, what if this thing is exactly what he?s looking for? What happens now?
I?ll tell you what, NOTHING . . . if you haven?t completely taken care of business before hand.
Unless you?ve carefully ?packaged? this deal ahead of time, there?s not much that investor can do at this point. Until you?ve completed your homework, no deal can happen. Now, you?re the one that?s holding things up and keeping you from collecting on this thing. Sure, that investor can look and admire and plan all day long, but unless you?ve got all your documentation right there and clearly set out before him and have all the little things squared away, he can?t write you the darn check and that?s pretty much the whole point of the exercise - getting paid!
Remember, in order to get paid, you?ve got to have the deal packaged before anyone takes a look. Of course, this isn?t always the case. If I?ve got an investor I?ve worked with plenty of times before and he knows the routine backwards and forwards, and if it?s a real clean deal where there?s not anything that might hold it up, I just might send him over to take a peek. But if it?s a relatively new investor and the property has a problem or two that must be resolved before the property can be sold, you?d be better off getting things squared away before asking him to stop by and take a look.
You began packaging this deal when you determined it made sense for you to proceed with the purchase. Hopefully, you now have that ?open? title policy right there in the file so your investor can verify for himself that there is in fact just the one loan on the property (if that?s the case) and no other liens.
Also in the file is a copy of the pest inspector?s report, along with a supplemental report confirming any work required was in fact completed. If that work was more than you were interested in undertaking, you also have a bid or two showing pretty closely what it?ll cost to have the pest work completed.
You?ve also got a letter from the lender indicating the current payoff or reinstatement figures (if the house is in foreclosure).
And you?ve got a copy of your insurance policy that you?re ready to assign.
Finally, you?ve got an unrecorded, blank but ?all signed off? deed which will convey ownership to whoever says ?let?s do it? and writes you a check.
He can now take a look at the property and decide on the spot whether or not the deal ?works? for him. He may have to spend an hour or two figuring out what sort of work will be required and what it?ll cost him to get it done. In any case, if he isn?t willing to do the deal within an hour or so, I call someone else.
Now, that?s packaging the deal.