Posted by Steve-WA on August 02, 2005 at 14:33:56:
came right from what John posted
Business is warming up a little - Posted by John
Posted by John on August 02, 2005 at 05:23:33:
I am a newbie and have just recently purchased my first unit, It is far from the ideal Lonnie deal and I have been advertising for 3 weeks now. My results are something like this, I have recieved a number of calls and have shown it a couple of times, It took me a week or so to realize that these people that did not want this deal could be my future customers, so I have started calling them back and simply asking them what they would like and amusingly they are telling me! I had one lady who came and looked at a single wide I am about to buy, she set anouther appointment with me so she could bring her husband back, then called me yesterday to cancel completely, well I was immidiatly irritated and accepted her cancelation with no further discussion, it took me a few minutes after hanging up to realize that I should probably ask some questions So I called her back and asked what had gone wrong, she said its not big enough I need an expando on that single wide! Amazing I almost threw this buyer away because she did not buy the first thing I offered her but now I am looking for what she wants.
Anouther deal I have going on is! A girl called me, I judged her to be a street person/drug addict based on her usage of the english language. Come to find out she has a very strange life indead, BUT I think I can accomidate her.
Got anouther call last week from a lady, she and her husband are on disability with an income of $900.00, but she has her brother living with her who has an income of 2k per month, she says he has been with her a long time and will not likely be leaving her side anytime soon, and is able to give me a 2k down payment if I will stretch it over 4 months and can pay 700.00 to include lot rent, HMMM I think I can work with this somehow.
In summary these trailor house people seem like an odd bunch of people from my limited experience so far.
Any comments would be appreciated!
Re: Business is warming up a little - Posted by john
Posted by john on August 02, 2005 at 22:48:11:
I am reluctantly happy tonight because I wrote the contract for my first deal, Hopefully it will not fall aprt before they move in
24 X 60 DW (1973)
Paid $8800.00
fix-up$500.00
space rent $300.00
TTL $9600.00
Down $500.00 plus three more consecutive monthly downs of $500.00.
9.75%
60 months
$414.00 per month.
Not the ideal one but this is the one I cut my teeth on.
Buying a 1975 SW by friday for 1500.00 to 2000.00, new vinyl window with trim, half sheet rocked on the inside, all appliance with A/C and swamp. I advertised it already as a handy man special low down, name your payment.
The PM has a 14 X 70 he is considering selling me for 600.00 its the one with the pet ODORS and it is loaded with garbage ( estimate 20 cubic yards worth) I am already trolling for someone to clean it out carpet and all ( $300.00 to clean it out sounds good to me) It is nasty inside.
Yes I do enjoy this and the $$$ invested is a lot less than real estate.
Thanks again to all of you who have built this web site and maintain it.
By the way I am getting a call a day from my ad.
a comment, and advice - Posted by Steve-WA
Posted by Steve-WA on August 02, 2005 at 10:02:11:
these trailor house people
John, you’ve got to dump that way of thinking. This is seriously a “there but for the grace of God go I” thing. These trailor house people are just people. Just like you. News Flash: ALL people are an odd bunch; look around.
Advice: stretching the downpayment over 2 months sounds great, but don’t learn the hard way. If you want 2K minimum, then require it before they get keys. If you’re satisfied with $500, then require it before they get keys. The promise of downpayment payments, on top of the regular note payments, is likely to be a little pipe-dreamish. Oh, it may work out; but if it doesn’t, do you want to be chasing after payments on move-in money after they’re already moved in? Voice of experience here - avoid the temptation.
Approach it this way: require their downpayment of $X, and if they make additional payments for more down, then just take it off of principal. But GET MONEY UPFRONT. You need the downpayment to establish ownership in their mind; to ensure that they have something at risk, so that the likelihood of their follow-through is higher.
Gluck.
Re: a comment, and advice - Posted by MichaelH
Posted by MichaelH on August 02, 2005 at 14:02:09:
I love your opening comment, Steve. Not to get “holy” or anything like that, but my daily work shows me people in all sorts of life dilemmas. I alsways come away humbled. Yep, we’re out there to make money,m but we’re also turning impossibility into possibility for our clients (notice I didn’t say “customer”).