It's Karen again...just wanted to share that earlier this evening Steven and I made an offer on the "Clutter House" that I mentioned last Friday. I called the seller and asked to set up a time to meet w/ her on Saturday. AFter much discussion, we had decided to show her some comps since her dad has what I call "Williamson County Syndrome" (property values have skyrocketed there since it was named one of the 15 wealthiest counties in the U.S.). Her dad is convinced the house is worth $200k when in reality, it is worth about $150k at the most. For one thing, the lot is only 3/4 acre, and land is what is valuable in Wmson Co. For another, the house is pretty small and 50 yoa.

Anyway, she pressed me for the amount of the offer over the phone. I tried to point out the advantages of selling to investors, chiefly that she would not need to make repairs, clean out the clutter, and close when she wanted. Her dad apparently was on an extension or speaker phone because she immediately said he had slipped her a note and said they would not sell till spring and could get what they want. So I wished her luck and said goodbye.

It took me a couple of hours to process and realize where we made a mistake. We never really asked her what she wanted. I assumed she wanted to be rid of a house associated with sad memories when in reality all she really wanted, or dad wanted, was money. Which is fine...we all want money whether we admit it or not. Even Mother Theresa wanted money, she just wanted it for her charity and not for herself. But we did not find that out in any of our conversations.

I immediately contrasted our seller with the seller we visited with David two weeks ago. Sure, his seller wanted money, too, but when we visited her home she was asking $65k and by the next day had dropped to David's price of $35k.

What made the difference? What motivated this seller? Sure, she wanted money, but there was something she wanted more and David found out what it was on the first visit. She wanted out of the house by a certain date, and not have to make $5,000 worth of repairs, and he was able to offer her that.

This is a big lesson and an important one for our real estate investing success.

David is offering a coaching package in which you get to ride around with him for a couple of days. Our advice is: do it! It could make all the difference in your next deal. I definitely believe it will with ours.