Big time real estate investors think profit from the very beginning and are not afraid to make a ridiculously low offer on a property. You should learn to do the same. Don’t be afraid to offer 25% or even 30% less than the asking price. Remember you will have transition costs as well as holding costs these always come off the bottom line.

The art of buying real estate for profit is a negotiating process…offer and counter offer. A really low offer will almost always be rejected…but it sets up a process that lowers the owner’s inflated expectations. Often owners are misguided by unreal appraisals and anxious agents. Of course, you will lose a lot of potential real estate deals using this method…but occasionally a seller will snap it up…wanting for whatever reason to dump the property in a hurry. And then others, thinking you are a crook, will refuse to even consider a counter offer and break off any farther negotiations

So what, there are always more properties and your profit plan is to buy low and sell high(er). Sometimes you can do a little groveling…explaining your reasons and thinking for the low offer and why it is a viable offer considering market trends and the need for certain updates on the home for it to be considered sellable in today’s market…blah, blah etc.

Often inexperienced real estate speculators rely on a rising market for a profit cushion. This is a very risky strategy…as we have seen recently the bottom can fall out of a market in a heartbeat and leaving a marginal deal burning a hole in your pocket. You can’t rely on trends…trends are set after the fact. You need to be tuned to the pulse of your community and know at all times what is happening with jobs, construction starts, municipal plans and other things that might elevate or decline the housing market.

You really can’t have too much information when considering how much to offer a seller. Stick to your guns and don’t let the passes get you down. I’d rather have one super good profitable deal than a hundred worrisome marginal projects.