In trying to wholesale The (Former) Roach Duplex, I put a number of ads on real estate websites and placed a few signs around town. I was very surprised to find that I got fewer than 5 calls yesterday from my marketing, and was getting a bit discouraged. But that all changed today. Between 8am and 7pm, I received nearly 30 phone calls! Some came in so quickly that I couldn’t take them all, and unfortunately not everyone left a message.
Most calls were from my signs, and many of the callers weren’t clear on the fact that this property should be geared towards an investor who would be able to afford and handle the repairs; in fact, I had more than one person who said, “I’ve been looking for a house I can move into in this price range!” Well, sorry to inform them, but there are no move-in-ready houses in this price range anywhere around here — but I guess people are a bit more optimistic than I had planned for. From now on, I will be a bit more clear in my marketing that the property is geared specifically towards investors and perhaps note that it is a “fixer-upper.”
Regardless, I did get a few calls from serious investors, and a couple of them will be viewing the property over the next couple days. I’m still not sure if I’ll be able to move it for the price I’m asking, but I’ll keep trying.
And, while we were supposed to close on this one tomorrow, not-surprisingly, I got an amendment today from the bank asking that we push the closing to “no later than February 18.” Not a big deal, as it gives me a couple more weeks to find a buyer (or to buy some plywood to board this baby up for the next couple years while I wait for the market to bounce back).
Man — that sounds like a ton of time & effort to make a couple thousand bucks. I absolutely hate dealing with tire kickers, and those idiots who have been calling with unrealistic expectations… haha, I LOL’d at that “I’ve been looking for a house in this price range ready to move into!” comment 😉
Keep up the great work, your blog continues to entertain & inform 😉
– Hakrjak
If I think about it this way:
“Answer 100 phone calls, make $10,000…that’s $100 per 2 minute conversation…”
then it sounds really worthwhile!
But, unfortunately, I agree that it’s a real pain in the ass to deal with all these people that have no concept of, “If it sounds way too good to be true…”
I know some people are really successful using the bandit signs… I just can’t imagine driving around town putting them up, and then replacing them daily as they get removed/stolen, etc… Sounds too much like a job to me 😉
Now *THAT* I agree with…and one of the reasons I hired my brother to work with us…seriously.
He is happy to deal with all the phone calls, dealing with mortgage qualifications, putting up signs, handing out Open House flyers, etc…all the stuff that I consider horrible and tedious…
And between him and my wife — who are both tremendously good “people persons” — they handle all the dealing with lining-up contractors, talking to potential buyers, getting phone calls, etc. They basically allow me to focus on the numbers, the data, and all the other analytical stuff.
The three of us make a great team because we’re all great at different things and are happy to play our own parts. Though I’m a bit of a control freak and try to play other parts too, sometimes…
🙂