Property Investors - Deal or No Deal?

Recently whilst viewing various properties we came across a property that needed zero work and had the most amazing gardens you could imagine. All cared for by a lady who showed us her beloved well maintained garden. The house was also immaculate and carefully prepared for our visit on the day.

We sat down and had a cup of tea with freshly homemade cake and listened to the lady tell us about how she was born in the very house she was trying to sell. How her father had built the property himself with a builder friend before she was born and she was reluctant to sell to just anyone given all the memories.

This is all very well but we were only interested in buying the property to knock down and build 6 new homes. Like all good property investors we were looking at the numbers and had little emotion until we met the lady.

Unlike the lady who cherished every inch of the property we were trying hard to work out a way of telling her we didn’t really care too much about the state of the property without actually saying that. Should we walk away and simply tell the agent that it wasn’t for us? Should we avoid telling her the truth to make her feel better? How do you tell a lady with her memories that you will knock down her house once planning was approved?

We listened for a little more and then I decided to ask her a question. I asked her if the agents had mentioned that we are investors and that we would not actually live in the property.

To my absolute surprise she said, ‘Oh yes, they told me you are investors and that you would only buy the property if the deal was right and the numbers were right’. She then said, ‘I just wanted to make sure you stayed here long enough to have a good look, that’s why I made you a cake and a cuppa and spent all this time with you, all the others came in and left within 10 minutes’.

Cheeky lady – she was just trying to sell us her home. The emotions are real and the facts are true and we spent almost an hour with her.

We then went on to explain that we could only agree to buying the property if she would agree to delaying completion so we could go and get planning approval. We would need around 12 months on this particular deal to cover any possible appeal process.

The lady asked many questions about how this would work, how it would affect her and after a good hour we were agreed. She was thankful she could spend the next few months saying goodbye to her beloved home for so many years and said she was happy in a way because she knew she would be the last to live there in the house her father built.

It’s important to explain from the outset what you do and why you are looking at the property. If you confuse the vendors, agents or solicitors in any way at all they will out up the blockers and go down the traditional route of simply exchanging contracts and completing in the next 4-6 weeks.

You will not always get the deal you want because what we do is not for everyone but if you want a deal that you have spent a lot of time looking for then you need to be fully equipped with the right information.  

There is always a story in each and every deal and each one is unique – find out the story and you can then work out the best strategy to use. Don’t just go feet first with a strategy that may not fit the property or the needs of the vendor.

I speak to a lot of our students through each week and these challenges come up a lot. Coaching them in what to say increases the chances of success.

To find out what they know and what they learn from our courses why not come and spend a day with us for free.

Go to this link and sign up for the free reports and the full one day new investor course. http://www.glennarmstrong.com/new-investors/

I look forward to seeing you soon

Ashley Banfield