“Call me when you find a good deal and I will buy it.” This is what I used to tell real estate agents when I began to invest in real estate.  I cannot say that my phone rang off the hook.  Most real estate transactions are listed and sold at retail prices.  Most financing for these sales is from traditional lending institutions.  So where did I expect to get these “good deals”?  Sometimes, a property is under priced.  In that case it is usually snapped up quickly by either the agent or their investor friends (try to be that investor friend).  Maybe you find a place that is in need of simple cosmetic fix up.  In that case, you can offer a little less and maybe get it,  but there are lots of other competing investors doing the same thing.

So, why weren’t all my new real estate agent friends calling me with the good deals?  Why was my phone so quiet?  The answer is that good deals usually are not handed to you. YOU NEED TO CREATE THE GOOD DEALS FOR YOURSELF.  No one else is going to do this for you.  It is not your agent’s job to do it for you.

FIND A PROPERTY OR A SITUATION THAT IS OUT OF THE ORDINARY

This may buy you a little time to get a jump on your competition.  Instead of looking for the same simple, little house that everyone else in the marketplace also wants, try to find a property or a seller that stands out from the rest.  You want to focus on properties that that YOU CAN INJECT YOURSELF INTO TO CREATE VALUE.

These unusual situations could include any number of different types of properties or sellers.  You may find a seller with several (or many) separate houses to sell; a property with a group of individual cottages on it;  an unfinished house and a separate unit;  a house and a separate building that could be converted to another unit; a seller that is having financial difficulties;  a seller that is determined to get his high asking price but may be flexible on the terms;  a seller, that because of tax consequences, does not want all cash out of the deal;  a property that has houses with obsolete old wood foundations; a seller that is overwhelmed with bad tenants and management headaches; or multiple owners of a property that dislike each other (divorce or a bad partnership); or a seller that just can’t sell his property because of some major physical flaw.

In a slow market, these types of properties may be on the market longer than usual.  In a hot market, they may be on the market a LITTLE LONGER than everything else that is selling quickly.  YOU WANT SOME BREATHING ROOM TO MAKE THE DEAL HAPPEN. You want to look for a property that your competition may not want or, because of the unusual aspect of the seller or property, the buyers take too long to analyze, thus giving you a jump on them.