Where Do Real Estate Investors Find Great Buys on Property?

The answer in one word is: UGLY. You need to have a motivated seller (DON’T WANTER) and property that is ugly. Great buys in real estate are in rough condition. I can count the nice properties on one hand that I got great buys in over the years. I am talking about thousands of properties. So if you have not guessed it yet, if you get in this business you are going to need to be in the rehabilitation of property business. What do I mean by ugly:a. Weeds two feet high in the yardb. Gutters hanging down from the housec. Holes in the roof are goodd. Maintenance neglectede. Out dated kitchens, shag carpet, unpainted walls for 10-20 yearsSome of examples of a great buy:a. “Keep cool indoor pool”. I bought a house in Pontiac once such that when you walked in the front door, the paint was pealing from the walls. The house was full of moisture. When you got to the top of stairs to basement, you ran into crystal clear water. The water was to the top step. Someone had stopped up the floor drains and broken a water pipe. Water was running out of the basement windows. I had no competition on buying this house. We called the water department and had the water turned off at the street. We had the house dried out and got a great buy. The point is that there was little competition to buy this home. They could not see past the water coming out of basement windows. This was a foreclosed property and the bank was a motivated seller.b. “A little smell” I purchased a house where the owner had a dump truck load of sand poured into the basement. The sand was for a permanent litter box for her 25 cats. I had to take my clothes off in the garage when I got home. Again, I had no competition on the buy. The rehab on this house was labor intense.c. “Moving walls” In this house, you opened the door and roaches fall on you or better said, “the walls move”. Again, the competition fell away- this required an exterminator and all was well.d. Also look for backed up sewers, fleas, houses full of trash, as things to look for when looking for a great buys.

This business requires hard work but the rewards can be great. The majority of properties that people donate to charities meet the above conditions. There are great buys in real estate but it requires investors with a talent to restore the homes to a classic condition. Restoring homes, and putting them back in great shape, is for me, part of a process of fulfilling the American dream for homeowners and is what I love most about this business. The investors who look and see fully restored homes instead of the above are ones that get the great buys on homes they otherwise couldn’t afford. If you are new investor, I recommend you focus on the lighter rehabs, paint and carpet changes for example. Some of the examples above were light rehabs they just had obstacles that others could not see past.