Tag: Power of Sales

Where to find the best deals? Here are the best ‘bins’ to keep your tabs on:

 1. Estate Sales

An unfortunate effect of the beautiful lives we all lead, is that one day we will eventually pass away. What happens to a person’s home once they pass? Quite often, the family sells the property and gives the proceeds to whichever direction the will intended, and all the bills and debts are paid.

Why is this an opportunity? Quite often these Sellers are looking to unload their property quickly and just want it SOLD so they can move on – giving YOU, the buyer, an opportunity to walk in and potentially acquire the property for a discount.

2. Power of Sale

High credit card balances? Line of Credit out of control? Budget completely blown? Many people will answer YES to this question, and to these people, sometimes it is just TOO MUCH and they need to sell their homes to downsize and decrease their debt payments. Sometimes these people can’t even pay the mortgage or taxes, and the bank will seize the property and appoint a Realtor to sell it to re-coup the loan!

Why is this an opportunity? Again, motivated Sellers – that’s the key. These people need to sell their home and get their bills paid asap. Money talks, and if you can get yours in front of them first – it might give you an edge.

3. Handyman Specials

 Nice personality, but needs a little lipstick? Look no further than your neighbourhood ‘handyman specials’. These homes come from a variety of sources – from those that can’t keep a house to those that tried to flip but flopped. Pick up these homes at a bargain!

 Why is this an opportunity? Well, a property that is hard on the eyes is often hard to enjoy. A property that is hard to enjoy is hardly valuable, and hence comes at a discount because there is little to no demand in the regular everyday market. These sellers realize quickly that their home wont sell for the average price, and may need simply be in dire need to move on.

 4. Private Sellers

These Sellers have opted to sort through a riff raff of buyers themselves, and learn to pre-qualify them, negotiate with them, and close them. Let me tell you – not as easy as it sounds. Some of them even decide to work exclusively with un-qualified buyers that share the highest level of incompetence and advertise that they do not want agents to bring quality buyers to them!

Why is this an opportunity? Knowledge is power, and these folks, quite often, have little of either. Now there will be the odd exception, however the mass of these sellers did not price their homes correctly and can therefore not defend their price properly, they do not know how to negotiate (and are not even aware of) terms and conditions in a contract that can make a deal even MORE favourable than a low price, and therefore are not best suited to get the best advantages in a deal. Now I have never, and will never be unethical or unprofessional with a Private Seller, however; when I represent a buyer it is my obligation to get them the best deal possible.

Tricks of the Trade: I am able to manipulate the MLS database to search for homes by Seller (i.e. Contains “ Estate” or “Bank”) and can also search by keyword (i.e. Contains “handyman”, “tlc” or “flip”). Furthermore, I can have listings that match these criteria automatically sent to my clients inboxes the minute they are uploaded by other realtors, bypassing the overnight delay by the Ottawa Real Estate board, and therefore giving my clients a window of opportunity to view listings before the public does. This also really limits the homes my clients see to what they really want, instead of filtering through a hundred listings that “might work”. Pretty much any information that is related to a listing, I can transform into search criteria and can sort, sift and organize automatically and have sent out. These aren’t generic searches either (price range, location criteria), I’m talking digging deep and going above and beyond to get the cream of the crop. With regards to private sellers, most are open to working with me once I talk to them about the calibre of buyers I work with and the other ways in which I can help them, but they are really leaving themselves open to all kinds of pitfalls. Not only is pricing an area where they are at a disadvantage, but they are also (quite often) not well versed in legal matters (yes – contracts are complex legal documents), but also in the coordination and timing of all the related professionals that will all play a role in the success of the deal.

I hope you enjoyed the insight into the Real Estate Bargain Bin!

If you would like access to the BINS, and keep your tabs on any of them, simply visit www.RealEstateBargainBin.info

Cheers!