How To Buy A House In 30 Minutes

15 years learning by watching

4 years building relationships

2 years buying my own stuff

Which leads to the experience of getting an email, making two phone calls and calling the seller back within 30 minutes of their email to say, “we’ll take it!”

I don’t advocate buying property sight unseen, and after I gave the seller a verbal we still had a chance to do a full walkthrough, but I’ll explain why I felt fine with this one.

1. A wholesaler I trust. The email came through from a wholesaler who I trust and my parents have bought from before. I trust their numbers and the types of properties they offer. They emailed me a 4-bedroom townhouse they had an contract on and were looking to assign. With properties like this there’s almost no way you’ll be able to get a 1st mortgage, so you’re left with bridge financing or closing in cash, and you’ve gotta do it fast.
2. A condo complex, neighborhood and renovation plan I know. They happened to find a property in a development I already own one unit in and am very familiar with. I like the board, the construction and know quite a bit about the recent sales. I know exactly how much renovation will bring how much value. It made the purchase a 90% automatic yes.
3. A joint venture partner ready to close. Being able to pick up the phone and have an experienced JV partner who could come up with $200,000 cash lined up is huge. This isn’t a particularly rich deal for me, but being able to help put it together was a significant personal achievement.
4. Skilled eyes for the one and only walk-through you’re likely to get. Bringing in my Dad, who is a great Realtor, Property Manager and who happens to be a Certified Engineering Technologist and a Journeyman Carpenter is like having a walking home inspection service. Then to bring my Mom in, who has done a lot of renos and is an Accountant is icing on the cake. We could have a second look if we really wanted, but when it comes to great deals, I want to be the easiest person on the block to deal with, so I’m looking to say yes/no as soon as possible and be true to my word. When it comes to wholesale or pre-foreclosure deals, the homeowners are frequently a little skittish so you want to be very careful about how you treat them.
5. Multiple exit strategies. This one is planned to be a flip, and we know the neighborhood well enough to make sure our renos fit the types of sales we’re looking for. I also already have a potential purchaser lined up. I also did the numbers and know that it’ll cash-flow like crazy if we end up having to hold it for unforeseen circumstances.
6. An all-star renovation team and contractors. Knowing which contractors I can have, including some ballpark estimates from a few contractors thanks to my wholesalers means the budget is pretty solid. Concerns are few, risks are low, awesome is high. There’s sure to be things that pop-up unexpectedly, but it’s great to know we have a wicked team to handle it.

Now I’m just looking forward to the process of getting the renos done!