In a slow or changing market you need to be prudent when selecting how to sell your chunkers. The following are three strategies to successful chunkers.
1. Market to your buyers list — If you don’t have a buyers list you need to create one. Cash Buyers are the first category of people to go on this list. My definition of a cash buyer is someone who can close on a property within seven days if you have a clear title. The cash buyers are typically other investors who are looking to buy wholesale deals and rehab them and sell them at a profit. You can view a step-by-step article on this topic titled “Wholesaling your Chunker” in the November 2007 issue. The next category is retail buyers. Retail buyers are your end buyers, they will be the purchaser of your fixed up chunker. You should keep a database of these buyers every time you come in contact with them, whether they call you from an ad in the newspaper, they come to your open house, or they visit your website. Qualify them and make sure you have a good idea of what they are looking for. If you plan on wholesaling the property you will market to the cash buyers. When retailing a property, start with the retail buyers. Using a buyers list is the least costly and fastest way to secure a buyer. One way to help control retail buyers is to have that you will have someone from your team in control of the financing.
2. For sale by owner — This is one of my favorite ways to sell a chunker. I know what you are thinking is he an investor or a Realtor? The answer is investor. The day after I buy the property, I put a for sale by owner sign on the front lawn with one of those info tubes. On the sheet in the info tube I provide all the details on the property. The only people who call me are the ones who are interested. The reason for the for sale by owner sign is that most of the houses I buy were not for sale when I bought them. You never know who wants to live in the neighborhood. Maybe one of the neighbors has a friend or relative who wants to live in the area. I have even had a buyer ask me to stop mid construction and offer me my full asking price as if the house were finished. Since I am an investor I am not in the business of showing houses. During the first few days I will show the house but only when I am already scheduled to be at the property to meet or check on the contractors. Once I have contractors working on the property, they become my showing agents. Who better to show the house than a contractor that is proud of the work they are doing or have done. If the contractor shows someone the property and they buy it, I will pay them $1000 bonus.
3. List with a Realtor — although this is the option that I will go to last, it is the process to select a Realtor that begins prior to closing on the property. My goal is to find the best Realtor in the area. Now if you have a real estate license and are a Realtor, you may consider yourself the best Realtor for the job. I am a Realtor I have never considered myself for the job. Even though I can save thousands of dollars by listing the property myself, I leave that job to the professionals because in the amount of time it takes to sell a house I can get more deals under contract. You just need to decide if you are an investor or not. In order to qualify as one of the best, the Realtor needs to list and sell the type and size property that you have to sell. They also need to have a strong presence in the market. Do you see their signs as you drive around the neighborhood? Do they have other listings like yours on www.realtor.com?
Once you have identified 2-3 of the top Realtors, invite them to the property the day you close on it. Have each of them come separately and use this time not only to see if they are someone you want to work with but get their opinion about some of the repairs and/or upgrades you have planned. They are the closest thing to a retail buyer and they know what buyers are looking for. The Realtor should provide you with a price they would list the property at as well as provide supporting comps. They should also provide you with their marketing plan for the property from the yard sign to printed ads. After they present you with a price ask them what the price would need to be in order to sell within 30 days. Don’t make the mistake of selecting the Realtor that tells you what you want hear.
The most helpful one will be the one with the best ideas and the one that will represent your property the best. If you can’t find the best Realtor in your area or are unimpressed with what you found during your research, don’t give up there is one more option. If you want to get the property MLS exposure you can contact one of those Flat Fee MLS companies. Your property will get posted on the MLS for under $500 and you will only pay commission to the agent that brings the buyer. This option might look attractive since you get MLS exposure for a small price. The only problem is that you will not be in control since you will provide the Realtors a lockbox code to your property unless you want to spend time going to each showing. I like this option when you have a brand new or fully updated house and it is in a good neighborhood with great exposure and can sell itself. Be sure to change the lockbox code often and check on the house every couple days. In conclusion, there are many ways to get your chunker sold and only you can decide the right method for your property. I challenge you to be creative in the methods you use to sell your next chunker.
3 Ways to Sell Your Next Chunker
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