The title for this post may seem a little offensive, but I really want to drive the point home about some things that I see investors (including myself at times) do that really hurts our collective image in the house flipping business.
What made me decide to do this list is something that happened this week. Something that really makes all of us look bad. No investor should ever act the way I learned an investor acted this week. I’ll share what happened when we get to that item in the list.
This is one my wife pointed out that I have a problem with from time to time. You see, I do get busy and I am the world’s worst multi-tasker. Don’t even think of trying to get me to do two things at once. Disaster is sure to strike.
This situation happens regularly where I am working on something and the phone rings. Any other business and I would probably just let it go to voicemail.
Not when flipping houses! You don’t want them immediately calling your competition, so we’ve got to pick up the phone. Therein lies the problem. I’m being interrupted and sometimes my conversation with the seller is contaminated by it.
After hanging up, Melissa will say something like “GEEZ! You were RUDE!” Then comes the immediate sinking feeling. I hadn’t even realized it.
I’d have been better off just letting it go to voicemail.
This is one my pet peeves. Besides, this one allows me to vindicate myself a little from the last item, because I feel that I do the exact opposite of this one.
After being in this business for so many years and working with motivated sellers, I’ve come to the conclusion that most of the time, sellers don’t fear selling their houses for a low price, rather they fear being taken advantage of. Most don’t know the ins and outs of real estate and figure that you do. You have that power over them, but you don’t want them feeling inferior.
We’d all do much better if we go in with the idea of treating sellers with respect and being friendly. Don’t go in with such a big head that you can barely get in the front door. You’ll immediately build a giant wall between you and the seller.
This one goes beyond working with sellers, this one really involves anyone that you interact with in this business.
Yeah, it may be funky. It may be outright disgusting. But you’ve got to refrain from rubbing the sellers’ face in it. We must show some respect and be understanding.
We will all do much better if, when we visit a house being sold, we just point out the things that we like about the house and talk about the potential it has.
The seller knows the condition of the house and is usually really embarrassed about it.
You want to be on their side, working with them. This one is sort of an extension of the “High and Mighty” item.
You may immediately be thinking about a certain house flipper that was on one of those house flipping shows over the last several years. I’m not going to name names, but it does rhyme with bongo.
These are members of your house flipping team and as such, you’ve got to regard them with as much respect as you do a real estate attorney or closer.
Sometimes it can be hard, as you also have to negotiate with them to get jobs done faster, for less money and with better quality. This is what leads to the problems most of the time.
Improving your negotiating skills should eliminate some of the problems with this one. If you can find ways to make compromises that benefit both sides instead of just making demands without giving anything more in return.
Be nice to your contractors (within reason, you don’t want to be taken advantage of) and your jobs will go much smoother and the work will be of higher quality. Compliment their work and take time to talk with them.
If you don’t have the means to actually close on a deal, it’s best you either don’t contract to buy it or be completely honest with the seller or agents as to what you are intending to do. If you intend to wholesale the house AND aren’t 100% sure that you will find a buyer that can close on it within the time specified, let the seller know that you are not the one that is going to close on it. You will be working to find a buyer.
You don’t want to be the one that convinces the seller that they have their house sold and have them make decisions about their next steps, only to find out that you can’t follow through. This could really screw things up for them, especially if they are facing foreclosure.
There was a local company teaching people about flipping houses that put out a podcast for new investors. I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard them telling new investors to always put every house under contract and to use an escape clause so that they can figure out whether it is a doable deal after they contract it. WHAT?!?!! That is the quickest way to a horrible reputation.
I don’t know about you, but I like to sleep well at night.
Here’s an extension of the last one. You really need to do your homework and be confident that your offer is one you can live with and one that you can actually close on (or find a buyer if you are wholesaling).
When I came up with this one, I was thinking more about wholesale buyers that tell you they are want your wholesale deal, only to back out. It never fails to amaze me how many investors will tell you they want it on the phone, only to never call you back or show up to sign the contract.
It’s even worse, when they wait until the day after signing the contract to tell you that they’ve made a mistake. I guess that is better than waiting until closing to figure it out. They still look like an ass.
This one is the last but definitely not the least. In fact, this one will make you look more like an ass than all of the others combined.
An situation came to my attention this week regarding this item that made me consider a list like this. A seller was facing a tough situation and needed to sell their house. I had made an offer on the house and the seller told me they had another investor coming later in the day to look at the house.
The other investor appeared to have offered more than me. The seller was told that the a small lien on their house would be paid by the buyer. So even though the total paid for the house was less than my offer, they would NET more because I had the small lien being paid by the seller.
That was all fine and good until the seller realized that no where in the contract they had signed, did it say anything about the buyer paying the lien. When the seller realized that this was left out of the contract, she called the investor and asked why it was left out.
This investor proceeded to tell the seller that she must have misunderstood him. She stated that she knew he had agreed because she had made him repeat it when they were discussing the sale.
Clearly, the seller only signed because of what she thought was agreed to. Any self respecting person would understand and either agree to write it in the contract or renegotiate or gracefully bow out of the deal because there was a disagreement.
No, this investor wasn’t about to do that. Instead, he decided it best to inform the seller that he was good friends with an attorney and that the contract was already signed and they would have to close.
What an ass!
We will all be better off avoiding doing these 7 things that make us look like asses. I’m not just pointing the finger at other investors because I’ve also done things to make myself look like an ass on more occasions than I’d like to recount.
Next: 206: Taking Massive Action
Comments (21)
Well said, Danny! It can be tempting to do any of these things from time to time, but they will always backfire. As a wholesaler I’ve also had them done to me.
All you have in this business is your reputation, if you trash it you might as well just go get a day job.
Great way to put it, Alison. It never ceases to amaze me how some people only seem to care about short term gain.
Most of this list applies to equally well to how we treat our Tenants. I’ve caught myself acting superior with tenants before and was irritated with myself after the fact. It was stupid, these people are my clients. Thanks for the list Danny.
Hey Robin.
I can see how that can happen with tenants some times.
But I’ve also heard about a lot of tenants that really know more than landlords about rentals and their rights and act all high and mighty when they don’t get their way.
Great post Danny, we can all learn alot if we look back and see what we could have done better, or more respectfully. Sometimes it’s not nagging from a spouse or assistant, but observant criticism about something we may not realize we are doing. Learn something every day, even if it may be something not pleasant about ourself we can work on in future. Every deal can can result in future deals if you handle people with the same respect and honesty you would ask for.
Ed,
I really like how you mentioned learning something every day, “even if it may be something not pleasant about ourselves”. So, so true. We have to be honest with ourselves.
Great Post Danny, I always enjoy reading your quality content. I have 2 quick questions, one related to this post and one unrelated…
1) In regard to your point #6 in this article, have you ever signed a contract to purchase and later, before closing, realized that you had to go back to the seller to re-negotiate terms due to “in-accurate” estimates for repairs?
2) Did you develop the lead management software that you make available on your website?
Thanks
Hey James,
1) Yes, I’ve had to go back and re-negotiate before and it was not a pleasant thing to have to do. I did do it as soon as possible though so that I wasn’t wasting the sellers’ time.
2) Yes, I did.
Emotionally immature people work in every business, but a person with all the traits above won’t hang around long. It’s not just common sense that gets people talking well about you, it’s a requirement that you treat people the way you want to be treated. The Golden Rule is alive and working. Why would anyone be so greedy or thoughtless that the actions above would be considered a temptation.
Well said, Mike.
And I do also believe that what goes around comes around.
I am realizing more and more that you have awesome,sincere, ethical content in this blog. Great work on your posts. Please keep them coming, since I keep learning.
I read this over and over again but did not understand what is described here. Can you help?
“The other investor appeared to have offered more than me. The seller was told that the a small lien on their house would be paid by the buyer. So even though the total paid for the house was less than my offer, they would NET more because I had the small lien being paid by the seller.”
Thank you very much, Abdul. Sorry it took a while to respond.
As an example: The seller only owes $10,000 on the house. I offered something like $65,000, but that $10,000 that is owed would come out of that. So, the seller would net $55,000.
Let’s say the other investor offered $60,000, but said he would pay the $10,000 also. So in essence, the seller would receive the full $60,000 from him because he agreed to pay off what was owed, on top of the purchase price (so he’s is actually paying $70,000). Even though he offered less for the purchase price ($60k versus my $65), the seller would make more with him net ($60k versus my $55k ($65k minus the 10k owed)).
it is clear now, thanks!.
Danny, a related question, let us say if my intention is wholesaling, and I got a property under contract from a private sller. How is the seller going to react if he/she knows that I am not the ultimate buyer someone else is? Is this situation going to be ugly at the closing day? I ask this with the experience when I bought the home that I live now, I met the seller and we shook hands.
This is not something to worry about. I don’t ever go to closings at the same time as the seller. I usually sign earlier in the morning and they come in later to sign their part.
Most of the time they won’t notice because they are just concerned with their side of the transaction and that they are getting what they were told they were getting.
Great, thanks.
I’m glad someone wrote an article on this. Preach!!
Sometimes you can even get caught up in some of these things – greed is a powerful thing.
But man oh man, does it feel good to NOT be an ass!
Hey Brooks! Been a while.
Glad to have you visiting the site again.
Hey Danny, I just recently got my computer back and saw you were back online.Awesome!!! I am a beginner (wholesaler) and really enjoy your blogs. They are very helpful.Thanks for coming back!!!
Alex,
Glad you found out that Flipping Junkie was back. I’ve got a lot of ideas for the blog and I look forward to helping you learn the business. Make sure to subscribe (if you haven’t already) as I am sharing a lot more stories and helpful information by email with subscribers.
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