BBQ Capital | Kansas City Real Estate Investing

One of the great strategies when negotiating real estate of any kind, especially investment real estate, is to know what the highest price you will pay will be BEFORE you begin the negotiation process.

Here in Kansas City, a good rental property will be many things. But one of the most import things it will need to be is profitable. Profitable rental property is not an accident. It is by design.

Before I let any of my clients begin bidding on a home I encourage them to know where their Stop Line is before beginning They can share that number with me if they want. But I’d rather they didn’t. I’d rather they keep trying to get the best deal possible until they get to that line and then just tell me, “that’s it. No more.”

I’ll understand. Honest. When you are figuring your numbers for your investment property you need to know where it is profitable. Why go above that number?

If you are a real estate investor looking for below market rental properties you need to realize that Cash is King, but Time is the Motivator.

Yesterday I was reading Jim Crawford’s post titled In the Current Real Estate Market Cash is King Negotiating the Sale of a Home With A Cash Buyer. I found the post to be well written, on topic and especially helpful to the real estate investor looking to expand his or her portfolio.

But I do want to hone his argument to a finer point. While Cash is King most sellers receive cash (or equivalent) at the closing table. So it’s not the cash that will motivate the seller to sell below his asking price. Rather, it’s probably the time and ease the cash buyer brings.

Cash buyers can close next Tuesday. Time. It’s the motivator.

A “borrowing” buyer can get cash equivalent but it’s going to take a couple to a few weeks and is subject to underwriting standards. To someone under stress or really motivated to move on, time will equal an undisclosed amount of cash. And the less the time, the greater the time to cash equivalency will be.

Are you following me here? Saving a seller one more mortgage payment is easily worth that payment. Probably a premium above that, too. Helping a seller to get out of town to join her husband with the kids will be worth “X”. Relieving a cash strapped single mother of three working two jobs to make ends meet, and relieving her of that burden this week, is worth something to that overworked mother.

It doesn’t matter the motivation of the seller so long as you tap into it. I think you’ll find that in many cases it boils down to timing. How that timing relates to their situation is what you have to find out…and use to your advantage since you have cash. After all, you are a real estate investor, aren’t you?