Successful real estate investors have always relied on unique strategies when it comes to acquiring investment properties. In fact, a disproportionate amount of profitable investments can be found in off market sales and other deals not involving a conventional listing route. A prime example of such an approach is making an unsolicited offer to purchase property. So how exactly do unsolicited home purchase offers work? How to find out who owns a house? And what is the ideal real estate marketing strategy that you should implement when you are making an unsolicited call to buy a house? Keep reading as we breakdown the process of buying investment property through an unsolicited offer and walk you through the steps that will help you identify the best real estate deals in any real estate market.
A Complete Guide to Making an Unsolicited Offer to Purchase Property
Making an unsolicited offer to purchase property offers a wide range of advantages to a real estate investor. Besides the possibility of securing a below market value deal, investing in these off market properties doesn’t come with the same hassles that are inherent to going through a traditional purchase. After all, competition is virtually non-existent and the absence of a selling agent can easily tilt the negotiation in your favor. Here are the steps you need to take when making an unsolicited offer to purchase a real estate property.
1- Identify the ideal neighborhood
Before searching for investment properties and homeowners, your first focus should be on finding a neighborhood that offers plenty of real estate investment opportunities. A good area to invest in should boast a host of essential amenities such as decent schools and a good public transport system. Furthermore, you should narrow your search down to areas that have an increasing appreciation rate and are trending upwards economically. Try using Mashvisor’s Heatmap Analysis Tool to find a good neighborhood for investment.
2- Create a target list of investment properties
The next step of initiating an unsolicited offer to purchase property is finding the home that you will invest in. There are several ways to do this. The simplest approach is to drive around a particular neighborhood and create a target list of potential investments. Another option is to work with a real estate agent that can help guide you through the process of weeding out less than ideal investment properties and picking high-potential ones. Moreover, an agent can also help you determine how much to offer on a house. You should not overcomplicate this step since compiling a property list is merely done to increase your options.
Find a top-performing real estate agent in your area of choice now.
3- Find out who owns each property
After compiling a target list, you need to find homeowner information for each property. Generally speaking, this is a tedious process that involves quite a bit of digging on your part. But luckily, there is a tool that can do all the heavy lifting for you. I’m talking of course about Mashboard. This great tool helps you identify the owner of any home in a matter of minutes. In fact, you are provided with a host of crucial homeowner data such as emails, phone numbers, and accurate addresses. Mashboard even allows for direct contact with the owners through a dedicated dashboard where you can customize and send email templates.
And if you’re having trouble putting together a list of addresses, you can instead conduct your homeowner search in a specific location using Mashboard. That way, you can invest in real estate anywhere.
Related: How to Find Out Who Owns a Property for Off Market Deals
4- Get your investment property financing in order
A common mistake that many novice real estate investors make is neglecting to sort out their financing before making an unsolicited offer to purchase property. As a matter of fact, you need to get preapproved for a loan before making an unsolicited offer to purchase property. Obviously, this does not apply to you if you are planning on buying an income property with cash. But if you are not, then you need to shop around and talk to multiple mortgage providers to make sure that you are getting the ideal financing package.
Related: Financing an Investment Property: The Aspect of Creative Financing
5- Prepare an offer letter
Now that you have compiled a target list of investment properties with the proper homeowner data, your next step is preparing a real estate offer letter. This is simply a physical letter that outlines your intentions to buy a property. More importantly, it is the centerpiece of your marketing strategy since a good letter can be the difference between a successful offer and a failed one. This also means that you should put some effort into writing the letter instead of treating it as a simple offer submission. Here are the points that you need to hit when making the offer:
- Explain why you want to buy the property
- Try to create a rapport with the homeowner by sharing something personal
- Include every piece of information that pertains to your loan status as well as your down payment
- Mention your contingencies (Home appraisal, professional inspection, etc…)
A good letter should cover around one page and it needs to be written in clear and concise language. Make sure to outline every detail of your offer and avoid any ambiguity that could deter the owner from considering your unsolicited offer to purchase property.
6- Make multiple offers
The key to success when making an unsolicited offer to purchase property is submitting multiple offers. In fact, most unsolicited offers won’t yield the desired response. As a result, it is essential that you keep making offers in order to increase your chances of securing a deal. Send a letter of intent to purchase real estate to every owner in your list and don’t hesitate to compile a new list using Mashboard if your initial efforts fail.
Related: Buying Investment Property: 4 Best Tips to Get an Offer Accepted
The Bottom Line
An unsolicited offer to purchase property is without a doubt an effective approach to finding profitable real estate investments. While it might not be the most straightforward strategy out there, it can definitely yield good returns if you implement it properly. For more valuable tips on investing in the housing market, head over to our blog.
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