Why This Guy Wins At Business And Lessons We Can Learn

[SquatchMan]

This guy knocked on my door yesterday and within 10 seconds I knew that he would one day become wealthy.

How?

Some backstory. My mom inherited my grandpa’s house and it has sat abandoned for over 20 years.

We get 5 letters a week asking to buy the abandoned house. We have seen every sales letter that every real estate guru totes as "the best sales letter".

The “hand written” letter. The colorful letter. The penny attached to the letter. The CASH 4 YOUR HOUSE letter.


TRASH. TRASH. Thanks for the penny… TRASH. TRASH.

This guy knocks on the door yesterday.

NOBODY knocks on my door. Not. Even. MORMONS.

I was naked and chilling home alone. I decide against answering the door naked and throw on some sweatpants and a t-shirt.

“Hi, does the Spyt family live here. I have a cash offer for the house on <address>. ”

My jaw hit the floor.

ZERO people have knocked on the door and offered to buy the house.

20 YEARS.

ZERO PEOPLE. Zip. Zero. Nada.

“Uh, sure. Just write your number and an offer and we’ll get back to you.”

He wrote the offer and his number. I showed it to my parents.

They didn’t want it.

That’s not important.

I showed my parents the offer. MY PARENTS SAW AN OFFER.

In 20 years they NEVER called any number they got in the mail.

This guy’s offer made it to the decision maker.

What Can We Learn From This Guy?

1. Grab life by the balls. On this forum everyone says to pick up the phone. When you get denied over the phone go out and knock on their door. The worst that could happen is they say no… or they answer the door naked.

2. Go straight to the decision maker. This guy knew that 99% of those sales letters get thrown in the trash and everybody ignores the “We Buy Houses” signs. He went and knocked on the door of the decision maker. No one had knocked in 20 YEARS and it literally took 10 minutes to knock. Even in the housing bubble not a single person bothered to knock on the door.

3. Be willing to offer value on the spot. This guy was willing to offer 75,000 on the spot for the house. I’m lazy and don’t want to pick up the phone. This guy came to my door and offered my parents tremendous value for something they didn’t pay for or use. Free money. Who would say no?

PS: His offer was $75,000 for a 20 year abandoned house worth $200,000 FIXED UP. An offer every slowlaner would take. Not enough for my fastlane family. I convinced my parents to write me a wholesale contract for $90,000. I can easily sell it for $100,000 and maybe $110,000 if I follow my own advice. A 20k profit for me. 90k profit for my parents. A win-win. The house needs 40k-50k in work and my parents don't want that headache, so selling it makes more sense.

 

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[MidwestLandlord]

So...you called the door knocker and asked him to go to $110,000, right?

And you had comparables ready so you could sell him in that conversation that it would be worth $200,000 after rehab?

And maybe even went a step further and had rehab estimates lined up to show him as well?

 

[SquatchMan]

So...you called the door knocker and asked him to go to $110,000, right?

And you had comparables ready so you could sell him in that conversation that it would be worth $200,000 after rehab?

And maybe even went a step further and had rehab estimates lined up to show him as well?

Yes to all the above. I literally drove to the house yesterday with a contractor friend and got an estimate on the repairs. All the comps are at 200k and property values have been shooting up in that neighborhood. 200k might be a little low because this house is on a gigantic lot and the house is 200 sq ft bigger than anything nearby.

 

[ljean]

I buy two or three houses a month and I have never knocked on a door. I've never even called a for sale sign. I wait for motivated sellers to call me. Way too much time wasted otherwise.

Yes, kudos to the guy taking initiative but I'll bet he gives up knocking on doors long before he makes a deal via that method.

 

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[Motley crue]

I buy two or three houses a month and I have never knocked on a door. I've never even called a for sale sign. I wait for motivated sellers to call me. Way too much time wasted otherwise.

Yes, kudos to the guy taking initiative but I'll bet he gives up knocking on doors long before he makes a deal via that method.

Everyone needs to find their start somewhere, he's bootstrapping and I'm sure it's working for him. He might not have as much publicity as you do so he has to grind harder, or perhaps he's well established and knows he can two, three, four more deals a month by knocking on doors. Gotta respect a good hustle.

 

[MidwestLandlord]

Everyone needs to find their start somewhere, he's bootstrapping and I'm sure it's working for him. He might not have as much publicity as you do so he has to grind harder, or perhaps he's well established and knows he can two, three, four more deals a month by knocking on doors. Gotta respect a good hustle.

The OP said his parents ignore letters from potential buyers, so for all we know the door knocker sent a dozen letters before he got frustrated and went and knocked on their door.

Yes to all the above. I literally drove to the house yesterday with a contractor friend and got an estimate on the repairs. All the comps are at 200k and property values have been shooting up in that neighborhood. 200k might be a little low because this house is on a gigantic lot and the house is 200 sq ft bigger than anything nearby.

Good.

Just out of curiosity, why did your fastlane parents sit on this for 20 years? Even though the house was mortgage free, it still cost them money in taxes and insurance.