Let’s look at the situation where you are looking at a REO listed at 25k and they have just come down from 29k. The bank most likely did not really look at it because it isn’t worth that much. The house is in bad condition and would have to be gutted to rehab; the only good part of the house is the structure. You don’t want to rehab it yourself but you would like to make a low ball offer on it to flip it.

If this doesn’t work, you are not interested. But you don’t want to let this property go just yet as it is listed by a realtor who doesn’t even have a sign in the yard. No one knows this house is even available. Also, the house should sell for anywhere from 45 to 106k after rehab.

Why there is no sign in the yard on the REO listed for sale? For one of two reasons. First, the realtor could be just lazy.

Second reason is if a realtor knows what he is doing, it means he has investors or friends he is holding the house for. They may hope no one notices the property and they will get a sure deal selling it to somebody who buys from them all the time and closes all the time. Sometimes they need it to get to a certain price range in order for their buyer to pick it up.

Well, it happens all the time, and quite frankly that is just business and building relationships. You eventually want to be that person. This kind of relationships is the reason one has a success in real estate business. They are not hard to build but they do take a little skill.

Tags: real estate investing