subject: Flipping Real Estate: Factors to Consider When Pre-Screening Leads [print this page] With lots of affordable residential properties in the market today, one of the best ways to make money and prepare for your retirement is by flipping real estate. Flipping is simply the process of buying and selling houses for profit. Unlike in other methods of investing in real estate, generating steady stream of income by buying and selling houses is fast and easy.
One of the things that you should remember when buying and selling homes is that you should always pre-screen your leads before entering into a deal with a home seller. Evaluating leads is an important task that you should accomplish because even if you have an effective marketing strategy that helps you generate dozens of leads, you won't be able to make the most of your business if you don't know how to separate a deal from a dud.
To help you out, here are the factors that you should consider when pre-screening leads:
A seller's motivation to sell. Although what motivates a seller to sell will not make a deal more profitable, identifying this particular information can help you separate a good deal from a bad one. Most motivated sellers will readily provide such information, a sign that they are willing and ready to sell. On other hand, those who will question your need to know such a detail have little or no motivation to have their properties placed under contract.
A seller's asking price. Identifying how much money a homeowner is selling his property for can give you a good basis for your initial offer. In addition, real estate veterans revealed that if you have ample knowledge on the neighborhood where the seller's property is located, you can determine if a deal is worth pursuing or not based on the selling price asked by the seller.
The cost of repairs on the property. When flipping real estate, it is important to determine the amount of repairs that the house requires. However, most sellers will make it appear that their properties are in much better condition than they actually are. To get the information required, you can ask specific questions to the seller instead of simply asking the latter if the house needs repairs or not.
Having the ability to quickly and accurately evaluate a deal is something that you develop if you want to be successful at flipping real estate.