It’s been a while since I’ve posted an update to my Apartment Quest series.
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It hasn’t been due to any lack of motivation or activity on my part. Nope. Our lack of progress has been due to Mr. Seller. It seems that he’s been hitting the crack pipe lately – hard!
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He somehow got the idea that he can call all the shots and sell a $1 million building on his own terms and that everyone – the lender, the appraiser, the broker, and me, should just bow down to his demands and thank him for putting his building in play.
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Guess what? Nobody’s buying it.
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To bring you up to speed, interest rates have moderated a bit, and I recently injected some serious commercial mortgage broker competition into the mix and (almost) have a really good financing package put together (we’re about 0.15% apart). We flirted briefly with a land contract sale – but you would have busted a gut laughing at the terms that Mr Seller gave me – with a totally straight face to boot.
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And he’s STILL dragging his feet on getting me the last due diligence items.
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So last week we signed a two week extension to the purchase agreement, and I told him that this was the last one that was free. Each additional extension will now cost him $25,000 in price. IT’S TIME TO DECIDE!
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He was shocked, but I got his attention. Will he act? Who knows. I may end up with an 11 cap rate on this building if it finally closes. My broker assures me that he’s serious to sell, because it’s part of a 1031 exchange. But at this point I can take it or leave it, because there are several other properties that I’m tracking that are at least as profitable.
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So – it’s time to get down to brass tacks and decide. Stay tuned.
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Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
This is a different twist on the holier-than-thou real estate participants. Usually, it’s buyers asking for 20% price reductions off of a list price already cut back to the bone coming in with a full blown attitude of “these sellers should be happy that I’ve graced the table with an offer…you better take it before I ask for your first-born as well.”
It’s strange to see a seller that takes a similar type of positioning. Weird in fact. Just reading this sets my teeth on edge. I’m not a fan of stupid people.
You’d think that he might know that now isn’t the best time to sell if you want to negotiate from a position of strength. Something about the worst selling market in 30 years or something. I thought this was common knowledge, but maybe he didn’t get the memo.
This has given me a new direction to think about as I would not have thought about it myself, although im not convinced its the best approach ……