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Finding Surprising Deals … Across America

September 5th, 2010 categories: Buyers, Investors, RENOVATORS, SUCCESS STORIES

Some people have asked, “How do you find the good deals?” and I’ve been thinking about that recently since the last deal found me.   For me, there are two types of real estate search,   On Purpose, and Serendipity.

On Purpose includes all the normal methods,  searching the REO listings, Courthouse Steps, Direct Mail etc … and we need to keep on doing those methods that work for us.    But dont miss out on the Serendipity that can happen by Wandering Around with Curiosity and Expectation.

It’s good to wake up each day desiring to be a blessing and receive a blessing,   deliver a miracle and receive a miracle.   Then just wander around with curiosity and expectation.  Dont get too caught up in the hustle & bustle of the regular On Purpose business … or you may miss the Surprise Blessings.

Here’s how it worked out yesterday on my drive across America.   I stopped by to see Andrew & Megan Martinez in York Nebraska.    Andrew is looking to do his first Green Flip, so we asked Jennifer Martin, my Realtor,  for a referral from her network.   Judy Miller did a great job of showing us what was available.  We settled on 2 and went to look at them today.  That’s the standard approach, business as usual.

Then we set out, Wandering Around.   First we went to a nearby lake and went canoeing.    Kicked around some ideas and landed one really good idea that we’ll both use for years to come.   Then we went to a restaurant where Andrew knew the owner.   Fred mentioned a home that had just gone into foreclosure and wasn’t listed yet.    We wandered over & the house looked good, Serendipity #1.

As we were beginning to leave,  a gentleman who recognized Andrew from last year’s Christmas party joined our conversation.    He learned that we were looking to buy a house and volunteered that he had a house that he was thinking of selling.    We went over and looked at it.  Serendipity #2.   It looked even better than the first one and found that it came with assumable financing!  Blessing #3.  Now all that needs to be negotiated is the total price and how the balance will be paid.

So at my stop at York, Nebraska on my trip across the USA, I looked at 4 properties,  2 were business as usual and 2 were from Wandering Around With Expectation.    I’m not saying that one is better than the other.  The point is to do both.

The benefit of the normal approaches is that you can always and consistently go to work.   The problem with these normal approaches is that everyone else is doing the same thing.  So great deals and creative financing are more rare.

The benefit of Wandering Around With Expectation is that you are likely to uncover deals that the competition doesn’t know about and creative financing is more common.

The best book that I’ve read recently on living with this type of Expectation is “You Were Born For This” by Bruce Wilkinson.  Bruce says that God is looking to bless people and is looking for delivery boys and girls to deliver miracles and blessings.    What a great way to live.   Expecting to deliver and receive blessings each and every day.    And it makes Energy Wise House Flipping more fun … and profitable.

PS. (later)   After the previous post, I was sitting around a campfire and Roger mentioned another house available for $5,000.   That got my attention, so we went and looked at it before I left … I’ll keep you posted.

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