Real estate is your bread and butter. You locate it, secure it, and flip it for a profit. At least, that’s the dream when you become a property investor. In reality, you won’t always have the resources required to bag the homes and pieces of land that will transform your fortunes.

Sure, you can carry on regardless, yet bidding on listings out of your budget will only eat into your bottom line. There’s a better method - bag a bargain. With the figures involved, an incredible deal seems unlikely.

However, if you follow these four pieces of advice, you’ll notice them everywhere!

Be The First

There are similarities between bidding for a piece of real estate and selling it. The main one is that you fall in love with the first or last properties that you see, and everything in-between disappears into the ether. The same is true for people trying to sell as the first offer is usually accepted, which is why it pays to be pre-approved for a loan. Your agent also makes a difference as the best realtors have contacts that will ensure your bid is at the top of the list. What are you waiting for? Stop delaying!

Check Out The Foreclosure Market

Let’s start by saying that it’s never nice when a person or family loses a home. But, you aren’t part of the reason why they no longer live at the address. It may feel ruthless, yet nothing is going to stop the bank from foreclosing the loan. As such, real estate of this nature has plenty of potential, even if the process takes years to conclude. Repairs will be required, but they’re typically cosmetic and don’t cost too much to fix. As long as you factor it into the budget, it shouldn’t be an issue.

Approach Sellers Privately

Sometimes, it’s easier to talk face-to-face when there is less red tape involved. Firstly, you can speak openly without the bank or a realtor mudding the waters. People tend to appreciate it when you get to the point and don’t beat around the bush. Also, there’s no harm in attempting to negotiate privately. The worst they can say is, “speak to my agent,” which isn’t the end of the world. However, if they’re happy to proceed, you could save on standard costs that don’t apply to private real estate sales. Just make sure you have an attorney to rubber-stamp the papers.

Play The Numbers Game

Although you need to be proactive and ask decisively when you find the ideal opportunity, you need to remember that you could have to kiss plenty of frogs to reach the end game. Out of two-hundred raw leads, you may only bid on ten of them after consulting research analysis. Then, maybe one or two show promise. Regardless, out of an initial couple of hundred, around 95% are unsuitable. It’s a number’s game, and you’ve got to be willing to play.

What constitutes an incredible deal for you as an investor?