Nine people told me they'd buy anything I brought them. When I brought something, all nine had a reason.

What did the 1,400 break down into? Trying to work out what a first mail test actually costs before I do one.

I'm 40 names into a list and reading this made me go count. Four of them have given me a written price range. Four. The rest are exactly your nine.

Roof plus most of the mechanicals on a 900 square foot house is not a small number. I'd guess you were somewhere north of 55k all in once you priced it honestly, and if the finished value in that area is 150k then 92k was never going to clear anybody's math.

Ask your buyers what they use per square foot for a full gut and what they add for a roof and a panel. Two numbers, and you can screen a house from the driveway.

My customers say yes to everything I ask them too. It's not lying, it's just how people talk to someone whose invoice they're about to pay.

What actually goes on a written buy box? I've seen the phrase a hundred times and I still don't know if it's a paragraph or a spreadsheet.

@ember from what I've been shown it's usually five or six lines. Property type, bed and bath minimum, square footage range, the zips or the streets, a maximum purchase price or a formula, and how they close.

@thatch separate question, did any of the nine ever send you proof of funds? I'm still unclear what a bank statement screenshot really proves other than the money existed on a Tuesday.

How do you ask what their maximum price is without it sounding like you're about to price to it? That's the part that makes me sweat. It feels like asking someone how much they'd pay before you tell them the cost.

Sorry to be the one asking, but where does the money actually come from in this? You said 92k contract. If a buyer had taken it at 100k, do you get the 8k, or does that go through the seller somehow?

I'll disagree with the framing a bit. Written criteria would have saved you the phone calls but the deal was dead at 92k either way. Six of the nine gave you a reason that wasn't price, and one gave you price, and I'd bet the six were all being polite about price too. People say "too small" when they mean "not at that number."

The fix is the same, get the criteria first, but get the arithmetic right on the same day. Repairs and finished value before you sign anything.

@flint that lands for me. A perfect buyer list doesn't rescue a bad price. Both problems were there, they just show up in that order.

On the Facebook posting, is that actually a problem in practice or a theoretical one? Not challenging you, I genuinely don't know how anyone would ever notice or care.

@windlass a licensing complaint usually starts with a person who feels wronged, not with an inspector browsing groups. Doesn't make it safe, just means the risk shows up on a bad deal.

@thatch the crawlspace question was the real tell. That buyer was pricing a foundation problem and decided he didn't want to spend an afternoon finding out. On a 900 foot house from that era I'd have gone under it myself with a flashlight before I signed. Scope on those is never what the roof and the panel suggest, there's always a sill or a joist waiting.

Would the seller have carried any of it? I keep reading about people bridging a price gap with a note and I don't understand yet whether that's a real tool at 92k or something that only happens on bigger deals.

@vellum it happens at every size, it depends entirely on whether the seller owns free and clear and wants payments.

@thatch the thing to sort out with an attorney in your state isn't only the advertising. Some states have written rules about what you must disclose to the seller when you intend to assign, and a few address the assignment itself. It varies state to state and it has been moving, so get the current answer in writing where you are rather than from anyone here.

Three buyers, written criteria, and don't sign anything above the lowest ceiling of the three. That's the whole thing as far as I can tell, and I say that as someone who wants the version with the fewest moving parts.

You lost 1,400 and forty hours and you got the earnest money back. That's a cheap education and you took it inside ten days, which most people don't. The mistake I'd watch for now is deciding the whole approach doesn't work because the first attempt cost you.

I'm in crawlspaces and attics for a living and half this thread is about information I already have and don't know how to sell. @thatch when you were calling those nine, did any of them care that you'd personally been inside the house? Or is that worth nothing without the numbers attached?