Why nine buyers who say they will take anything usually means zero real buyers, a case worth studying

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

A common pattern shows up once you actually count. Out of a full list of names collected as potential buyers, only a small fraction ever give a written price range, condition, or payment terms. Say an investor has forty names on a buyer list, four with a documented price range would be typical, and the rest are exactly what this thread describes, polite yeses with no criteria behind them.

Roof plus most of the mechanicals on a 900 square foot house is not a small number. That likely lands somewhere north of 55k all in once priced honestly, and if the finished value in that area is 150k then 92k was never going to clear anybody's math. Ask buyers what they use per square foot for a full gut and what they add for a roof and a panel. Two numbers, and a house can be screened from the driveway.

Customers tend to say yes to almost anything asked of them by someone whose invoice they're about to pay. It isn't lying, it's just how people talk to a vendor they like, and it explains why nine polite yeses turned into zero buyers.

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.

@bmoreno23 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.

@monica_tran3 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.

@joe_delgado5 that lands. A perfect buyer list does not rescue a bad price. Both problems were present here, they simply show up in that order.

On the Facebook posting, is that actually a problem in practice or a theoretical one? Genuinely unclear how anyone would ever notice or care.

@luis_carrera 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.

@monica_tran3 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 a seller carry any of that gap? Seller financing is a real tool, not something reserved for larger deals. At 92k it works the same way: the seller takes back a note for part of the price, at a rate and term negotiated case by case, and the buyer closes with less cash. Whether a given seller considers it depends more on their need for liquidity than on deal size.

@raj_mehta14 it happens at every size, it depends entirely on whether the seller owns free and clear and wants payments.

@monica_tran3 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 it goes, and it's worth favoring 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. @monica_tran3 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?