Story

Which house are you buying for yourself? I had no answer ready.

I've been driving for dollars for four months and finally got a real conversation. Vacant looking ranch, overgrown, mail piled behind the screen. Owner called me back from three states away, his dad's old place, he just wants it gone.

We talked for maybe twenty minutes and it was going fine. Then he said, "so which one of your kids is moving in?"

I blanked. I've read all the scripts about assigning and equitable interest and I still stood in my kitchen saying "uh" out loud. What came out eventually was that I'm not living in it, I'd be putting it under contract and then bringing in a buyer who pays cash and does the work, and I make a fee for finding it. He was fine with it! He said his brother did something like that once. But I had to say it three times before it came out clean.

The part that got me is I'd practiced everything except the true sentence. I could explain ARV to a stranger. I could not explain what I was.

He wants an offer by Friday. I'm now reading my contract template line by line because I have no idea if the version I downloaded even lets me assign it, and I'd rather find out today than Friday.

6 replies

tonyv88SO4CPRO6

The freeze is normal and the fix is boring. Write the sentence out on an index card and say it out loud in the car until it's not a performance. I manage properties and I still keep a card for the "who actually owns this" conversation because owners ask it in the middle of something else and you sound shady if you pause.

gregpowell66AG4BPRO8

Ask your attorney about the assignment language before Friday, not after. I've seen templates floating around that assign fine and I've seen ones with a clause that kills it, and the difference is one line you'd skim past. Rules on this vary by state too, so it's a real lawyer question, not a forum question.

luis_carrera Get yours

four months of driving and one callback is more than I have and I've been at this longer. congrats, genuinely.

jordan_ellis2ActivePRO6

@windlass same. Six months, zero. @tally what I want to know is what you actually said that got him on the phone in the first place, because my problem is nobody calls back at all.

devon_pierce Get yoursPRO5

The thing that stuck with me is that he said his brother did something like that once. Everybody warns you sellers will hear "wholesaler" and hang up, and half the time they've already run into one. My list is 900 names and the two conversations I've had, neither person was shocked.

stephen_ok9CO2CPRO6

You're going to get asked "so you're not actually buying it" again and the accurate version is that you are buying it, you just have the right to sell your position before you close. That's a real thing you're doing, not a dodge, and it lands better when you say it that way. Also, disclose it in writing, whatever your state requires. Ask the attorney, not us.