That one cash buyer in Des Moines who made me change my approach

Back in 2017 I had a listing for a duplex in the Beaverdale area, and this older gentleman walked in off the street with a bank check already made out for 82 percent of asking. He told me he'd been buying rentals since 1982 and never once used a loan. I kept trying to negotiate, but he just sat there and said he'd leave the check on the table for 24 hours. I called my seller, we countered at 90, and he politely took the check back and walked out. Two weeks later he bought the place next door at 78 percent. That taught me to ask every cash buyer where they got their number before I even talk price. Has anyone else had a buyer who just would not budge on their starting offer?

1 comments

1 Comment

white.seth12d agoTop Commenter

Did he actually say he'd never used a loan, or just never used one for rentals? Because I know a ton of old school landlords who used a mortgage on their own home to buy the first property. Either way, that 78% after you walked away is a brutal lesson, but it sounds like he had a system and stuck to it.