Questions for purchasing property

Hi fz7hny

Welcome to the forum.

Some simple Questions to ask :
How long has the property been on the market?
Why is the Vendor selling?
What are the rates and outgoings on the property?
How long as the Vendor owned the property?

Get the answers to these questions and then more questions will arise from the answers.

Also read some of the various books about property investing, such as Jan Somers etc. – they will give you lots of tips.
If you search this forum you will find several other books listed. Also check out Sooshie’s Useful Links posts.

Cheers
Nessie

Have a look at Neil Jenman’s “Real Estate Mistakes”. It has some doozy questions to give bad real estate agents when buying. One question, namely “Why is the seller selling at that price” can get a bad agent to tell everything like:

a)I think its too high
b) You could get the house instead for ….
c) They will take a low offer because they need to move somewhere else

Because Jenman advicing how to be a good agent, he is well informed at how to take advantage of a bad agent, which would be the majority

I think the obvious answer to your question would be to ask questions pertaining to the income and expenditures of the property.

You mentioned that you wanted cashflow properties right?

For a house to be cashflow positive the property costs and income must be of a certain amount.

When you look at a property, fall in love with the numbers not the property.

After the first month or so of constantly emailing agents about properties and asking very similar questions each time,I decided to do up a word document containg all the general questions I asked every time. Here is my example:

1. How old is property?
2. What are the rates on property?
3. If leased, when does current lease expire?
4. How long has tenant been living in premises?
5. What street in ? is property located?
6. Why is vendor selling?
7. What is vacancy rate on property?
8. Does property have a rent roll or rent reciepts that I can see?
9. What is population like in ?
10. What is the current rent if rented?
11. What immediate work needs doing?
12. Can I see some more pictures of the inside?
13. Does your agency manage properties like this one?

This list is not exhaustive but a guide line only.

I particularly like to entice the agent with the last question. If an agent knows that there is a chance that you will allow them to manage the property then perhaps they may be a little forth coming with the other questions.

Also take the answers they give you with a grain of salt. Guide only. It’s common for agents to tell you a place is tenated and achieving x ammout of $ but is overinflated to make the numbers look better. That is why I ask to see a rent role or rent reciepts. To back up thier statements.

Hope this is helpful[]

You will always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take!