In this YouTube presentation, real‑estate investor Chris Prefontaine argues that focusing solely on price is a costly mistake and urges investors to shift their attention to negotiating deal terms. He walks through a step‑by‑step framework for structuring owner‑financed acquisitions, emphasizing questions about the property’s debt status, the seller’s cash‑flow needs, and the flexibility of payment terms. Using sample deals—including a $500k free‑and‑clear property and a $1M oceanfront home with $2,500 monthly principal‑only payments—he illustrates how principal‑only payments, balloon structures, and long‑term financing can create “3 Paydays” worth $45k‑$350k per deal. Prefontaine introduces a “6‑figure formula” (free‑and‑clear property ≥ $200k, 48‑month term, $1,000+ monthly principal) as a repeatable path to six‑figure earnings. He also explains why sellers might accept such terms (e.g., need for steady income, estate planning, management fatigue) and outlines exit‑strategy considerations such as bringing in a tenant‑buyer, securing a down‑payment, and aligning terms to protect the investor. The video concludes with a call‑to‑action to visit 3paydays.com/youtubedeals for case studies and to start applying the taught framework.
Chapters
All right. Today I want to show you why one of the first questions most investors ask outside of our niche is, can I get the seller down on price? Drives me nuts, guys. Can actually cost them a deal by thinking that thin, and they throw away so many deals because sometimes, actually a lot of times, I don't care if the seller comes down on price. I don't. And this drives the wholesalers and the rehabbers nuts, but I don't care. What I do care about is terms. Right. I care about like structuring the terms out the right way. And if you're still only negotiating price, you're just leaving a boatload of money and a boatload of deals on the table. I promise you, you need to learn what we do. I know I beat this one up to death on these videos, but not knowing this is costing you hundreds of thousands because our 3 paydays are worth like $45 grand to $350 grand per deal. Those aren't kid numbers. Those are adult money numbers, as one of our partners tells me all the time. Let's structure one. Let me let me let me explain. I'm going to use round numbers here just to hopefully drive home a point so you can follow this easily. All right? This is just like a sample deal. Let's say we've got a property worth roughly half a million, and on the seller side they say, "Hey Chris, I'm I'm not taking like a penny less than four fifty," or "I'm not taking less than four seventy five," or whatever. That say they want. All of it. $500,000. Most investors immediately think, okay, no deal. Right? They can't. If you're a fix and flip or a wholesaler, you have your formula. I get it. I don't worry about it. I actually get excited. Why? Because my next thought is, okay, tell me the rest of it. So question number 1, example, it doesn't have to be in this order, would be, is there debt on Is the property free and clear? Is it, you know, is there an existing loan and is it attractive if there is? That's definitely going to influence how I structure it, right? So for today's example, let's do this. Let's just say it's free and clear, which I love that niche. Great. Now I'm interested. Why? Because instead of arguing about the $500,000, I'm not even going to go there. I'm going to start asking questions about time. And 99% of the time, I'm paying that down with principal only, even if I'm up higher than the market. Did you catch that? That's a great rate. That's 0%. Most of our deals are that way. Okay, number 2 question hypothetically could be, does this particular seller need, really truly need the money? So dig into why are they selling? What are they going to do with the money specifically? Do they need the entire $500,000 tomorrow? Maybe yes. If so, this is not our deal, and I tell them that. But sometimes when I educate them about the market right now and what's going on and the fact that it's a buyer's market as of this filming, and to get cash, they realize they're going to be taking a lot less. Ah, that— things tend to change now. That opens the door. But let's say the seller tells me, no, I own it outright. I don't want to manage anymore. I don't need the money up front, and I'd like the income. And my full price. Okay, bingo. By the way, so many free and clear sellers don't need the money up front. They don't, or presumably they would have pulled the money out already, right? That's why I always assume when I see it debt-free. So now we're having a completely different conversation with the seller, and we start to move the levers a bit. Now this gets to be a lot of fun. The guy I bought my building from was one of the largest landowners in the area. This wasn't new stuff to him. He loved it. Let's say hypothetically the seller wants top dollar, top price, or even a premium, and we explain that we'll pay all the transfer tax and all the closing costs. Well, now we have a seller that wants to own a financing conversation, right? Maybe again, these are just sample numbers, but maybe we negotiate a long enough term that allows the property and the deal in general to work for both of us, right? Quick example. We did a million-dollar oceanfront deal down by Cape Cod, a resort area, and we did this by doing $2,500 a month principal-only payments on a million-dollar house. Think about that for a minute. $30,000 a year coming off of principal regardless of what the market did. Can you see why I don't care what the market does when I structure my deals properly? Yeah. Now look what happened. Did I beat her up on price? Nope. They got their price. She got her price. But I didn't have to walk into that closing with $500,000, my old example, but her house was $985,000, I think it was, in the case of that oceanfront home. And I didn't sign a single piece of paper, a guarantee, a personal guarantee with a bank that put me and my family at risk. So stop doing that if you're doing bank loans. You're putting everything at risk. The term created the opportunity here. Entirely. Now, I talked about principal paydown. Could there be interest on a given deal even though we don't do it a lot? Of course. Could there be a balloon payment? Most of the time there is, right? Could there be no balloon payment? 30 years. We just had a student structure a 30-year owner financing deal that pays itself off in 30. Jason in Seattle. Every seller and every deal is different. That's why this is never, okay, here's the magic number. Or the magic financing formula. There isn't one. It's always moving the levers and negotiating for a win-win, not to beat someone up. And by the way, there is what we call the 6-figure formula, even though I said there's no formula. It's an owner financing house free and clear. Actually, let me give it to you before we wrap up. 6-figure formula for you, all 3 paydays. You buy a home for $200,000 or more that's free and clear, you structure a 48-month term, 4 years, and you structure at least a $1,000 monthly principal payment. Boom. You just created almost every deal, 6 figures for yourself utilizing our 3 Paydays trademark system. Did you catch that? How many of those do you need to completely change your financial picture? 6 figures. And I told you earlier that there's a list you can buy a free and clear, right? Did you know that? You can get that list. All properties around you that are free and clear. Hmm. So ponder that for a second. What if you just did that niche and you didn't do 50, you did 5 of those a year, 6 figures? Now, why would the seller do it, by the way? People ask that all the time. Hey, why would the seller agree to principal only and waiting for their money? Well, again, why is the seller selling? That's the whole point. Maybe they've owned it for 25 years. The woman on the ocean had an ill mother there and had to stay there long, so the conventional market didn't buy it. Like, there's always something to solve for. Maybe they're tired of management. Maybe they like the idea of predictable income only. Maybe they have other properties and just want this one taken care of and creating some cash flow. I don't know, maybe it's for estate planning reasons, like the guy I bought my commercial building from. Maybe getting, in her case, $980,000 over time Was more appealing than, say, taking 8-something cash. I don't know, whatever she would have gotten in the open market. It didn't sell. Maybe they don't need all the cash. You simply don't know until you start digging in, asking the right questions. And we'll give you those questions. I say this all the time in the videos here. Now, let's look at your exit because we're not done here. Remember, a great acquisition structure with a bad exit or Or an unclear exit, still a crappy deal. What can I create in the exit? Can I bring in a qualified tenant buyer? That's always our ideal. What can they bring in for my down payment, my payday number 1? What's the monthly spread, my payday number 2? And then what's my term versus their term to protect me? What's the future price to them, to this tenant buyer? Where and how are my 3 paydays going to be formed so I understand that? See, I don't buy it because, oh, I got seller financing. No, I buy it because the acquisition and the exit that we analyzed makes sense, period. I know that was a lot, but understand that your coach and then the buyer's coaches will help you on this. So here's today's lesson. Stop negotiating one number, price. Just stop. Stop worrying about that. There are so many other levers— down payment, monthly payment that we brought up here, interest, term, balloon, closing date, possession, condition, all of it, all kinds of Weirdness that comes up in these deals. When you start thinking of that and start thinking generally, how can I help people, you'll learn how to structure all these. And sometimes I'll tell you, I'll gladly give the seller more than one lever, right? You know, more than one thing I'm giving up because I'm getting what I need on another. I know some of this can get into deep negotiating, and frankly, that's, that's a fair win-win usually for people. I'm fair and conservative. I tell the sellers that. I literally say, look, I'm fair and conservative, and they like it. So next time a seller says, I want full price, don't immediately jump mentally to, oh, it doesn't work, or, I'm not your buyer. You don't even know the deal yet. Just simply ask, if I can get you to your price, look, I haven't seen your home yet. I don't know everything yet, but if I can, are you open to taking it over time? And receive it, especially given today's market, receive it over time. Now you've got a really cool conversation going on, and conversations are where deals get created because they appreciate you appreciating their situation. Don't be a price-only investor. Learn the term structuring. I have a gift for you today so you can see the inside of some of these deals being done. Go to 3paydays.com/youtubedeals. Threepaydays.com/youtubedeals, and you're gonna see real case studies so you can see a lot of these pivots and they'll start to become real for you. And then guess what's next? Your own deals. I wanna help you do your own deals. Let's get after it together.
