Nathan Payne inspected a rental property an out-of-state landlord called "great condition" and found the tenant had destroyed it. He negotiated the price down significantly and warns wholesalers to always inspect before offering, especially with absentee landlords.
Chapters
Have you ever been on a call with a seller and they want so much money for their property and you're not even sure if it's worth your time to continue talking to them? I was just talking to a seller last week and he wanted almost retail for his property, and I had a feeling that this house was in worse condition than he thought it was. It was a rental. He told me the house was in great condition, and I was like, "Hmm, should I even go see this house?" But I felt like I should. And what happened was I just saw the house and the house was destroyed. The seller did not know that the tenant had just absolutely destroyed the property. So going to see a house, even though the landlord says it's in great condition, can also be a good technique to let the seller know, hey, the house is not in the condition you thought it was. So next time you're talking to a seller that is a landlord that doesn't live in the same state as their property and hasn't been there physically, you probably should go on that appointment, especially if they want to sell their house, because the house is probably in worse condition than they thought, and you can get a lot better deal for it than if you just make an offer over the phone.