What’s the First Question a Real Estate Investor Should Ask?

It happens: an all-but-irresistible real estate investment crops up when you’re least expecting it. You may have been actively searching for your next family home when you happen across a particularly good bargain—but it’s not a good fit for your own family. “Holy cow,” you think to yourself, “that’s a ridiculously great property at an absurdly low price!”

That can start the wheels turning. If you have the financial resources (or enough experience to know how to corral them), it can be the genesis of a lucrative real estate investment in Kitsap County. There is, however, one question to be asked before taking the idea to the next level.

It’s a question familiar to experienced investors in all walks of life. Whenever a phenomenal opportunity presents itself, it’s the first question that venture capitalists, stock market analysts, even small business entrepreneurs automatically pose. There are scores of ways this question might be worded, but they all boil down to pretty much the same kernel of an idea—which is to question the assumptions that make this new venture so seemingly irresistible. In short, at its core the question is simply, “What’s wrong with this picture?”

Applied to any real estate investment in Kitsap County, it’s a valuable opening question. Finding a great property at an unbelievable price—one that unmistakably flashes ‘profit!’ for either renting or reselling—does happen, of course. But it’s never wrong to take a step back for a reality check. Remember, there are alert competitive forces at play in the local market. Other real estate investors are constantly on the lookout for the next promising town real estate investment opportunity.

You may well be among the first to notice a prime offering, but even so, you’ll be well served to look hard for a reason why it hasn’t already been snapped up. The fact is, there is a well-developed, reliable mechanism at play that should lead a seller to have a good idea of what his property is worth—and therefore, what to ask for it. The comparable property value numbers—the ‘comps’—make the market fairly well ‘regularized.’ They make greatly underpriced offerings rare.

Asking yourself what’s wrong here? is a shorthand way of reminding yourself to curb your enthusiasm as you exercise all the due diligence steps: verifying the condition of the property inside and out and spelling out title and lien issues and location, neighbor, neighborhood and historical matters. The curbed enthusiasm should last until those inquiries come up with the right answers…at which point, even the most jaded real estate investors tend to put the pedal to the metal. When everything begins to check out, they know a crowd will soon be forming!

It’s my job to help facilitate every phase of a good real estate investment—from discovery and investigation through offer, negotiation and all the documentation steps. It’s what happens when the answer to, “What’s wrong with this picture?” turns out to be, “Absolutely nothing!”