About The Research Checklist
The Research Checklist should be used to gather up the information you will need about a property to prepare offers.
This involves fully populating the Seller Property Information File with the following:
- Seller Communication Log
- Property Information Sheet
- Net Operating Income Worksheet
- Public Record Information Sheet
- Property Inspection Checklists (Interior and Exterior)
- Comparable Sales
- Recent MLS Listing Sheets including Active, Expired, Previous Sales and Listing History
- Map to property
- Offers to make
- Credibility Packet
- Blank Real Estate Contract (Buy Version)
- Seller Property Disclosure Statement
Let’s go over what each of the items in the Seller Property Information File actually is used for or why it is in the file to begin with.
The Seller Communication Log is used to keep track of all communication between you and the seller. It is also used to keep track of attempted communications with the seller to document your follow up system. Use it to keep notes about what was discussed and what your thoughts were about the seller, their property and your conversation.
The Property Information Sheet is the sheet that we use to gather all the information about the property from the seller on the initial call. This usually has all the property details like beds, baths, square footage as well as information about the seller like reason they are selling, what they think it is worth, what their potential hot buttons might be and so on.
The Net Operating Income Worksheet is used to calculate what the Net Operating Income for the property is by calculating out all the expenses on the property. Our Net Operating Income Worksheet also allows you to calculate out the maximum amount of debt that the property can afford to support which is helpful for determining acceptable offers for us.
The Public Record Information Sheet is a print out of what is shown on the public records website for our county. It is used to document what the county thinks about the property in terms of features, tax value, previous sales history and so on.
The Property Inspection Checklists are used when we go out and physically inspect the property as an easy way to track the condition or presence of key physical features about a property. We have both an interior and exterior version. You should include both in your file.
The Comparable Sales suggest similar properties that sold recently. We use these sales to determine what we might expect this particular property to sell for. It is important to physically look at the recent sales (ideally before your appointment with the seller) to see just how closely the recent sales match the actual property you are considering buying.
If you have access to the Multiple Listing Service it is very helpful to be able to see Recent MLS Listing Sheets including Active, Expired, Previous Sales and Listing History. This allows you to see if the property is currently listed (active), whether it was listed recently but did not sell (expired), when the previous sales of this property were and for how much. It also allows you to see what features and characteristics were used by real estate agents to describe the property for sale.
With the advent of many GPS enabled phones and mobile devices this is becoming less important, but I still like to include a Map to the property from my office so that I know how to find it.
We use our Offer Generator software to create potential offers, print them out and include them as Offers in the file. If you have software that you use to structure or assist in structuring your offers, consider including that in your Seller Property Information File to give you confidence when presenting your offers.
We usually mail a copy of our Credibility Packet to our seller once we complete the initial call back and fill out the Property Information Sheet, but we like to bring another copy and give it to the seller when we meet them.
You are going there to buy the property right? Bring a blank Real Estate Contract (Buy Version) with you in the file so that you have a copy with you. Of course, if you accidentally forget it you do have spares in your Car File right? If not, you do need to setup a Car File with copies of your key paperwork.
And finally, include a copy of the Seller Property Disclosure Statement which is what the seller fills out to tell us about all known issues with the property.
Until my next post,
James
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