My dad's quick realtor story made me rethink my whole strategy

I was talking to my dad on the phone last week about how hard it is to find a decent house under $250k in our area. He's not in real estate or anything, he's a retired mechanic. But he told me about how he bought his first place back in 1982 by just walking into a bank and asking about foreclosures before they even hit the market. I always thought you had to have a realtor and a pre approval and all that jazz to get anywhere. But he said he just called around to a few local banks every Friday afternoon for like two months. One of them had this old house that nobody wanted because it needed a new roof. He got it for way under value and fixed it up over a year. It hit me that we have all these fancy tools and apps now but sometimes the old school hustle works just as good. Has anyone else tried something like that or am I just late to the game?

2 comments

2 Comments

miaprice4d ago

Actually he was calling savings and loans, which were different than banks back then, but your point still totally stands!

shane_wilson5d ago

Man, that story makes my approach look lazy as hell. I've been out here refreshing Zillow at 2am like it's a full time job while your dad was just calling banks like it was 1982 and getting it done. Guess the old school way is just showing up and asking, which honestly sounds terrifying but clearly works.