Deal Case Study: Overcoming Seller Challenges In A Win-Win Deal w/ Eric Clunn

Dan Austin: [0:00] Hey there, welcome back to another episode of the Collecting Keys Friday Focus. You have me as your host today, Dan Austin and we are doing a deal case study with one of our scale community members, Eric Clunn, Kullun like fun, and that's him telling me that I didn't make up that whole little mnemonic there, but now I'm never gonna forget his name, and either will you. Eric is actually a repeat guest, he's coming back on. One of his first deal case studies he did with us was a slam dunk textbook wholesale deal. Today's that he's gonna talk about is not so textbook. Eric, for those of you that do not know you or have don't remember your episode, can you give us the sixty second elevator pitch of like who you are and where your business is at?

Eric Clunn: [0:39] Well, Dan, thanks for having me back. So yeah, name's Eric Clunn. So I left my w two job a while back. I started my own business doing mobile notary services. Realized I kinda reached a financial ceiling with that, that I wanted to reach out and start doing some real estate and wholesaling deals. I had some friends doing the same, making a little bit of money. Sound you all, that I started on your program, and Brandon got my first deal, which we talked about on the last episode, and then this one came across a different one around the same time, I had a couple more challenges with this one.

Dan Austin: [1:07] Right on, and so you've been in our scale community, the time we're recording this about six months, so you really are like new to real estate, new to wholesaling. Yes, let's dive in, we're gonna talk about the same four questions that we ask every time, and the first question is, what kind of property

Eric Clunn: [1:21] is this? This is a single family home, it's four beds, two baths.

Dan Austin: [1:25] Oh, okay. Four bed, two baths. So this is little more modern maybe than the last one. The last one was an older house. So is this like a newer newer home? What are we looking at? Is it split level?

Eric Clunn: [1:33] Not newer, had an addition on it. Yeah. Had a a really strange addition. There was a second living room Oh. That was added. So there were two front doors, two living rooms, and then they kinda redid an upstairs area, creating a whole bunch of new square footage, extra bedrooms extra bathrooms.

Dan Austin: [1:49] So a real custom home, so to speak. You run into that a lot. The reason and the reason why I asked, like kinda like dig in a little bit deeper of what kind of properties, because oftentimes you're not finding the perfect three bed, two bath ranch, or built in a cul de sac. Like that, those do happen, but sometimes you you find these funky properties, and there's still money to be made on them. So how did you find this deal?

Eric Clunn: [2:10] So this was a direct mail Okay. That I had sent out. So this was a first batch again, that went out with the the ROS postcards with the offer on it. Mhmm. So this is an absentee landlord with equity.

Dan Austin: [2:21] Okay. Yeah, so the offer postcards that we use, we use in our community and we use them ourselves like an open letter marketing product, they call it the RS postcard, which is a postcard that just has an actual offer on it. They have an algorithm on there, they're never really accurate, but they're a great conversation starter as as Eric knows, you usually get a really good response rate on those. Sometimes people are upset because the offer is low, sometimes people are ecstatic because the offer is high. I always tell people, don't let the offer on the card influence you, or anything that the seller says influence you, still gotta calculate your numbers. So, okay, so you found it using direct mail, and then you said, okay, what is the seller profile, what list did you say you got it on? So it was absentee with equity. Okay. So a high equity and absentee typically is just like a landlord, right? And that's I'm I'm assuming this is the case here?

Eric Clunn: [3:07] Yeah. Well, he had like a friend slash tenant that was staying in the house type thing, and then he he lived there once in a while, like weekends, he worked out of the area and then would kinda just come back and live there. He kept his motorcycles in the garage, something like that. Yeah.

Dan Austin: [3:20] Okay. Yeah. Not an uncommon situation, obviously unique to this situation, but there's always these kind of odd oddball situations with with people's housing. Okay. So let's talk about the story, let's start from the beginning, how the when the lead came in and I know there's some this is kind of an interesting one and and it's one that you had to work on, so let's start, what what did that first initial call look like and and your follow-up?

Eric Clunn: [3:41] So he called up. He was very motivated to sell. He had been divorced, I think, some time ago, and then he was interested in just getting rid of this property, and then he wanted to get down south, you know, and just just get out of Wisconsin generally. Yep. So he was very eager to go. So I set up an appointment and got out there, worked everything out with his tenant, established a really good rapport with her so I could visit the house a couple different times. I was I was able to get out there, get a bunch of pictures taken, and then get him an offer. And then he was immediately, you know, missed by the offer. He, you know, in his mind, he was like, oh, houses in my area are going for, know, $303.15. And I was like, I don't Yeah, I was like, I was like, I can do 125. And then he came way down on his number to like 200. And then so I said to him, I said, well, I mean, that I was like, that's my offer. I was like, you know, I wish you I wish you good luck. I I referred him, you know, some realtor information and things like that. And then he immediately texted back and he's like, I'll take it. And so I was like, okay. And so that was something that you know, I had I had heard, know, in the group chats with you and Mike about doing the pullback to not aggressively sell as much, and just kind of just pull back and let him really like, hey, you know, have a nice day, know, and then just let him know that my offer still stands. Like I said, it was he texted me Yep. Right back and said, I'll take it. So I was like, alright.

Dan Austin: [4:55] Man, that is awesome. I really enjoy Eric, you talked about this on your last episode, it's like, you're just following the blueprint, like the textbook stuff like, hey, when this situation happens, try this. When this situation happens, try that. And so the pullback method's a great sales tactic. When you're coming in, and oftentimes you are gonna be lower than the seller, and if they're way off, and there's nowhere, know, there's there's no like, oh, meet in the middle feeling right then and there, just pull back and say, hey, that's awesome, know, my number is my number, and kinda just just sit back. You're gonna follow-up with them if they don't call you back, Eventually they'll get back in your follow-up loop and you you may have to do more aggressive follow-up and it might take a lot longer, and a year later you're negotiating with this guy again, But for you, the case, the pullback worked immediately and basically, he called back and he's like, fine, I'll take it. He knew, and oftentimes they do, that they're way overpriced on what they're trying to sell. And it sounds like that was the case. So from there, he he calls back, says he texts back, I should say, says, I'll take it. Yeah.

Dan Austin: [5:50] You sent him a contract, he signed it like that day or how did that work?

Eric Clunn: [5:52] Yeah. That's how he what he actually signed it on Christmas day, which was funny. Was ten 08:10AM. I had it out to him on the twenty first. Mhmm. And then, know, Christmas morning, kids are opening up Christmas Christmas presents, and then I got, you know, PSA What

Dan Austin: [6:03] a great Christmas present for you. Right. I mean, that speaks to also, a lot of wholesalers and and just businesses, people in general will shut down during the holidays, and you're out there signing contracts, Mike and I are huge proponents for, don't stop your marketing, don't stop your lead follow-up, work things through the holidays, because everybody else wants to take the end of the year off, and that's when there are sellers that are motivated and want to leave, want to move right away, have issues that they need to get handled, they don't stop for the holidays, so if you're the person right there in front of them, you're likely the one that's going to get the deal, so nice job on that. So, okay, so I know there's more drama, it's not gonna be this easy, right? So what happens after that? You get it in contract and you throw it in escrow, what's the story here?

Eric Clunn: [6:42] So the same buyer that I mentioned in the last one buys a lot of properties in my area, I read at the same time, he's messaging me like, Hey, what do you got for me? So he sends his contractor crew out, I walk the property again with the tenant, they get all their measurements, they're able to get me a good solid number, which gets me a small spread there. And then so I get my assignment contract signed, and then I get this thing to escrow hits escrow, and then come to find out this guy's got eight judgments out there against him. Nice. Right, exactly. So and then he told the escrow agent that he was just gonna deed the property away and then leave and then that that wouldn't affect him. And, you know, everybody had to explain to him like, that's, that's not how that works. So evidently, he's the type of guy just like, you know, run up a bunch of debts, and then, you know, never pay them off. But that stuff tracks

Dan Austin: [7:26] it down. Yeah, he's that's why he wants to get out

Eric Clunn: [7:28] of town faster. Right, exactly. Yeah, probably. Yeah. So, you know, I advised him. I said, hey, you know, best case scenario is you get all these payoffs taken care of, and then you get a large chunk of change, and then you get down south, and you'll be sitting on your boat in the lake in no time. And then, you know, he was down with that. So he was starting to drag his feet a lot and getting these judgments paid off, getting the, you know, the account numbers and they basically the payoff demand statements from all these creditors. And then I jumped in and I was like, listen, was like, give me your account numbers, give me his phone numbers, I'm gonna start facilitating this process for you.

Dan Austin: [7:56] Why did he do that? Was he just not was he not doing it well enough? Or is were you trying to work up against a certain date? Why did you decide to jump in and do that?

Eric Clunn: [8:04] Well, I mean, I wanna make money. So there's that. Yeah. And then outside of that, he's he he was dragging the seat because it it takes work. Know You mean? Because I don't like getting on the phone Totally. Like getting on the phone, waiting on hold, you know, talking to his friend, and then he had to do it eight times. So so I got him motivated to do that. He actually ended up doing it on his own a lot, and then there were certain paperwork I needed to have him sign. Uh-huh. He's not real good at, you know, sign this, sign that, and we're like, he's all the way across the state at this point. So I'm actually like setting up appointments for him to like go to a local print shop where he can receive the documents. The the employees there can help him like print the documents out. He can sign them Uh-huh. And then scan them back in and get them back into escrow. And then I just got an email just before we got on

Dan Austin: [8:44] this call, Dan, that we are clear to close. That's awesome. And that so this is where it gets a little tricky and where you have to earn your money is you know, the reason why I asked you about you getting on and calling the creditors, if that's what it takes, then do it. Because sometimes the sellers aren't capable of doing that, and sometimes that's honestly probably why they have some of these bills outstanding still, because they gave up, they're like, I can't figure it out, it's fun calling creditors, it's not usually easy trying to get through customer service and talk to somebody, especially if the account's past due and they, all these situations, sometimes they can make it hard to pay it off, which is so surprising. And so sometimes, you have to put in the legwork and and do the right thing, and I love the fact that you were having to send the contract to a print shop in another part of the state, and help this person out, because the second thing is, there's a lot of these times, your sellers, the technology is just not there, and so you have to meet them where they're at, you know, physically and technically whatever. So push that paperwork to somebody that can print it, tell them show up at this location. We've had guys that have to go to the bar and track down sellers at like 08:00 at night to get a contract signed. Meet them where they're at sometimes, right? And so, that's honestly how we earn our money too, a lot of people say like, oh it's super easy to wholesale properties, like yeah some of them, but a lot of times it's really hard because you're having to help these folks get through something that they otherwise couldn't get through without somebody holding their hand, and let's be honest, not a lot of people are willing to put their legwork in, they'll just throw their hands up and say, yeah, is not worth my time, because your net on this actually wasn't a lot, what was your net on the whole selfie?

Eric Clunn: [10:09] It was $5, it's like you just said, I can do the work and make $5, or I can not do the work and not make it, so. Totally, right,

Dan Austin: [10:15] and and you have to value your time, but also, you have to feed your business, and you know, 5 grand's not a terrible wholesale deal, or wholesale fee, right, it's not that bad, and especially because this is off your first batch of mail, you had already sold the deal before this, and so this is just another deal adding to the overall profitability of your marketing campaign. Some are gonna be huge, you're gonna get these big, you know, $50.60, $70,000 wholesale fees, sometimes are bigger, some and are gonna be these 5,000, sometimes every once in while it's $2, but 2 grand's better than nothing, and the thing I chuckle about is sometimes the hardest ones are always the ones that pay the least amount, and you're like, but hey, you're making money, if you're making money it's hard to go broke, so any other like learning lessons, or points to be made on this deal that you would share with the audience?

Eric Clunn: [10:57] I would just say to to just kinda weigh everything out, and just do the work, just kinda put it in, yeah.

Dan Austin: [11:02] Yep, I like that, and and being willing, I love how you were just being willing to put in the effort to help this guy sell his property, to get him through escrow. Yeah, you are motivated, but it's also good, because otherwise, who knows what's gonna happen to these people when they can't figure it out, they can't do it, it's just gonna keep going on and on and on, and what their financial situation could get worse, so nice job on that Eric, I appreciate you coming on. If somebody happens to wanna do business in the Southern Wisconsin area, can they reach out to you?

Eric Clunn: [11:27] Yeah, you can just hit me up my email, so it's e clunngmail dot com, so that's e c l u n ngmail dot com.

Dan Austin: [11:35] Awesome. Yeah, if you if you're looking to be added to Eric's buyers list, or maybe you have deals, shoot Eric an email that I'm sure he's happy to help do business with you. He's an awesome dude, I know Eric personally, and he's a good guy to work with. So with that being said, if you're interested in doing what Eric's doing, you're already doing some deals, and you wanna scale to the next level, get your business from one to two deals a month, to three to four deals a month, or more, go to collectingkeys.com/scale, and check out our scale community there, and see if you're a good fit for it. If you're not even started yet, go to collectingkeys.com/instantinvestorprogram and check out our course. We spun out our coursework from the the scale community and made it it's own end to end, you know, do it yourself course where you can kinda watch it at your leisure and learn how to find these deals that Eric's finding, learn how to wholesale, learn how to build your buyers list, everything you need to know to become an off market expert. Other than that, have a great weekend and we will see you all next week.