As investors, we are doing just what every other investor usually does. We market, we put out our “Illegal Bandit Signs,” and we go look at homes we want to make offers on.
Those illegal signs? We’d put them out on a Friday and got a call almost immediately. The guy said he had a duplex. It was listed with an agent, but he was about to lose it in a tax deed sale.
Strangely enough, he wasn’t even in the area where we put out signs. No clue how he saw it — maybe someone passed it along or snapped a photo and texted it to him. Either way, it was a lead.
Now, full disclosure, when I talked to him, I got shady vibes. Something about the way he talked — like he’d been burned before or had something to hide. But deals don’t show up looking like Rolexes in velvet boxes. Sometimes, they look like this duplex.
We pulled up, and yeah… it was rough. Boarded-up windows. Junk everywhere. The smell? Not money — more like mold and decades of regret. But the man who taught us how to make money in real estate once told us: “The worse it looks, the more potential it has — if you can see past the mess.”
This place? Most couldn’t. And didn’t. Other investors had come and gone, probably gagged in the driveway and left. Even the listing agent seemed to be avoiding the place like the plague. No marketing, no real effort to sell — just a photo or two on the MLS and silence. The seller told us the agent barely returned his calls.
And here’s the thing: when an agent isn’t doing the job, and the seller is desperate, that’s when we come in. We’re not stealing listings — we’re solving problems that agents won’t or can’t touch.
The guy told us flat out: “I need this gone. I’ll lose it in 10 days if I can’t come up with the tax money.”
So, we made a creative offer. No agent involved. We structured a deal that helped him walk away with something instead of losing it all. He fired the agent. We closed in less than two weeks.
We made him the offer of, if we can clean up all the legal and title issues, pay the taxes due, and work with the county, can you make us a deal by selling us the deeds to this place. (Duplex, more than one parcel number)
I never got a faster handshake than that one.
So why do agents hate this?
Because we did what they didn’t. We solved the problem. While they were waiting for a retail buyer who never came, we came in with action, speed, and creativity.
Agents can hate all they want — but they can’t stop a motivated seller from choosing someone who actually shows up.
This particular agent called us and said that what we were doing was illegal, she had a listing with the seller. But she didn’t have one with us, so there was no obligation to her from us.
She also had said that she had been working on these title issues for 3 months, we got it cleaned up in 4 days, so I don’t know what she was working on.
Moral of the story?
Don’t be afraid to walk into the ugliest deal on the street. Sometimes that’s where the gold is buried.
We cleaned it out and resold it within 30 days — never even had to rent it.
The moment we took possession; we got to work. The first 48 hours were nothing but trash outs and hauling away decades of hoarder-level buildup.
Old furniture, broken appliances, even a raccoon nest in the attic. We brought in a cleanout crew, slapped on masks, and just got it done.
Once it was emptied, the bones of the place weren’t bad. Structurally solid, just tired and ugly. There was no rehab done on this, in fact the kitchens were so bad that we demolished them and didn’t even put new ones in. We also never even turned the utilities on or changed the front door locks.
We knew the neighborhood. We knew there were buyers. This wasn’t a rental market; it was a perfect target for a first-time investor or house hacker who wanted a duplex they could live in one side and rent the other.
So, we sold it ourselves. Not through an agent, not on the MLS. Just some well-shot photos, smart advertising as an off-market undervalued deal to investors, a couple investor group posts, and a sign in the yard.
Showings started immediately. Within 10 days, we had a cash buyer ready to go. We closed it in under 30 days.
That’s the power of being creative and fast.
While the listing agent sat on it for months and did nothing, we took action and turned a disaster into a payday — in less than a month. No tenants, no long rehab, no waiting.
And here’s the kicker:
We made more on that flip than the agent would have made in commission — and we never had to get licensed, join a brokerage, or split a check. (Profit in 30 days, $28,000) it cost $23,000 to make the legal problems go away.
This is why agents hate when investors know what they’re doing.
Because when you stop asking permission, and you start solving problems? You stop chasing deals — and deals start finding you.
When we were about finished cleaning up this mess, the people in the neighboring condo complex behind it stopped and clapped, some said thank you, and others stopped to say that this place had the worst smell they ever faced.
Moral of the story:
“YOU CAN’T STEAL IN SLOW MOTION“