350 Days on Market: A Chandler Investor Case Study

Most buyers scroll past a listing that's been sitting. Something must be wrong with it.

Sometimes there is. And sometimes what's wrong is just the price, which is the one problem a buyer can actually solve.

My investor client, CV, was ready to put down 25% on a conventional loan on a property in Chandler that had been on the market for 350 days. Not a typo. Nearly a full year.

What that number actually tells you

A listing that old has been tested and rejected by the entire buyer pool for twelve months. The seller has watched twelve months of carrying costs go out the door. Whatever negotiating room exists in this market is concentrated right here, and almost nobody is competing for it.

Days on market is the most underused number in an offer strategy. It tells you how much pressure is on the other side of the table before you've said a word.

How we structured it

The property was listed at $445,000 (down from the original list price of $465,000) We bought at $410,000. It appraised at $421,000 … $11,000 in equity the day he closed.

Broker compensation: 3%, paid by the seller.

And we negotiated a $5,000 credit for repairs.

Here's the part that matters for investors. This property was headed for a full remodel. So we didn't chase every line item on the inspection report. We went after the high-ticket structural and system items and let the cosmetic ones go … because we were replacing them anyway, and that was reflective in the purchase price we offered.

That $5,000 went straight into the renovation budget.

The lesson

You don't negotiate the inspection report. You negotiate the scope.

If you already know what you're rebuilding, every repair dollar you win should land inside a line item you were going to spend anyway. Win money on the things you're keeping, concede the things you're demolishing.

That's the difference between an agent who can read an inspection report and someone who knows what the work costs… because they have a crew of trades walking the property and putting real estimates on paper during the inspection period.

We closed on August 31st

The dumpster was delivered that same day. Demo began.

Not a week later, once we'd found a contractor. Not a month later, once bids came back and the schedule cleared. That day.

Because the scope was already written. The trades were already booked. Everyone knew exactly what they were walking into before the property ever changed hands.

That's what the inspection period is actually for. Most buyers use it to decide whether to walk away. We use it to build the project.

When you work with an agent and a team who advocate for you on the purchase, and who have already scheduled demo and every trade that follows before you close… buying an investment property stops being something to survive.

It gets exciting.

Every transaction is different. Results described reflect specific properties, market conditions, and negotiations, and are not a guarantee of future outcomes.