Let’s say you are looking at a REO for which they want 25k and they have just come down from 29k. The bank apparently did not really look at the property because it isn’t worth the asking price. The only good part of the house is the structure; the house would have to be gutted to rehab. You don’t want to do it yourself but you would buy it to flip if your low ball offer on it got accepted.

Otherwise you are not interested, but you don’t want to let this property go just yet because it has been listed by a realtor who doesn’t even have a sign in the yard. No one knows this house is even available. Also, sales comparables are anywhere from 45 to 106k, of course that is after rehab.

You are wondering why there is no sign in the yard? For one of two reasons. One could be simply that the realtor is lazy.

Reason two. If a realtor knows what he is doing, it means he has investors or friends he is trying to hold the house for. Then they may hope no one notices the property and they will get to sell it to their buyer who buys all the time from them and closes all the time. They may know it needs to get to a certain price range in order for their buyer to pick it up.

This happens all the time and frankly speaking, that is just business based on good relationships. You eventually want to be that kind of person. This kind of relationships is the reason why one has a success in real estate business. They are not hard to build but it does take some skill.