My New Letter of Intent
Hooray for you – we're giving away another freebie today! Not only will you get to swipe a goodie from us, but I’ve also got an awesome video for you that comprehensively covers what we're giving away.
Look, there are lots of letters of intent available out there. You could even create one for yourself and consult with your attorney before using it.
But why reinvent the wheel?
We've already done all the heavy lifting for you. (You’re welcome!) I still suggest you cover your butt and run this document by your attorney before using it, but it’s our letter of intent of choice – and it’s worked for us for years.
It’s simple, matter-of-fact and to the point. And, you’ll notice it’s only 1 page. That’s intentional. That way sellers can quickly understand exactly what we're offering them.
The Body Consists of Only 2 Parts
As you’ll see, our letter – chock-full of benefits for the seller – is really just 2 main parts:
- Property Facts
- The Bottom Line
Think of the letter as a template. Most of the information will remain the same for every deal, but we customize it based on the details of each situation.
The first section – the property facts – is where we make the most changes. This is where you list your offer price, mention any repairs needed and include the closing and contingency details.
The bottom line section reiterates our interest, and reminds the seller that we’ll be there if and (hopefully) when they are ready to pull the trigger.
And that’s it.
Go ahead and press play…
I’ll go over the tone that your letter should reflect – we’re playing it cool here, kids, and we certainly don’t want to sound salesy.
This letter simply states the facts, considers the seller’s situation and reminds them to contact you when the time is right.
Video Transcription:
Hey guys, this is JP here, hope you're doing well today. I want to share with you a new letter of intent that we've been using in our wholesaling operation.
It's really not magical, but it's cool. It works and we just kind of closed an unexpected deal that circled back around and I think we made about six grand on it. It's just a little base hit of a wholesale deal, but it reminded me that I had not yet shared this with you or how we're using it in our business.
So, if you've been with us for a minute, then you know we have shared four letters of intent some time ago. In fact, somewhere here on this here lesson, there should be a link to the previous lesson on those letters of intent.
The letter of intent I'm about to share with you here is not any of those four. Okay? At the time I made that we actually weren't really using letters of intent much, we just very rarely used them on occasion. Now we're doing this pretty consistently and I came up with this document to use and so I want to share it with you, not to say those other ones don't work. Those are still good solid letters of intent and actually the specific one you use is less important than using it the way you use it.
Important disclaimer… you've been looking at it the whole time though, since I started the video. This form is provided as-is without any warranty of any kind of expressed or implied, statutory or otherwise, use any of this form at your own risk. So do your own due diligence. Check with an attorney and all that good stuff. This form works for us, but you shouldn't use it until you've run it by your expert advisor.
All right, so let's look at it. Letter of Intent to Purchase Property.
So, everything you see in blue is what we edit every time, right? Everything else, pretty much we keep the same.
Now, I’m giving this to you in a word doc form, but you're going to have to customize everything, obviously, right, because your name is Johnpaul Moses and James Alston. That's us, we’re The House Guys. So, you're going to have to, you know, make this your own.
The date is some kind of fancy little script that automatically updates to whatever today's date is. So, I know you're not seeing, but right now I'm making this video for you on March 3, 2016. So that's what popped up. I don't have to fill in the date. It's automagic, which is pretty cool. And that should translate into the document that you're going to be downloading. It should still work the same way. Hopefully.
Obviously, the address is whatever the street address is for the property that we're sending this. So, in this case it was 4870 Marcel… this is the homeowner's address. Now this is… their mailing address is often going to be different than the actual property. Right?
“Hi, Mr. Wigington,”, I'll just read through this and, and by the way I'll tell you in a minute how we're using this, but let me just read through the document itself. “Thanks so much for chatting with us recently about your property. It was nice meeting you. As we discussed, I'm sending you this letter of intent to summarize our cash offer to purchase your property. We've learned that just you just never know when life's circumstances may change and you should always know all your options. So we want to make sure you have our offer in hand based on our initial research and conversation with you;”…
Now, let me stop before I go any further. You may have picked up on this, but the tone of this is basically us submitting a something in writing to a seller who we have not currently been able to come to terms with. We get a lot of calls from people who have maybe, you know, crappy properties in crappy parts of town. Pardon my French there, but you know, they just want more for their house than we can pay. We always make them an offer and they say thanks, but no thanks.
Well, in those situations, uh, we still want to submit something to them and we want to give them something that they can use to circle back to us down the road when reality sets in and our stupid low price actually starts to make sense. And this happens more often than you would probably think.
This deal I was just talking about where we socked a little six grand base hit was a gal who we had made an offer to. She declined the offer, was maybe even a little bit insulted. And then four months later she came back and said, okay, uncle, I give.
So, we actually use this in Click2mail. We upload this into our Click2mail account and we have our assistant Carol send this. After having a conversation with a seller, anytime we know that we haven't come to terms and we want to have her send off one of these letters, we just mark it in Podio, it automatically creates a task for her in Podio to generate a letter of intent. She gets that tasks that day or the next day and she drops into the lead in Podio. Then she hops into Click2mail. She fires off one of these letters in Click2mail and it's in their hands, right?
Now, this also is a letter that gets sent out even if we haven't even given the property much due diligence and we just want to get something in their hand.
This number right here, a lot of times is just generated from a stock formula, believe it or not, based on the Zestimate of the property. A lot of times, Carol will just take whatever this estimate is.
And yes, I know some people are like, ugh, the Zestimate! First of all, ethe Zestimate in Zillow has actually gotten a lot better nowadays than it used to be back when Zillow first came out. When the Zestimate first came out it was the laughing stock of real estate valuation, but anymore it's actually getting a lot better. Their algorithm is better.
I'm not saying you should bank on it instead looking at comps and doing your own valuation. But it's it's a good starting point. And I've said this before, but in some of our Q&A coaching calls, we often use Zillow as our starting point to construct a ball park offer and that's a lot of times what you're looking at here.
We're not making a hard, you know, we're ready to pull the trigger here in this case at $32,000. Carol and James have just looked at what's the estimate for this property? Okay, let's take that Zestimate, let's multiply it by 65 percent, let's subtract ballpark repairs from that based on just what the seller might have said in their conversation to us… Very broad strokes here… Let's subtract another seven grand off of that so we have some profit built in and then let's toss that into this letter of intent. And say we're interested in buying your property for this much.
This is not a contract, okay? This is simply a starting point.
“We're interested in buying your property for $32,000 cash. We will buy as-is so if repairs or fixing up as needed, it's no problem. We can handle any and all repairs when you sell to us so that you won't be inconvenienced. We'll close within 30 days or faster if needed, whatever works for you, really. We will pay you all cash and cover all closing costs and no fees, costs or commissions to you whatsoever. Our only contingency with this is #1, clear title and #2 final inspection by us before closing. Here's the bottom line: We are local Memphians and we love investing in our hometown. We've been buying and selling houses since 2001 and have a long track record of very happy people who we've helped move on from their house quickly and easily. If this scenario ever make sense to you, please reach out again anytime, and we will schedule an appointment to view the property and move forward from there.”
And basically me and James took an image of our signatures, we scanned it a signed piece of paper, , and then created a nice, high quality resolution graphic of them. You can just see it's just a graphic in Microsoft Word. We created a transparent png for those of you who were playing along at home and do graphic design. If you don't know what that means, that's fine, but it looks like we actually signed the document now in Click2mail when it's published. It doesn't look as good as this, but it doesn't matter really
So, by the way, the vibe I want you to notice is here is that you won’t see a single exclamation point on this letter. I do not want this to feel hypey, like I'm trying to sell them on something. What I want this to feel like we're being kind to their situation, but not we don't need them. I don't want them to feel like we're trying to sell them on us too hard.
I do want to highlight a few things here…
Number one, the facts of what, what we're suggesting as our starting point. Right? And I want to do that succinctly. I don't want it to be too terribly wordy or even, looking at this document, I want you to be able to see it's just one side of one piece of paper and it's easy to scan.
The things that are bold in it are bold because people tend to scan things first before they read them, we've been trained by the Internet to do that. So when you scan this, you're going to see, okay, this line about interested in buying for cash as is 30 days. All cash, all closing costs. Okay? I mean those are anchor points for your eyes.
If this was too wordy, if there were too many paragraphs or it was too dense, it would make your brain think, ah, I don't want to read all this. Is it worth my time? And you start having discussions with yourself about whether or not it's worth your time to read it. This is an easy thing to read, but it's also an easy thing to scan. And that's an important point in my view.
Like I said, it's not hypey, it's very matter of fact, but it does cover some real benefits to them. For example, I mentioned,
“So if repairs or fixing up is needed, it's no problem. We can handle making any and all repairs when you sell to us”… little embedded command there for you NLPers… “so that you won't be inconvenienced in the least.”
There's a benefit right there. All right? They won't have to be inconvenienced in the least.
“Will close within 30 days. But really whatever works for you, right? No fees, costs or commissions to you whatsoever.”
So, I'm basically still selling sizzle here. I'm just not trying too hard because I don't want them to think we're motivated buyers, right? So, there's a lot of my thinking actually went into crafting this letter. And hopefully you've been able to crawl inside my head a little bit now and understand.
Now, make it your own. And you know, if this is not your style, you can use this as a starting point and create your own version of this if you want to. Maybe you want exclamation points all over the place. I don't know. But at the end of the day, this is the letter of intent we're using.
And again, our standard procedure is whenever a lead comes in that we're not able to buy right now, for whatever reason, we have Carol fire one of these off through Click2mail. We just send her a task in Podio and then we get deals that come back to us down the road through this.
This is a great kind of follow-up sequence. I don't know if you really want to call it a sequence. It's just a way to give them something that they'll hold onto, a lot of them, and when the motivation gets bad enough, they'll come back to you.
Okay, so there you go guys. I hope you enjoyed that. You can download this and a swipe and deploy, use it in your business and I'd love to hear what your thoughts are.
Would you leave me a comment below? I'd really be grateful. I love hearing what you guys think about the things that we have to say and share here. So fire away and if you have any questions, let me know those as well. I'm happy to fill in any blanks if I missed anything here. Thanks guys.
Here’s how to download our “New Letter of Intent”
Step 1 ⤸
“Like” our Facebook page please?
Step 2 ⤸
Just leave a comment below sharing your honest feedback on the letter of intent template I'm freely sharing with you. Whatever you think after hearing my thoughts behind it in the video above. Good, bad, and anywhere in between. Seriously.
Alternately, I’m also interested in hearing anything else (another resource or tool) that you’d like us to share in a future “Swipe & Deploy” like this. Do tell.
Step 3 ⤸
Then Chuck Norris will hand you over my template.
Totally serious. Just try it. 😀
I’m just grateful that we’re given something so valuable to use. By itself, you’ll definitely being paying out-of-pocket for this knowledge.
Thank you for the download. Yes perfectly framed and properly written
Thanks for sharing the Letter of Intent free of charge.
Thanks for giving this for free
Letter of intent works great especially when you include some gentle “prodders” as you have done in yours. Thank you for sharing and the click to mail is the icing on the cake!
Wish I had this sooner. Seller turned me down flat on my offer… and promptly forgot my name and lost my bus card. Met him six months later and ha had just sold his property for about what I offered. My fault – didn’t follow up!
Nice format and direct to the point.
Great marketing from AWESOME REI!! I LOVE THE FORMAT! Not a boring legal doc like I been using… rather a nice marketing piece! Genius!
Nice letter of intent easy to understand and directly to the point.
Thank you for showing us how to capitalize on leads that we may have forgotten about. You guys are AWESOME!!
I LOVE THAT LETTER!!!!! To the point, not desperate, with a little sympathy/empathy that is subtle not robust. Very well laid out and, (I’m going to swipe) lol
I think this letter is great fantastic, it is sensational great job I want it
Thank you very much
Nice clear LOI simple and to the point.
J P I’m curious
This 5th version of the letter of intent is excellent. I look forward to receiving my copy. Thanks for generously sharing.
Great letter, another arrow in the quiver of success.
Nicely done. Clear and direct
Simple, clear and easy. Thanks!
Hey thanks this is Awesome you share such things as some people as myself get stuck on wording.
This is why you are Awesome!
Thanks again !
Lisa
This is really cool timing I had been looking for an “awesome” letter of intent template and here it is. byw I never thought the day would come that I would get a download link from Chuck Norris. pretty impressive!
Simple, direct, soft and clear ….
I like the instructions which clear up hesitation on the part of the owner
I love simplicity and that is what you provided. Thanks for this great tool.
As usual! Well done… brief, friendly, informative, useful and to the point. Look forward to the daily doses daily… jerry
Hello JP.. I have really been enjoying your daily doses. I read them everyday when they come in. They are very informative and practical insights that are helpful to my thoughts and REI methods.
The letter of intent is well written and thoughtful while at the sme time to the point and easy to implement. Thanks!
Keep the doses coming. Jerry
Thank you again for another very helpful freebe.
As always, good stuff! Thanks!
Nice letter gets right to the point of what you willing to pay and is not offensive to owner.
The letter of intent is logistical and sensible. Thanks
This letter of intent is very nice! Thank you, I appreciate you sharing your awesome document.
As always, Awesome content!
Very clever and direct to the point. As always, awesome content.
Your letter of intent is a great Follow Up tool to get into the client’s “to do list”. Thank you!
Awesome!!!
Great content!! To the point. Needed a letter like this
Yeah JP, I like it.
I’ve seen other LOI that are more formal, multi-tiered, even number crunchy (and there’s a place for that). But I prefer the more casual approach myself. All the compulsory elements are there, it’s down to earth, and I like the chainsaw formula as well.
Many thanks for this great letter. It is simple, complete , professional, and really gets to the point. A real game changer
Great tool, I can’t wait to try it myself. Keep up the good work and thanks
Good looking document. I like the tone. Thanks for sharing.
I like this strategy, and how concise and easily the letter reads. Genuine but not cheesy.
Thanks for sharing the letter. This is a really great Resource.
Nice, really clean and simple. I love it.
NICE! Another great tool.
Hi JP Thank you so much for sharing it is well needed ad will be well use.
May God continue Bless you and Awesome Rei !!!!
Can’t tell you how many deals we have worked – sometimes extensively – only to see the seller ultimately sell to someone else – For LESS even!
I think this is great way to keep yourself in the forefront of their mind when the time comes for them to finally wake up to reality, lol
Love the tips and other content you send – that’s kind of you. Your Letter of Intent looks well thought out and I do appreciate your willingness to share it. Thanks for doing what you do…
I like something very simple and to the point. Perfect for what it’s purpose is
Simple, direct and to the point. Like it!
I love it !!!
Good letter I like it
This letter and the way you use it may be the difference between getting the deal down the road or not. Thanks for sharing it.
Good letter. Not too long so the seller won’t lose interest.
Thank you for sharing this very relevant and useful information.
Simply Awesome. Excellent tool for marketing. Thanks so much.
I love it, something they can have to remember you if ever things change. Awesome strategy.
Thanks for making the letter of intent available to us. I like the tone of the letter and the concept. ”
Most people prefer a short and sweet deal. A contract for sale with a Realtor now runs to a whole package 30-50 pages of CYA.
Hi there, and thank you for sharing this letter of intent. Always helps to see what others do, and are so willing to share! You are quite generous, and well-written.
Please share. Love it!
Chellie Bennett
Looks good!
Simple, easy, and effective. Can’t ask for much more.
Great – Thank you!
Sounds like a wonderful letter. What I’ve learned recently is regardless whether it’s a contract or letter of intent even if buying the property as is unless it’s full retail price cash they’re not interested and ultimately list the property with a realtor.
Great format – clear and direct to the point, and you’re being personable as well.
I Love it. Short and sweet.
I like the tone of the letter. I agree with the ‘soft sell’ approach. I plan to use it when making future offers. Thanks!
This is a great idea JP. I never thought about sending a letter of intent after a potential seller has said no. I will follow up later, but this a an even better first follow-up. Thanks!
I’m very impressed. You have given us another great tool. I will work on this today.
It’s good to give a seller an open door to talk about selling that property to you at a later date, options are the best thing to have in your pivoting leave on the sellers mind. It’s kinda like , leaving them the old plastic coin called “ getting a round to it”
Simple to to the point. One page so anyone can read in 30 seconds or less. Like it!
Awesome tool! You hit it out the park!
This letter of intent seems to be more personal than the typical letter of intent that most buyers send.
Awesome letter of intent. Clear and direct
I’m curious to see what you hand out to your no’s and if it will work for our success also. Thank you
Awesome format just what is needed.
This is awesome. Nicely put together format, just what I was searching for
Like the easy tone and comfort this gives a seller as a “back up” position. No pressure, but available when he has decided it is time.
Great info. Will use it consistently.
This is letter is so to the point and really works.
You are indeed Awesome! The Letter of Intent is great, but the video explaining its use is Spot-ON – Thanx!
Thank you for sharing this information! Great stuff.
ya’ll are awesome for giving this to me/us at no cost… 🙂
Hey this is a great tool for identifying new properties without a lot of hassle.
Good to have resources available to use. Thanks for sharing.
The LOI is efficient and straight to the point. Look forward to the download link.
I absolutely love this letter. Awesome way to stay top of mind.
Love the letter. To often follow ups make people feel pressured and that turns them off. This letter is warm and to the point.
I think most recipients are like me and hate all the pushy and overbearing mail we get these days.
This is a good way to let them know that you are not some overhyped used car salesman type with $$ dollar signs in your eyes.
Could you please have Chuck Norris include an autographed photo for my grandson. Lol
Timothy OLeary
I haven’t seen the actual letter but I know that awesome rei material that I’ve seen or learned about is on point and I am appreciative for the nuggets that I’ve gotten from vacant house bank training and beyond.
I like the letter. I’m always looking for more tools to give me an advantage. This provides a way to never really have a dead lead. Thanks for sharing. I’m always learning.
Dude, love the simplicity of the letter and of course you are AWESOME brotha!!
Simple, complete and to the point – great way to start a formal offer.
This is awesome indeed. I agree why try to invent the wheel, as they say, if it is not broken, why try to fix it. I truly appreciate you sharing this letter with us. I am grateful. Thank you.
Great idea and very doable! Thank you.
Great info !
This is an awesome letter. thank you so much for sharing it.
I think the Letter is a great way to differentiate your company and its interest to purchase properties in high velocity zip codes which at Investor Habitats we plan on implementing.
I had no idea how to structure a Letter of Intent, so it was great to see how to keep it clear and to the point.
Great idea to send the letter of intent even if the seller has not agreed to a price.
Simple, clear and easy. Thanks!
I think it provided a few more details on what I already knew, but thank you for offering it
i love it
Thanks for sharing this. I think it will become very useful for me.
I like the videos that explain everything
love that you give us forms.
like the letter
Can you please send a link of where to download all these letters
@Elizabeth it should be in your inbox by now. 🙂
Love the simplicity of this LOI. Great video and explanation
Thank you for generously providing this letter.
I were very impressed on the simplicity of explaining this “letter of Intent” that I shun from for years.
Great letter and straight to the point with no “fluff”!
short and sweet however to the point
I love that it’s clear and to the point. Plus, it sounds amicable.