An investor who just closed on a house has a scope of work and a clock. Every day the property sits empty costs them taxes, insurance, utilities and loan interest. The contractor, lender, cleanout crew or title company that answers first, with a written price and a start date, usually gets the job.
That makes selling to investors different from selling to landlords or property managers. An investor buys per deal, not per month. Your job is to be the first message they get after a deal closes, and to turn a bid around in 48 hours.
The person who says yes, and how fast
There are two buyers. The first is the investor, often an individual or a small LLC that buys three to fifteen properties a year. The second is the acquisitions manager or project manager at a larger operator, who approves vendors on the investor's behalf. Both can say yes to a rehab bid in a single phone call or a text. Neither has a procurement process. Neither will wait for you to "schedule a site visit next week."
What they weigh, in order: can you start on a specific date, does the price fit the numbers on the deal, and will you finish when you say. Price matters. But a bid that arrives four days late is competing against a bid that's already signed.
The 48-hour rule
Make it a policy: every investor request for a bid gets a written number within 48 hours. Not a conversation, not a range, a document with a scope, a price and a start date. It is simple to say and hard to keep, so build the habit:
- Keep a standard scope checklist (roof, HVAC, kitchen, baths, flooring, paint, electrical, plumbing) so the walk-through takes 45 minutes, not two hours.
- Block two mornings a week for investor walk-throughs, so you can say "Wednesday at 9 or Thursday at 10."
- Price from your own unit costs, from a spreadsheet, the same day you walk the property.
A bid on Tuesday for a Monday start usually beats a lower bid next Friday. Investors say as much when they explain why they stopped calling a vendor: it wasn't price, it was waiting.
Finding investors from recent closings
Investors leave a public trail. Most county recorder or assessor offices list recent property transfers with the buyer's name, the sale price and the date. Some have a free search page; others sell a weekly list. Look for these signs:
- A buyer name ending in LLC, Properties, Holdings or Investments, not a family name.
- The same buyer name appearing two or more times in 12 months.
- A purchase price well under typical sale prices on the same street.
For LLC buyers, search your state's Secretary of State business database. It shows the registered agent and often a manager or member, and from there a company website or LinkedIn profile usually gives you a real person and an email. If you want a broader approach, see finding new businesses in your area and how to build a lead list. Aim for 30 repeat buyers in your county. That is more than most contractors ever write to.
The three-line message for closing day
When the transfer shows up in the public record, send this the same week. It is short because the investor is reading on a phone, on site, with a contractor already walking through.
Hi Terrence, I saw you picked up the property on Birch Lane. I'm Wendell Price with Price Renovation; I do full rehabs on the east side and can walk it tomorrow or Thursday. You'd have a written bid with a start date within 48 hours of the walk. Wendell, [mailing address], reply "no" and I won't write again.
Three sentences of content. One property by name, one offer, one deadline. Add your phone number in the signature, because investors text.
What to attach: scope, price, start date
The bid should fit on one page. A line-by-line scope with a price per line, a total, a start date, a completion date, and your terms (deposit, draw schedule). Investors compare bids by pasting them into their deal spreadsheet. Make it easy.
Sample for a three-bedroom rehab: kitchen cabinets and counters $9,800, two baths $6,200, flooring $4,600, interior paint $3,900, electrical and plumbing punch list $2,400. Total $26,900. Start Monday, finish in 24 days. If the investor's budget is $24,000, don't cut your price. Offer an option: "Skip the second bath remodel and it's $23,800." That keeps the conversation alive and shows you understand the numbers they are working with.
If you are a lender, title company or cleanout crew, the same logic applies: a written number, a specific date, and one clear next step.
Follow up while the rehab is still open
If you do not hear back in two days, a short text is fine: "Did the bid on Birch Lane work for your numbers? I can adjust scope." If they chose someone else, ask when the next deal closes. A bid that didn't win still plants you as the second call. There is more detail in how to follow up on a quote, and the timing logic matches speed to lead: the first credible answer carries a lot of weight.
Becoming the first call on the next deal
Finish on or before the date you wrote down. Send photos at the end of each week. When the job is done, ask one thing: "What's the next property you're looking at?" Investors are happy to share, because they want someone ready. Keep a running list of your repeat investors with the month of their last purchase, and write to each one every six to eight weeks.
The part that decays is speed. Watching county records for new closings and writing the same week is the part most contractors skip. Rocketship finds the investors and acquisitions managers by name, emails them from your own Gmail, follows up, and books the walk-through on its own. Plans that get you customers start at $24.99 a month (Launch), and both Launch and Frontier start with a 7-day free trial, card required. See the AI workers for what runs on its own.