4 things you must know before talking to motivated sellers

Most of the best deals in real estate investing come from people who are motivated to sell their houses. Even though there are so many houses sitting on the market, not all the sellers are motivated enough to give you a deal that ends up making you profit.



Similarly, even though some of the sellers could be highly motivated, not all such deals have enough equity to make you profits.



When talking to motivated sellers you therefore need to make sure you weed out sellers who could waste your time without turning off potentially profitable deals.



Here are 5 things you must know before you talk to the next motivated seller.



1) Do not waste your time

The most important part of any conversation is that you must take the lead in the conversation. The conversation must focus in a direction that provides answers to all the questions you need answered to determine if you have a deal or not.



Lots of sellers will go on and on about their beautiful house, updates, nice kitchen, etc. Of course, even though they are attached to their house, this conversation will not help you much.



Unless you can buy their house cheaply enough to make a profit, all this information has no value to you.



I make sure that I always have a script with a list of questions they must answer in the conversation. the questions can be answered in any order, but I must know if I can make the deal happen or not within 2 minutes.



Do not deal with any sellers who are not motivated. They must tell you the mortgage balance, or they are not motivated enough. Lots of motivated sellers talk about their mortgage balance just a freely as the number of rooms.



In my business, I only talk to motivated sellers I have pre-screened (and usually pre-negotiated with) through my real estate investor website. the ones that call must leave a voice message, or they are not motivated enough for me.



I have a virtual assistant that calls them and fills all the information I need through my website. I already know if the deal can happen or not by the time I talk to them.



This way, I avoid wasting my time or the sellers time with houses I might never buy.



2) Develop rapport

Do not appear as Mr. Big Corporate House Buying Company. You are a local guy looking to buy their house. And you like their house because it seems to meet your needs.



Develop this rapport in your conversation, especially once you have established you might make the deal happen.



3) Listen, listen, listen

Listen, listen, listen - and since you are leading the conversation, learn how they got into the predicament, what repairs are needed, etc.



You mainly need the information that you need to determine the level of motivation, asking price, equity and repairs.





4) Negotiate

Even though their asking price could be good enough to give you a profit, always negotiate to get a lower price. Lots of people might think they could have gotten a better price if you do not negotiate.



You can negotiate on appliances, closing costs or even furniture, not just the price.



And always make an appointment to go see the house if the deal looks good at the first glance.



This will make them shopping for other possible buyers since they consider you as a serious buyer. If you later think the deal is not that good after all, you can always call to cancel the appointment.



Always remember to treat them nice with respect and most motivated sellers will be as keen to sell you their house as you are to buy their house.



When your real estate investing business is run from an interactive real estate investing website, the website tells your story for you, pre-educating motivated sellers how you buy houses. It also automates most aspects of real estate investing, so you close more deals using less time, money and effort. Learn how you can employ such a website so you receive pre-screened and pre-negotiated deals ready for you to make an offer in just a few minutes.