BiggerPockets

To be more comfortable on the phone, I want to make sure I can provide any seller with at least a one sentence "this is what I would look into" type response. Obviously there are a ton of potential seller situations and combination of situations, but here are a few as an example. How would you respond to these?

-Overpaid for property

If they are NOT in a short sale situation, and they just want to sell but there's just no deal because they over paid for the property, what do you tell them?

-Asking too much money

How do you gently tell them, their price is too high. Obviously you would point back to the fact that their house has major repairs necessary and they're asking top dollar, but have you found an effective question to ask or way to approach this situation?

-Own multiple properties

On more than a couple occasions I get calls from people who have 5+ properties. Typically this is the same as overpaid (from what calls I have so far) but what would be the best solution for getting rid of multiple properties where you've over paid.

-No equity

What options are available here?

Obviously there's no deal in most of these situations, but I want to go into every phone call knowing that I may not have all the exact answers, but I can at least point someone in the right direction to help them out if I'm not the solution.

Hi Eric. #'s 1,3 and 4 seem to be the same issue: over paying and thus no (real) equity. I'm a rehabber and wholesaler and don't do shortsales. However there are plenty of agents in my REIA that do. And so in exchange for comps, I refer them sellers who don't fit my criteria.

Having said that, the same thing can be said for #2. So my response is usually "well it seems, Mr. Seller, that you're sort of looking for top dollar and I don't blame you since you should be able to get that amount from a buyer using a conventional mortgage. But as an Investor, I wouldn't be able to pay that amount and still make a profit. The only people who can afford to pay that amount are folks who are using fha or conventional mortgages. And the only way to find them is by listing your property with a good realtor who knows the area. Why don't I have my friend whose a good realtor call you and give you some more options as to how you can get the price you're looking for".

Once again, I'm ensuring that I have plenty of access to comps when I need them and helping out a friend at the same time. Hope this helps.

Just because they've overpaid doesn't mean you can't still buy the house.

I gather as much info about the house as possible, especially what condition it is in, what repairs it needs, and if the seller has an idea of what it would cost them to completely fix up the house for a retail buyer. I then ask them what they think it is worth as is, what it would be worth fixed up, and how they came up with those figures. Once I've gathered all this info, I give a "ballpark" figure as to what I'd pay based on the details they've told me. In some cases, my "ballpark" figure is much less than their payoff, so I then ask them if they would be in a position to take the difference to closing in order to sell the house. If they say "yes", I'll go look at the house. If they say "no", I let them know that they'll have to sell to a homeowner instead of an investor to get that kink of price for the house.

I've had quite a few sellers take money to closing just to get the house sold. You never know unless you ask.