Investor · San Antonio · Member since 2020 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes
So let’s hear it from the pros. I am having sellers tell me to make them an offer because they want to sell in three months. I don’t like making offers if they are not ready to sell, because three months is a long time from now.. Some of my leads are a hour or more away.
Another thing if a seller refuses to tell me what they want for their property I’m not so sure I want to drive a hour and a half one way to discover whether or not they’re really motivated.
Are buyers really running these kind of leads and making open ended offers? Am I missing something?
I own several properties out of state which puts me on a lot of lists. Data aggregators combine those property details with my email, cell phone, home phone, and home address and sell them to wholesalers and other buyers. Every week I get about 4 mail pieces, 7 to 10 phone calls, and at least a couple of texts asking to buy one of my properties. I'm sure it is similar for people in probate, foreclosure, and other purchase lists.
It gets very tiresome. But, some callers are insistent that I need to sell to them (even thought I tell them it is unlikely they can meet my price) or keep calling even after I tell them to go away. I sometimes tell the persistent ones to make me an offer, knowing it is snowball's chance in hell the number will motivate me to sell.
In short, I doubt this person really wants to sell. I'd offer to call them back in 2 months.
I own several properties out of state which puts me on a lot of lists. Data aggregators combine those property details with my email, cell phone, home phone, and home address and sell them to wholesalers and other buyers. Every week I get about 4 mail pieces, 7 to 10 phone calls, and at least a couple of texts asking to buy one of my properties. I'm sure it is similar for people in probate, foreclosure, and other purchase lists.
It gets very tiresome. But, some callers are insistent that I need to sell to them (even thought I tell them it is unlikely they can meet my price) or keep calling even after I tell them to go away. I sometimes tell the persistent ones to make me an offer, knowing it is snowball's chance in hell the number will motivate me to sell.
In short, I doubt this person really wants to sell. I'd offer to call them back in 2 months.
@Joe S. Bottom line is there not motivated enough to do something right now. I would shift my focus to sellers who have a real estate problem now and need solutions like yesterday.
@Joe S. Bottom line is there not motivated enough to do something right now. I would shift my focus to sellers who have a real estate problem now and need solutions like yesterday.
~Good Luck
Those were my thoughts, but I was second-guessing myself. I also have a few basic questions I ask the sellers over the phone and if they refuse to give me that information a lot of times I don’t go see the property. It seems people want me to make them an offer so they can shop it, Because that is what a lot of the wholesalers are doing. I am not a wholesaler, but I have done some wholesaling if that is what makes the the best move for subject property.
@Greg Scott I hear you. I get quite a few automated voice calls as well as text from wholesale buyers / whole sellers. The leads I am referring to is where the seller reached out to me. I typically do not reach out to sellers by way of the MLS nor cold calling on signs in the front yard.
Asking a seller to tell you how much they want, will create some push back. You are essentially asking them to negotiate with themselves. Why would anyone do that?
There is nothing wrong with making a "NOW" offer because it is what it is, an offer that is valid now, not 3 months from now. Once you get confident in your ability to ask the right questions regarding the properties condition, there is little reason to look at a home prior to making an offer. If the offer is accepted, it's understood that it is subject to the inspection.
If you think about it, this is not all that different from how a bank operates. They will carry a note for you, subject to inspection and appraisal.
Your time is far too valuable to just looking at homes, for the sake of looking at homes. Concentrate on getting the answers you need on the phone, rather than in person. You only need to see the house, to confirm.
I see nothing wrong with making offers. Even if their not ready to sell.
Once you do this long enough, you realize people you made offers to years ago, might actually call you eventually. I’ve had it happen multiple times. Just got an offer accepted on a property I bid on in August of 2019.
Being super active will always produce results. In any profession, in any industry.
I would go with your "gut felling" and if your have time for the 4 hour plus round trip. I would probably go if you could also do something in that area for the day, then the trip is not completely lost.
@Joe S. I’ve been reading “Building Wealth One House At A Time” by John Schaub. He states that if they are motivated to sell, they will drive to you (or at least meet you). He talks about how a seller drove 3 hours to meet him in one scenario. Also he gives an outline of questions to ask would be sellers over the phone to get a better idea of their desire to sell.
So let’s hear it from the pros. I am having sellers tell me to make them an offer because they want to sell in three months. I don’t like making offers if they are not ready to sell, because three months is a long time from now.. Some of my leads are a hour or more away.
Another thing if a seller refuses to tell me what they want for their property I’m not so sure I want to drive a hour and a half one way to discover whether or not they’re really motivated.
Are buyers really running these kind of leads and making open ended offers? Am I missing something?
Them -"So tell me today what your best offer is for ma house that I wanna sell in 3 months"
Me -"A price today, good for 3 months, well hell that's easy Bob I got that right here, a hundred bucks should do it"
Them -"What the! A hun..! Wha.... the... now how.."
me, interupting them -"Look, Bob, it's simple, I know what the property is worth today, and what it's gonna cost to get this thing fixed up into her best "prom dress" to get her to her best selling potential, how long that will take, and I got a decent hunch on where the prices will be then that I am willing to risk, but 3 months, come on Bob, you don't think me soft in the head do you? We both know everything can be pot over tea kettle in the next 3 months, nobody can say what things will be then, so I can lie to you, make up some story of what things will be, make some offer and call it good for 3 months, and when you call back in 3 months because let's face it, you will, I get what your trying to do but it's not gonna work, this place won't sell on the market. So you call and fact is that person who lies saying they will give you a 3 months price, no, they will make a new offer in 3 months, or if it's worth more from whatever fairy dust that happens, well they will steal the difference".
them "hummm...."
me -"Yeah, hummm. So here is the deal Bob, I'm too damn old and ornry to wast time selling lies or talking sweet nothings, I call things how they are, fair and square, truth or nothing at all. So here is the deal, your in a decent selling position today, I can shoot you a today price and I can be the guy to help you, or not, it's your property and your choice for better or worse. Is a today price and a today solution gonna help you? Are we doing this? Or would you like to wait 3 months, throw the dice, and call in 3 months for a 3 month later price? Only guarantee is death and tax's my friend, everything else is comfortable lies we tell ourselves, I know you know this.
That how I deal with this, I don't deal with it, I cut through the BS right then and there, period. I don't play games and I don't allow them to be played. And those who hang up or walk away, good riddance, would have wasted my time anyways, it's a filtering process. If your negotiating desperate, your gonna get treated like a desperate person.
@Joe S. I’ve been reading “Building Wealth One House At A Time” by John Schaub. He states that if they are motivated to sell, they will drive to you (or at least meet you). He talks about how a seller drove 3 hours to meet him in one scenario. Also he gives an outline of questions to ask would be sellers over the phone to get a better idea of their desire to sell.
I read that book years ago. I need to buy it again and re-read it. Thanks for the great idea!
To all those saying these sellers are not motivated, you need to go read a book or take a course on how to run business, or business in general. I know this is harsh but so is your ignorance, fact is cash home buying has grown 10,000X over in the last decade, sellers have TONS of options now online and they do the simplest most obvious thing any intelligent person would do, shop for their best offer.
Not motivated if they don't do exactly as you want.... my God seriously? If anything it speaks to what a poor Value Proposition you have presented. Now, if you just thought "what is a value proposition" and your trying to market for sellers, you need to hire a marketing pro because you are not ready to compete because you will be facing people like me who do and we are devouring market share.
For many reasons but especially when the corporate giants started entering this market segment that was it, that was the beginning of the end for 98% of persons driving cash sellers because a quality standard bar has now been brought into play, and it will keep rising. Once the money mattered, now a seller can get 50 cash offers, nothing special, so why pick yours over someone elses? Yeah, welcome to competition and selling, you must have a better value proposition or be willing to pay more than everyone else.
Myself, I love the rising bar, I love sellers thinking things through now because I am a selling machine and master of value conveyance, so I do just fine. But if you have never done that before, you better get educated fast or hire someone who is a pro at it because clock is ticking before it's a must to get any leads at all ever. That point is called market saturation, and it's coming very soon.
You also need to understand why they want to sell in 3 months. Did mom/dad just pass away and family members need time to adjust to that and decide who gets what and to move it? Is Jr. finishing school in 3 months and they want to let him finish school before they sell. Does Dad have a job offer or transfer coming up in 3 months? Is grandpa going into an assisted living home and they want to make sure he is ok and adjusts to it before they sell his home? Lots of very valid reasons.
And you could say "XXX is what I can offer today based on the condition it may go up or down a little. IF the sale would close in 3 months and the economy crashes or takes off significantly I may have to adjust the price a little then. So you could get a little more or less.
And 3 months, really a 90 day escrow, is not unheard of. Used to be pretty common.
I would just pull away and not over complicate it and say:
“Mr./Mrs. Seller, it doesn’t make sense for me to make you an offer right now especially when you aren’t even ready to sell. You’ve seen what can happen in 30-60 days with Covid and how that changed a lot of things. Why don’t we just figure out where your at so we don’t have to waste your time coming out there tomorrow if you’re still 3 months out from selling.“
@Joe S. never heard of such a thing. I would simply say, when you are ready to sell let me know and move on. Also I do not need to see a place to make an offer. I will go by what they tell me. Its all about the numbers. Now when I get there if it is not what they said well then I adjust my offer . I can make an offer in 10 seconds on any property in any city in my market based on what I am told, saves a lot of time.
@Joe S. STOP READING BOOKS. Learn from those doing deals and apply what you learn. I have never read a book or been to a seminar. Learned and I went. Well about 32 mill in deals later,,,,,, :)
First: ask them to send you pictures of the property
Second: give them a range of the low end of the price you would pay.
It can only go two ways:
1. Your crazy- hang up
2. Your crazy - I want this much (now you are in negotiations
Then occasionally, but very rarely, someone will just say that range sounds good 👌🏻
Don’t waste your time going to appointments unless you have it under contract or it is 10 minutes away.
For example, I know investors who live in Boston, but they invest in Fall River or Worcester which are both great markets compared to Boston cap rates.
These markets are both an hour away and traffic can turn it into 2 hours so you want to make sure you’ve got a serious seller before making that trek to their house.
I hope this helped. Let me know if I missed entirely. Cheers 🥂
First: ask them to send you pictures of the property
Second: give them a range of the low end of the price you would pay.
It can only go two ways:
1. Your crazy- hang up
2. Your crazy - I want this much (now you are in negotiations
Then occasionally, but very rarely, someone will just say that range sounds good 👌🏻
Don’t waste your time going to appointments unless you have it under contract or it is 10 minutes away.
For example, I know investors who live in Boston, but they invest in Fall River or Worcester which are both great markets compared to Boston cap rates.
These markets are both an hour away and traffic can turn it into 2 hours so you want to make sure you’ve got a serious seller before making that trek to their house.
I hope this helped. Let me know if I missed entirely. Cheers 🥂
Great post. How do you get your sellers to sign the contract ahead of time?