Need Help With Pre-forclosure/Forclosure Cold Calling Approach
Can someone help me with my script for approaching pre-forclosures/forclosures?
I start off simple- Hi, I'm Chris. I'm doing field studies on foreclosures and heard that your bank might be trying to take your house...
I quickly follow with- I'm not here to bother anyone or make trouble, but I was wondering if you would be interested in discussing your situation to see if there might be a better solution for you...
The problem is that as soon as I mention the word "foreclosure", the person immediately shuts down and tries to end the conversation as quickly as possible.
Does anyone have suggestions for a better word for foreclosure, or a better way of saying it? Or a more successful script when approaching a cold calling situation? My goal is just to book an appointment to have an actual conversation. TIA!
Hi Chris,
I speak as someone with no experience doing this, however, I have been brainstorming ways to approach this as well. Would it be possible to approach the conversation as "I am a local real estate investor, and I drove by your property the other day. Would you ever be interested in selling?" Maybe just up front leave out your knowledge of there foreclosure situation. Perhaps its possible to present it in a way so as not to be deceptive, but also not bring up such a road block in the first sentence.
Just an idea. Interested to hear if anyone has experience doing this.
Hi Sawyer:
I've heard that it's also off-putting to say you're an investor- maybe they think you'll try to cheat them in some way, or offer a price that's way lower than what they think the house is worth (everyone owns million dollar houses apparently).
Someone recommended the following phrase as a means of introducing who you are, that I kind of like: "My partners and I work with homeowners to create custom solutions that may allow them to keep their homes."
I still have to figure out non-scary/threatening terms that will lead to a conversation about their foreclosure, without actually mentioning the word foreclosure..., but nobody said this would be easy, right?
Posting reply strictly for the sake of following to see if someone comes up with a worthwhile answer for this.
Otherwise I imagine sending letters and simply waiting for them to contact you would work best as that is usually a point at which they have accepted their fate
That seems to be that expected method, I know, but I'm hoping there's a better way! Until then, I'm just going to keep talking to people and updating here with any potential nuggets of wisdom.
is the intent to enter into a Short Sale agreement?
I've done short sales, door knocking, cold calling, and post cards to people in foreclosure.
People in foreclosure don't want to face the reality, so people hanging up on you, slamming the door on you, getting angry etc is normal. You can say the 1st portion of how you started off, but I wouldn't necessarily say you're going to help them keep their home since some people might be willing to short sale; they might've not known who to talk to. So I'd say "My partners and I work with homeowners to create custom solutions that help them with their current situation." (which might entail doing a short sale). You can say you're an investor if you're talking to people with equity, but I would not say I'm an investor on foreclosure leads. They interpret that to mean "I'll be getting your home from you free."
Cold calling & knocking on doors would be considered outbound marketing. Easier way to get people in foreclosure to talk to you is to do in-bound marketing. 2 ways you can do in-bound marketing are online & offline. Online would include having a website and doing SEO/PPC, content video/article marketing). Offline would include as @Frank Spaulding suggested, sending out letters/post cards. I personally didn't send letters to people in foreclosure, because of the fact that you're dealing with people in denial, so why spend $1.40/letter when you can spend $.50 cents/post card. That way you reach more people with the same marketing budget. I only send letters to people with equity.
If you're marketing consistently, then it just becomes a #s game. But I wouldn't just target foreclosure leads. That market existed in abundance few years ago, but not anymore. You might also want to target equity leads as well.
Hope that helped.
It did indeed, Mr. Kang. I've spent the last couple of weekends door knocking and the inefficiency is really becoming tedious- am definitely interested in ways to streamline the process. I'm starting to think that maybe postcards are the most I want to invest in these non-motivated sellers. And I agree, consistency is key.
Where are the all the motivated sellers?! Aargh!
@Christopher B. It's a possibility. I've since changed the intro to, "Hi, I'm Chris. I work with homeowners who are a little behind on their mortgage payments and in danger of losing their homes. Would you be interested in discussing your situation and exploring options that might allow you to keep your home?"
I know this is weird, but I'm working with another investor who's trying to be creative with preforeclosures. His thing is to get the trust of these scared/ignorant/untrusting people and try to figure out ways to help them get out of their situation while profiting at the same time. Maybe that's buying the home, maybe it's referring them to a financial planner for a fee... it varies.
I'm still new to this so I'm staying open to his creativity, while at the same time trying to make our efforts more efficient and profitable. I'm also wholesaling on my own at the same time, so I'm still keeping my options open.
i need help with a script for people in really distressed situations. I can't find a script. I need a general script. What I'm doing is I'm getting the house under contract then selling the contract, Wholesaling, the problem I'm finding for homes in pre foreclosure is that no one answers the phone, it goes to voicemail, and then i have to leave a message and i keep it short. Hi this is a member of Barnes realty USA, we purchase homes that are in bad condition, good condition, equity, or no equity, with distressed sellers who need help Fast. if you'll call me back at blah blah and and i hope you have a wonderful day. Can someone tell me if they think thats way to long or if they have something shorter that would help. I'm in Texas and its a great market here and I'm only focusing on one little area. and my voice sounds young but i don't want to be cold on the phone. A few issues I'm running into. Im working on making notice sticky notes to go on peoples doors with my help service on it and putting on the peoples doors that I'm targeting. help, advice, i would love it, but not smart *** remarks, they don't help anyone. They just make me angry
@Chris Eastvedt Welcome to bigger pockets! I am also a new investor just now reading and learning about foreclosures. I haven't drove around yet but felt like going for a walk when it cools down to see if I see anything. I am also on the hunt for the deals and was told today that some investors offer as much as 30 percent under market value! So I am also following this thread so I can learn how to try to make these deals happen! We should connect!
This is from another bigger pockets thread...
1. create a flyer to pass out that states you buy houses, under the following conditions: state your conditions, what kind of properties you buy, and that if they are interested in selling contact you. 2. knock and leave flyer if no answer 3. if answer ask if they are interested in selling 4. if no leave flyer, and ask them to give to anyone they know who may be selling., explain you pay referral fee for any closed deal, as long as their information is on flyer as referral along with their contact info for payment if I was using a crew: 5 knockers per closer closers take door knocker to hand out flyers, cards, post-it, whatever .... knockers are paid daily load 5 in Van car ECT take yo designated target area knock until about 8 pm screen calls for closer and lock in appointment 10,000 flyers could easily be done in a week with 5 ppl we use to clear a town say the size of Dublin GA
A mentor in real estate investing gave this advice to me for a script. I'm trying it out this week. He explained to door knock betweeen 5-7 and to not be too dressed up but dressed up enough that people take you seriously. So the dress code may change depending on your age.
As far as script
"Hi my names Josh. I saw you're having trouble with a mortgage company and I specialize in helping homeowners in these types of situations." (hand over a flyer that gives you're home criteria)
I do outside sales so with that experience I'd say this... that sales is a numbers game. 50 people may slam the door on you but it only takes one to say yes, so maybe your script is perfect and you haven't come across your one yet. I wouldn't be discouraged if you're not having luck on 30 or even 40 homes. It's all about making minor tweaks that moves the sale. First stage is getting someone to open up. Second stage is getting to admit problem and so forth. So focus on the first stage and not all the stages at once.
My hunch is that I'm going to try to build a little bit of rapport with the homeowner by telling them I work in the house market but not dropping the foreclosure bomb yet. I think it's too intrusive for the first line or two. I'm going to work on a script and test it out.
This may be a stupid question.. but once you get the homeowner to agree to a short sale, where does your profit come from exactly?
This article may help you. https://www.thebalance.com/who-profits-from-short-...
send post cards to the adjacent homes, with a 500-1000 referral fee if they introduce you to someone in foreclosure and the deal closes.. when the neighbor brings you in, it keeps the door open..