Determining Seller Motivation

[John Liapis]

Hi all,

I'm starting out in REI and have gotten some leads. The issue that I run into is setting the appointment and finding out that the seller wants what the house is worth or the want to wait some arbitrary amount of time.

How do you screen the motivated sellers from the unmotivated ones? (aka; testing the waters, looking for an offer.)

Any help on this is greatly appreciated.

[Jim Viens]

The biggest step is pre-screening on the initial phone conversation. I acquired a list of questions you can hit through natural conversation with the potential seller such as:

 What do you like most about the home? 

• What do you like the least?

• Are there any repairs needed?

• What is your sales price and how did you arrive at it?

• What do you think your house would appraise for in excellent condition?

• If you don’t mind me asking, why are you selling?

The last one is the kicker. The answer to that will tell you if they're motivated or not. You can also pick up cues from their language and tone of voice. The other questions give you information about the home but also get the seller to start thinking about the realities involved in how their house may be valued.

Hope that helps.