Insurance Agent · Clayton, NC · Member since 2015 · 41 posts · 8 votes
I recently sent my second campaign of direct mailers and I have 4 leads out of it but three of them are people that are curious as to how much I would be willing to offer for their property. Any advice on how to handle this? Should I make an offer based on 50% of ARV or should I just let them know I will not be able to help them. Is it worth to drive and see the property?
Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2014 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
11y
a couple of things...do you believe meeting them in person would possibly give you a leg up on building raport? And, are you confident in your ability to analyze a property and estimate rehab costs? If the answer to the first one is yes, then it's worth your time. If the answer to the second one is no. Then it's worth your time for the practice.
I would try to get them to give me a number. What price would I have to offer to get you to sell your property to me? If you can get them to give you a number forat, you'll know whether there is a chance. I don't ever want to turn away someone who called. Something made them call. Some truly are tire kickers, but some may have just never considered that someone might actually buy the place.
Investor · Philadelphia, PA · Member since 2013 · 177 posts · 80 votes
11y
Definitely go see them. How could you possible give someone an offer without seeing the property? I would say something like "well I would have to come out and visit your house in order to give me an idea of what I can offer you, but did you have a number at which we could do business?" something along those lines. The more that you actually go check out, the more you will learn and feel comfortable talking with sellers.
Investor · New York, NY · Member since 2014 · 279 posts · 224 votes
11y
1) you want to know your ratios.
How many letters sent -> how many people called -> how many were interested in showing you their house -> how many you got under contract, etc.
Let's say you send out 2000 -> 60 calls -> saw 5 houses -> 1 under contract.
So if you're getting a lot of people asking you what your offer is, you're still in that phase where you're having to filter out the motivated ones from the unmotivated ones.
Key, if they're not willing to tell you a ballpark figure first, more than likely they're just calling to see what your offer would be. (it's always not the case, but more often than not, it is). I test them to see how motivated they are by asking "if you were to get an offer today, what would you feel is a fair offer?", then let them speak.
2) test what message in the letter gets you friendlier call-backs. I found saying that "I'm a private investor who buys in the local area... if you don't want to work with a realtor and pay commission but would rather work directly with a cash buyer like myself..." works well for me. Anything that makes people feel they're dealing with a real person, and not a shrewd investor.
3) It's a numbers game. Make sure you're sending out enough letters. 2000 is a good number in a month, but don't send all 2000 the same day. You won't be able to handle all the calls. :)