What’s the T.E.M.P. on that lead?

Off market deals are great in saturated markets. The MLS is great when there is a lot of inventory and not a lot of buyers but where we are currently investing in, there is a lot of people purchasing properties. With that being said, it is key for people to look for alternative ways to find sellers. One of the ways we do that is with Direct Mail. That is simply when we send out some kind of letter to a seller stating something like “We would like to buy your house”. Nothing special.

For the most part anyone can send out mailers to try to land off market deals. The tricky part comes in when you actually get a phone call. How often does someone call you to sell their house? What kind of questions do you ask them? What do you need to know? How do you know if this is a deal? A lot of people use a pre-determined questionnaire which is great and a good idea but what do you do if you don’t have the questionnaire on you or you are driving and you get a call. What questions do you need to know that will ultimately help you filter out the hot leads versus the cold ones. Below are the key things we get out of sellers to get the TEMP of the property to determine whether its a hot or cold lead.

T= Time

One of the first things we try to find out when screening a lead is the time. How soon are they looking to sell? Are they in a rush? Are they not in a rush at all? They might not tell you right away but you keep speaking to them and building rapport, sooner or later they will let you know what their timeline looks like.

E= Equity

Another very important piece of information is the equity. Knowing how much equity the person has in a property will determine whether there is a deal for you to have or not. If the house is worth 100K and they owe 120K then there is not deal here unless you look to purchase it in a more creative way but overall, it will be a bit tougher. Now on the flipside, if the person owns the house free and clear, the possibilities are endless.

M= Motivation

Why does the person want to sell? You must find this out before moving forward with offering any number. The seller can throw out any number but before you do, you must figure out why they want to sell. Are they motivated to sell? If they are not, then that means any hiccup in the selling process will probably stop them from moving forward with the deal.

P=Price

How much does the person want for the property. The goal is to never give out your number first. At times, a seller can make this really difficult to accomplish but you must exhaust every other option before giving up your number. By making sure they give you a number first, you can get a sense of what route you need to take to make this deal work.

Below are a few questions you can ask to get sellers to give out some of this information I hope this helps.

1. Are you looking to sell a property?

2. What is the situation?

3. How soon are you looking to sell the property?

4. Why not keep it as a rental to help you pay for the mortgage?

5. How much are you paying a month for the property?

6. Have you considered fixing and selling the property?

7. Have you considered selling with an agent?

8. How much are you looking to sell the property for?