Making That First Motivated Seller Call

For a little background, you might want to read my previous blog post.

Before I called the seller, I pulled up the tax information on the house in the form submittal, JUST to make sure it was his house, address was right etc.  I also enlisted the help of my coach/web-designer @Jerry Puckett.  We went over what to say and how to keep the conversation going etc.

I've been in sales for 7 years now, so talking to people on the phone is easy for me.  It was still a little nerve-wracking, not knowing the subject matter quite as well as I do in my day job.  At first I was afraid of saying the wrong thing, or not saying something I needed to, but after my "pep talk" from Jerry, and studying a little more, I was ready.

I called, somebody else answered (probably son), I asked for the guy, he came to the phone...and here we go....

Here's how the beginning of the conversation went:

This is Doug

Hey Doug, this is Shane from 2nd Chance Properties, do you have a few minutes to chat or would another time be better?

No, now's great.

Ok, cool.  I'm calling regarding your email from my website early this morning. (For those of you critiquing along...this sentence was not supposed to be this short. He cut me off.)

Yeah I did that last night.

Well I really appreciate you checking out our site.  How can I help you?

I need to sell my house. My health is getting bad, and I need to move to somewhere cooler.

Yeah, it's really hot down here.  I think about that myself every summer.

(Skipping all the verifying information stuff.  Name, Address, good phone number, etc)

So Doug, have you had the house appraised?

It was appraised for $50 when i bought it.

Oh ok, when was that?

About 3 years ago.  Look this can work one of two ways...I'm asking $41,000 and here's why.  I need $10,000 to get moved and settled in.

Oh ok, so you only owe $31,000 on your mortgage?

Yeah, it's a land contract.

Ok go on Doug,  you mentioned 2 ways this could work:

Yes, either $41,000 cash, or $10K down and payments of 570/month until her note is paid off.

(wait what???? read on)

Let me make sure I understand you Doug, you're buying on land contract for $570/month, and there's an underlying mortgage that the previous owner still has to pay?

Yes.  You got it.

So, have you talked to her about wanting to sell, or is this all going to be a big surprise?

I've talked to her, that's how I know she still owes $31 on her mortgage, which is why I have to get at least that much.

Oh ok, I gotcha now.  So, if we can pay all cash Doug, what is the minimum you'd accept? 

I could go down to $9000 (over the $31 payoff).

Is that the best you can do Doug?

Honestly i Don't know, I'll have to talk to my wife.

Ok.  We can chat more about that after we view the property. Just out of curiosity, have you had other investors look at the property already?

Yes one guy has been out.  He couldn't pay cash, only interested in Down + payments.  Have a couple more besides you who might come out as well.

Ok great.  thanks for being honest.

Do you do the work yourself, or hire contractors?

If I'm going to fix the house and put it on the market, I'll hire contractors to do to most of the work, that way I know it's done right.  I don't actually do any work on rentals personally, but I work with several landlords in the area who would love this house.

The rest of the conversation is about condition and setting up a time to view the property.  I didn't expect my first call to be a land contract with an underlying mortgage, but nevertheless it should be fun.

Next steps:

• Get Sales & Rental Comps for the house (have a little help here, thanks)
  
• Learn more on BP and from BP colleagues about land contracts and underlying mortgages
• Add information from call & comps to my lead manager (provided by Danny Johnson) so I don't forget anything
• Send seller a recap/thank you email confirming house walkthrough Friday
• Look at house Friday
• If my ducks are all in a row, be able to make offer Friday (hopefully around $5k over his payoff).
• Sign Contract
• Open Title
• FIND A BUYER
• Close
• Pay the "help" you know who you are.

Thanks for following along and encouraging me.  Have a great 4th everybody!

Oh, one last thing...We made some updates to our buying website.  Please let us know what you think.