All Forum Posts by: Steven Leigh

@Tiese C. You're welcome. You should also plan to follow up with her in 30, 60, and 90 days. Remember that a majority of your deals will come from people who have known about you for months but weren't ready at the time. This seller might not feel motivated at all right now (though she might just be hiding it) but after 3 more months of paying taxes on it, maybe it's sitting vacant, maybe other bills come due, etc. all of a sudden she's ready to get rid of it.

People will call you at all different stages in their process. Some are at the end of the rope and willing to give you the house today for nothing. Some are sort of in-between. Others are just starting to realize they need help, but it may take a few months for them to really make a decision. If you make sure you're following up, you are staying on the radar throughout the entire process and when they are really ready you might be the first one they call.

Remember, it's a people business. Building rapport is everything. And I don't mean building fake rapport just to get the sale. Listen more than you speak, and really hear what they are telling you. Find something you have in common and focus on that for a while. Tell a story about how you had a similar situation once. Mostly let them talk quite a bit. After a while they will feel like you are an old friend. But be genuine. 

Yeah, and don't take the results blindly, but it can sometimes let you know that certain areas are hotter than you thought, and vice versa.

Best of luck. PM me if you ever need any help or advice.

I've heard that recently closed violations are the best ones to target, if you can break it down like that. Makes sense. Here is a landlord or owner of a vacant property who just had to spend a bunch of money to have them mow the grass or to fix something. How motivated might this person be to sell right now? :)

Here's a question for you: Did you get the code violations list for your area? How did you get it? Was it posted somewhere or who did you have to ask to get it?

Work your way through every free option on this page. Then start repeating. :)

http://retipster.com/50-quick-actions-you-can-do-today-to-find-motivated-sellers/

@Tiese C. Yes, I would keep her on the DMM campaign. I only really take people off the list if they specifically ask me to stop mailing. Otherwise it's just a nice reminder that you're still out there. Something could change in her life and all of a sudden she's ready to sell the day your postcard arrives.

@Craig Kleffman You are doing everything right. When sellers are shady about details like that the best you can do is tell them if they can get together a time for you to see the property to call you, etc. Then just follow up in a few weeks. You may find she calls you back in two days when she realizes you are pulling away and she may miss her opportunity.

@Darius Gill You're doing great too. 200 postcards isn't much, but if you do that many on a regular basis you can probably get a deal or two before long, then you'll have some budget for a larger mailing. Just keep at it. Tax delinquent list is a GREAT source, and doing it yourself is a great way to keep it cheap. Are you filtering by the areas you want to focus on? Find the zip codes where most cash purchases are happening and focus more closely on those with both the tax delinquent and absentee lists, then it will be much easier to sell them too.

Check this out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isUDkfLgI3s

Part 2 makes this much more complicated. Just skip it. 

Michelle, don't let Brent and others scare you. Wholesaling is perfectly legal in Ohio as long as you do it properly.* PM me if you need any advice.

*[Investors will tell you that wholesaling is illegal in Ohio. Do they benefit when there are fewer wholesalers in the area snapping up deals?]

I've never really seen one, but you could post some here if you're confused about any.

Honestly, though, you don't have to understand every single option, just stick to tried and true lists that are proven. PM me if you want and I can send you some parameters.

@Benjamin Barredo The buyer is just playing you. He knows you're inexperienced.

When buyers start talking to me about going back to the seller for a reduction I know they are just trying to work me. He's also fishing for some clue as to what you have it under contract for, so he can try to get you to the bare minimum.

I usually respond with "Let me worry about the seller, and you and I just talk price." 

If he's trying to talk down the ARV and other things with you, you need to PULL AWAY, PULL AWAY, PULL AWAY.

When your dog runs away, what happens if you chase after it? It runs faster away from you. When you start to run away yourself what does the dog do? It chases you.

You need to pull away from the seller. Get yourself in the mindset that you have 100 voicemails on your phone from cash buyers who are DYING for your property. This guy is just getting in your way. Tell him, "Look, I know my numbers are solid and this is a great deal at this price. If you can't afford that price, I understand, but I have to talk to several of my other buyers before I'm going to consider a price reduction." And yes, you just implied that he can't afford it, which is a bit of a challenge.

I know when it's your first deal it seems SO SCARY that you might lose it, but I can promise you by your fifth deal, you are going to look back and laugh at how much you are coddling this buyer. Either he's serious and he can make a decision on a good deal, or you don't even want him on your buyers list.

ALSO, this is a huge wakeup call that you need to build your buyers list FAST! If you had a buyers list of 200 we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

Check this out: http://retipster.com/buyerslist1/

Best of luck. PM me if you need anything.

Steve

Don't make assumptions about motivation. You can not know for sure from one call whether they are actually motivated. 

I had a seller who said he absolutely wouldn't take less than basically market price and I should just take him off my mailing list, etc. About three weeks later we are under contract for about 50% of market value.

Sellers are very defensive in the first call, and they aren't going to give you the whole story right away. They could be way behind on taxes, need the money desperately, etc. and they won't show it because they are embarrassed or they are trying to be good negotiators.

So the way I would deal with it ask her if she's thought of listing it with a realtor? Has she thought of just holding onto it? She may start to give you some reasons why she doesn't want to do those. Those could be motivation clues.

Otherwise, you can just say call me if you get to the point where we can start looking at the property, and can I follow up with you in a few weeks?

She may need to come to terms with how much she actually needs to sell, and you might get a call within the next few days where she starts to tell you more of the real story.

In the meantime just move on to other leads and schedule a followup reminder.