6 Expectations to Define with Every Seller Lead

Ever wasted a bunch of time meeting with an unmotivated seller? Or a seller who wants full appraised value for their property? Or a seller who tries to beat you up on price?

Don’t be discouraged . . . it’s happened to all of us. Below are 6 expectations that you want to define with every seller to avoid those situations and save yourself TONS of time and heartache.

1) You’re a Business and Must be Able to Make a Profit

I usually throw this in pretty early in the conversation with a seller especially if they are asking anywhere close to retail. I say something like, “Well, Mrs. Seller, we are a company so we would have to be able to make a profit on your property for us to buy it. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be in business too long, would we? But, as long as you are ok with us making a profit, we would be happy to look into it for you to see if your house would qualify. Does that work for you?”

2) You’re in the Reluctant Role

In the above script, by saying, “if your house would qualify,” you are establishing your reluctant role. I like to start off the conversation with a seller by saying, “Before I ask you specifics about your property, I would like to say that I’m not sure if we are going to be interested in your property or not. Everyone’s house doesn’t qualify for our program. I’d like to spend a few minutes on the phone with you to ask some questions though to find out. Does that work for you?”

3) You Are a Professional Company

Say, “You know, there are a lot of fly by night investors out there that just do this as a hobby. I just want you to know . . . that’s not us. We are an established company whose . . .

4) You Can Close Quickly with Cash

. . . main service is speed to take care of a problem property and the ease of working with a professional homebuyer. We make cash offers and can close next week if you would like.”

You may be saying to yourself, “But Patrick, I can’t say that. I don’t have cash to close a deal quickly.”

Maybe you don’t, but good deals get financed if you ask until. If you get a smokin’ hot deal under contract, you’ll be able to either get the cash to close it or find a wholesale buyer with just a little bit of networking. It’s not hard!

5) You’re NOT the Decision Maker

I wrote a post on this angle recently that explains this explicitly. Check out the article, Whose Side Are You On Anyway . . . Real Estate Negotiating Tactic.

I got a great question from a reader over the weekend, who asked . . .

“When you tell the seller that you’re just a representitive of the company and not the actual ‘decision maker’, what would be your response if the seller says “So, you’re not the owner?” or “You don’t own the company?” or something along those lines.  I don’t know if I’d be comfortable saying “I’m not the owner” when I really am.  Unless there is a way to phrase it so that I don’t feel like I’m lying.  How would you phrase your response to that kind of question?”

What a great question . . .

If you get in this situation, say, “Actually, I work for the owner(s).” And just leave it at that.  This is a true statement. You do work for the owner . . . you just happen to be the owner as well.

6) If An Acceptable Offer is Made, a Contract Will Be Signed

I like to say this near the beginning of every appointment . . . “Let’s just say that after we sit down and talk through everything with the house, we come to an agreement. Not saying we are anywhere close to that right now, but if we did get there, what would you see us doing next?”

Based on their response, you guide them to next logical step being to put the agreement in writing and confirm that it will happen today.

If the seller says something like, “I’m not going to sign anything until I get at least one more offer.” Don’t make them an offer. Tell them to meet with whoever else their going to meet with and then you can get back together with them.

What you don’t want to do is spend time meeting with a seller and make an offer if they have no plans that day on actually signing a contract.

Here’s a little extra tip . . . don’t ever use the word contract when talking to the seller. Always say “agreement.” The word “contract” has a negative connotation.

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Tags: creative real estate investing, Negotiating, negotiating real estate, real estate investing

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