Motivated Sellers 101

When you are searching for a bargain in Real Estate, you aren’t so much looking for “houses”… what you are looking for are “motivated sellers”.

What makes a seller motivated?
How do you recognize one when you see them or how do you start talking to motivated sellers?
Why would someone in their right mind sell at a such steep discount?

Let’s look deeper to get answers to those questions and learn a little bit about what is going on in the mind of these mysterious motivated sellers…

A motivated seller’s only goal is to be rid of the property. There’s always a certain percentage of highly motivated sellers in any market. The key is to get in tune with what makes these sellers motivated, so that we can find them, start talking to motivated sellers, fix their problem, and buy their house at an excellent price along the way.

Here are some factors that can create motivation for the motivated seller-

1.) There’s always a surprising number of people who are faced with relocation. This number is likely to keep increasing due to our highly mobile society and the greater number of career changes people experience. When a seller has difficulty selling the property there are several possibilities. The potential of having two payments. Or having to manage the property as a long distance rental. Also this situation introduces an element of time pressure to sell the house.

2.) A very common situation concerns financial difficulties. And the seller is looking at foreclosure or quickly finding a buyer. Again there are extra elements such as obvious time pressure to find a solution.

3.) Tenant problems can create major headaches for the tired landlord. They are used to the lease process and are comfortable with it. So they tend to be least intimidated with the property transfer. Most landlords don’t live in the rental units. They have a primary residence somewhere else. So they have equity in their primary and won’t need it for another purchase. All in all they’re more disposed to being rid of all the tenant and landlord hassles.

4.) Divorce and relationship problems cause many people to become highly motivated sellers. Usually the property is too much for one party to handle. The property becomes the best way to divide assets. And both parties involved are eager for a fresh start somewhere else.

5.) Many people suddenly find themselves in a situation where they’ll be inheriting property. It’s usually a single-family home. And the legal processes for this inheritance and transfer can be stressful. Not to mention what will the seller do now with this property. Quite often the seller merely wants to unload it and be done with it. There’s also a psychological element to this.

These are just 5 common situations that thousands of people find themselves in every day. But you still need to develop a rapport with sellers in order to discover the real reasons for selling. Don’t count on the seller to just open up and tell you everything right away.  When talking to motivated sellers, Get them to open up about why they want to sell, how they will feel once the house is sold, and generally just let them know you are looking to help them through whatever issue is causing them to be motivated to sell.

You see – motivated sellers are willing to unload their problem property to us at a deep discount because the most important thing to them is not the house, it’s the problems that are tied to the house. They just want out. They want a quick solution, and they are willing to sell cheaply when we can provide them with the solution they are looking for.

We pay cash, we close fast, we buy as-is, and we can close whenever they want us to – that is music to the ears of a motivated seller.

So, let’s focus on finding and talking to motivated sellers. When we find a motivated seller, there is usually a bonafide DEAL waiting for us when we can solve their problem.