A wise investor told me the real secret once and I guess I will shall it with everyone.
“ASK THEM WHY THEY ARE SELLING”
Then shut up and let the seller start talking. You may have to say a little something or an open ended question like “can you explain what you mean when you said …”. But for the most part BE YOUR SELF and the seller will be relaxed and you both can have a nice easy conversation. Your first few times you are nervous but practice in front of a mirror or with a spouse or friend. The key is to be your self and let the seller do most of the talking and you will find out all you want to know. Don’t forget the seller is SELLING so he will want to tell you everything. A sure fire way to know if they ARE NOT motivated is if the seller does not want to tell you anything.
Hope this helps
Does anyone have a sure fast way to determine if the seller is a ‘motivated’ seller? Do most try to conceal it? If so, how do you determine if they are truly ‘motivated’ to sell below market or with special terms?
Remember that there are motivated sellers that can’t discount the price to give you a killer deal but they are still motivated. If you learn how to structure those you will do a lot more deals and make a lot more money.
I spent some time with an investor friend yesterday. While going over a BIG rehab he mentions a lady that had called him with a house that had an 80% mortgage. His criteria is no more than 70%. But when they are just willing to sign the deed over you can still make money. His task is to convince her that the mortgage does not have to be eliminated right now. When you can determine the sellers problem and solve it while making a profit yourself you have a deal no matter what their level of motivation.