Is this a good way to find motivated sellers? - Posted by David MacGown

Posted by Ann on December 13, 1999 at 15:11:48:

I believe law here says ad by agent has to state
owner/seller is agent. Some FSBO ads here
have that wording.

Is this a good way to find motivated sellers? - Posted by David MacGown

Posted by David MacGown on December 12, 1999 at 17:52:46:

As I look through the newspaper or my local homes magazine I occasionally see… “motivated seller” or “seller leaving the area”. Someone once told me that a seller isn’t truly motivated if they have their house listed with a broker.

But heck! there isn’t that many FSBO’s around!

We all know that talking to the listing agent is a tough sell ESPECIALLY the minute you mention anything creative.

I have wasted countless hours on the phone gathering info for comps.

All I want is the address and the sellers name if possible.

I thought of a way of weeding out the truly motivated sellers. Mail a sales letter that gets their interest with sellers benefits to all listed addresses that show any signs of motivation or flexibility.

No more head aches from inflexible realtors. I just say I’m interested in a house on pg._ I’d like to take a drive buy-if I’m interested in looking at the inside I’ll be in touch with you. What is the address?

Heck, many times the address is listed in the ad but the sellers name usually is a mystery. I just put “resident”
on the envelope and IMPORTANT MESSAGE or somethig else to motivate them to open the envelope. And I start my letter with Dear Homeowner,

Hopefully they all will at least put my business card on their refridgerator and WILL call when the get desperate enough.

I have just started doing this, I got excited about the idea
So I can’t tell you about the results yet.

Has any one else tried this tactic? How did it work for you?

Thanks creonline family!
David

Re: Is this a good way to find motivated sellers? - Posted by Brad Crouch

Posted by Brad Crouch on December 13, 1999 at 21:11:19:

David,

Think about getting a reverse directory on CD-ROM disc. That way you can cull the phone numbers out of the classified ads in the newspapers and run them through your CD in order to get the names and true addresses of the owners.

There are also web sites that make this function available for free.

Addressing correspondence to “resident” is not really a good idea.

There is also the tax assessors office. If you have the address, you can find out who owns the property and where the tax bills are sent. Some tax assessors offices have this info online.

Hope this helps,

Brad

Re: Is this a good way to find motivated sellers? - Posted by chris

Posted by chris on December 13, 1999 at 19:45:48:

You may want to try postcards printed with your sales pitch on it instead of letters. It is cheaper (postage) and many people don’t want to open another piece of “junk” mail. With a postcard it is right there to look at.

Re: Is this a good way to find motivated sellers? - Posted by LennWA

Posted by LennWA on December 12, 1999 at 19:25:41:

David:
Joe Kaiser has a a great way to find movitated sellers in his (The ultimate lease option strategy) course. In the course you learn how to find movitated sellers by doing research in the c courthouse. Really owners of rentals that have had to evict renter out. You then send a postcard— now thats target advertisment!!!–``not like a shotgun add in a newspaper.
David I know of no easy way to find movitated sellers, you have to dig in there for them. For some the newpaper brings in the sellers and T/B by a well worded add.
However trying to find a movitated seller from an add they have placed in the newpaper is a hard way to go. The agents know how to write adds that are catchy and my experence has been most of these adds are from agents not fsbos. I
Sign up for the chatline and talk to some of the L/O pros for more great info. This is the greatest wed add around, use it to your addvantage.
Hope this helps LennWa