Posted by William Bronchick on March 23, 2000 at 10:44:54:
I wait for them to call twice, but once I have a conversation that with a motivated seller who isn’t quite ready to deal, THEN I follow up. I wait to two phone calls because I don’t want to talk with UNmotivated sellers who are just shopping their house.
Making the wrong offer & turning off sellers! - Posted by Sparky
Posted by Sparky on March 22, 2000 at 09:18:07:
Well, I passed out fliers in the neighborhood and local businesses, and had an ad in the paper and you know what? I got 14 calls in one week! I was excited cause I finally got over the hurdle on how to find motivated sellers. Now, I’ve hit a new hurdle in that I’m getting stuck in negotiating the deals. To be honest, I’m not very good in this area - but I’m learning. When I talk to these sellers, I’m not sure which approach will work best and I usually pick the wrong one. Needless to say, I didn’t close any of these deals. Don’t laugh but here’s two of the deals I blew. Any advice would be helpful.
Seller facing foreclosure - property $151,000 FMV and seller was willing to part with it for $105,000. Mortgage had low assumable of about $33,000 on it. I offered to bring the payments current (she was 5 months behind - husband died)and assume the mortgage if she would deed the house to me. Result: Seller was insulted - she hung up on me. Guess I should have taken the deal at $105,000 - it still would have netted me some nice equity.
Seller said he was motivated and was “open to anything” - property $122,000 FMV and he was willing to sell for $110,000. Property was owned free and clear. I offered to buy it for $122,000 with the owner taking back financing at 2% interest. He seemed okay with that and tried to get a higher interest rate of 12%. Then I screwed up. In my negotiations for a lower interest rate I mentioned that I was going to rent out the home as an investor and that I wouldn’t be able to make the deal work with that kind of interest rate. Result: Seller seemed turned off that I wanted to “rent” his home - the home he had lived in for years and was proud of. The negotiations went south after that - I lost his trust.
Contact Lisa Moren on 2nd example - Posted by Nancy Cason
Posted by Nancy Cason on March 23, 2000 at 07:12:07:
Lisa has a little speech prepared when talking to people who are attached to their home and are turned off by the possibility that it will be rented.
I don’t remember it exactly but I was impressed. She refers to the house as “our home” when talking to the seller and how she is particular about how it is maintained and appreciated etc.
HAVE FUN AND KEEP A POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE
Nancy
Re: Making the wrong offer & turning off sellers! - Posted by English Jan
Posted by English Jan on March 23, 2000 at 04:25:30:
where in the neighboorhood did you place your fliers ?
Thanks
Re: Making the wrong offer & turning off sellers! - Posted by debra
Posted by debra on March 22, 2000 at 17:52:19:
Sparky, you can’t sell someone something they don’t need. Sales is my gig and I know that finding out what the motivation is is the key to selling anything, including a deal. This is all about us making money but, it is also about people. Your offers weren;t wrong, they just weren’t right for these people. Go back, that’s a gesture in itself, it shows compasion and empathy. Ask what they need, Good luck…
Let’s close these two and Make some … - Posted by David Alexander
Posted by David Alexander on March 22, 2000 at 11:46:35:
Money.
Ok, Sparky, glad your off and running. Your making the first mistakes that you make when you start.
The first mistake I see is your not talking and Listening (with emphasis on listening) to the sellers long enough to find out their wants, and then get down to their needs.
The second is just knowing how to make One kind of offer. You’ve got to learn as many ways possible (tools) to make a dime in this business as you can, leaving the other guys with only one type of offer.
Realize that the only time you start making offers is either when you have an idea of how your going to structure the deal, or when you’ve exhausted yourself and the seller isnt giving you any info, so you then make offers “you like” to see if you can get the seller to move or respond.
NOW here goes, go back to the sellers and sit down and talk with them find out what they are really wanting, and what they are really needing.
Example that pops up in my mind is both of these sellers seem to be stuck on price. If so give it to them.
But get your terms.
Maybe offer the first one 105k Cash, with 55k cash now, and 50k cash in five years.
Do Not mention interest or anything, word it just like that.
My exact words or ususally. I’d like to buy your house ,but do you have to have all your money now? (pause and shut up) Now you will find out how long they are willing to wait on the rest of their money.
So your exit would be either to sell with Owner financing, rent and liquidate in five years, or if they countered with say a year you would just concentrate on a straight sell for cash.
To get the 55k cash you would either use hard money, or take over payments on the first and create second mortgage to another Investor for the other 22k cash, should be a slam dunk because of such a good LTV.
The other property would work pretty much the same way.
A good book on making offers is Wade Cooks, 101 ways to buy Real Estate.
Go buy these houses.
David Alexander
Follow up is the key to a GREAT salesman - Posted by William Bronchick
Posted by William Bronchick on March 22, 2000 at 11:42:53:
People in foreclosure are deluded. The investor that makes the deal is the one that knocks on the door at the precise moment the homeowner comes to reality. The more times you call or mail him, the more chances you have of being there when reality sets in.
It’s the same in any sales business . . . the more you follow up, the more chances you have of making the sale.
Go get 'em!
What is missing here? - Posted by Jim IL
Posted by Jim IL on March 22, 2000 at 10:43:12:
Sparky,
First off, congrats on making the offers. Many people never even get that far.
Now, if what you tell us here is all the info you gathered, then there is something missing.
That would be the sellers problems and needs.
What are they?
Did the sellers need CASH? To be out from under the headaches of the properties?
What did they need?
Once you know that, then and only then can you make an offer that will work.
If you show the seller that the problem they are facing will be handled by your offer, you have a much better chance at acceptance.
So, keep doing what you are to get these calls.
And also do some reading here.
I think there are some articles here that will guide you on talking to motivated sellers.
Use them, they are FREE!
Good luck,
Jim IL
Congradulations, Now go back and save the first one. - Posted by Mark-NC
Posted by Mark-NC on March 22, 2000 at 10:38:14:
Hey sparky,
Good going, Thats what its all about just geting out there and making things happen even if you mess up, you won’t next time thats the learning process and thats what makes us smarter investors.
I would suggest calling the lady back on the first deal get down on your knees and appoligise to her and make a cash offer with an option contract. There is a nice spread on the numbers on that deal.
You can use a note deal or a mortgage to flip that thing and put some nice cash in the pocket.
If you need any help let me know I will walk you through it.
Mark
Congratulations!!! - Posted by pboone
Posted by pboone on March 22, 2000 at 10:13:15:
I know many people whom sit on their rear end and do nothing except complain about not finding any deals, expecting for them to walk through the door.
You have these two to pull from, TIME is the deciding factor on closing deals, its like riding a bike, get up and do it again.
I personally use the “blunt and rude” approach tell them what I am willing to do then stay quiet, let them talk. Silence is golden
Pat
Re: Making the wrong offer & turning off sellers! - Posted by Anthony Henry
Posted by Anthony Henry on March 22, 2000 at 09:48:58:
Hey Sparky Im sorry to hear about your misap, but look at it this way in this numbers game just consider those your out at bat. Im sure youll close something out of your next 84 :).
By the way if you dont mind could you show the fliers you used and the wording. Im sure for us newbies this would be really nice to see.
Anthony Henry
Still tryin to retire 
I thought you waited for them to show motiviation? - Posted by RobertR CO
Posted by RobertR CO on March 22, 2000 at 17:44:08:
Mr Bronchick,
I thought you said you do not even return calls until they are motivated enough to call you twice. This must have applied to a different situation and not foreclosure sellers, right?
Cordially,
Robert