"Motivated Sellers" ...say NO!! - Posted by Gene

Real Estate Investing
#1

Posted by Jim IL on February 26, 2001 at 19:48:35:

Ken,
It would depend on how you define “Preforeclosure” I guess.
To me, when a seller is current on payments, but is stating cleraly that they CANNOT make any more payments, if they don’t sell, they are heading to foreclosure.
So, I kind of consider those the same, just an early catch.
I’ve had people give me their homes in a number of different sitations, but all of them ones that if SOMETHING was not done, eventually they would have been foreclosed.
Divorces where neither spouse can afford to keep the home.
Job transfer where the job is NOW, and they cannot afford to make the payments and pay rent/payments at the new location.
Whatever, the reason is usually debt relief in one form or another.

Just my $.02,
Jim IL

#2

“Motivated Sellers” …say NO!! - Posted by Gene

Posted by Gene on February 26, 2001 at 11:41:51:

I’ve met with a few good “Motivated Sellers” and they were motivated because they had foreclosure papers in their hands and showing me how they were anywhere from 2-4 months behind on their payments! Sometimes even a 1st & 2nd mortgage!!!

I’ve even made offers to take over existing debt from these sellers and it made no sense after I really looked at it to even get into something such as these problems!! (Just simply because there was to much debt, to many payments behind, and extremely high interest rates on some of these 2nd’s with very high monthlys’ that in reality I know I would have a difficult time getting from a buye)!!! and these people still say 'We need time to think about it"!!!

Even though my offer was silly on my part, these people still are saying “NO”!!!

I got to be messed up or something!. Why would they turn down my offer to take over the ridiculous problem that they currently are in when they know that if something isn’t done they are in trouble?

I am totally confused…or…I just don’t get this at all!

HELP!!!

Gene

#3

Re: “Motivated Sellers” …say NO!! - Posted by Monique

Posted by Monique on February 27, 2001 at 08:05:23:

Gene,

As Andrew said, this is quite common with folks who are that close to foreclosure.

We’ve seen it time and time again. We make an offer that is frankly a very skinny deal to help the seller out of their situation. The Seller says No and then loses his/her house days later at the courthouse steps – with no right to redemption in our state!

We actually prefer to buy from people that are NOT weeks/days away from foreclosure. We would rather deal with motivated sellers who can still make rational, logical decisions to act quickly.

Monique

#4

Nature of the beast. - Posted by Andrew Smith (Phila)

Posted by Andrew Smith (Phila) on February 26, 2001 at 19:09:43:

I have tried dealing with preforclosures and it was not my cup of tea. Everyone has their own nitch and dealing with people who do not act rationally is definetly not mine. Apparently it is a real art. It is interesting that there is a very consistent mental pattern people go through when they are in the foreclosure process. The denial aspect of the pattern can often last right up to the sheriff sale (or the day or so before). What you ran into seems to be par for the course but you need to make the people understand that they can call you if they change their minds - which they might do right before the sale. Good luck.

#5

Re: Nature of the beast. - Posted by Ken

Posted by Ken on February 26, 2001 at 19:41:34:

Who then , should we be pitching the “Subject To” offer to, if not the “Pre-Foreclosure” people? These people are obviously the only ones not worried about their credit!

Has anyone had prior luck with doing “Subject To” with a seller NOT IN PRE-FORECLOSURE?

Maybe I’m not on the same track here. Help me understand this better if you would.

Thanks

Ken

#6

Re: Nature of the beast. - Posted by B.L.Renfrow

Posted by B.L.Renfrow on February 26, 2001 at 20:00:57:

While sellers in financial trouble are the most common source of subject-to deals, they aren’t the only ones.

I’ve done 3 subject-tos where payments were current and there was no evidence that the seller was anticipating having trouble making the payments.

The common factor was this: they DIDN’T WANT THE PROPERTY! In fact, they didn’t want it enough that they couldn’t wait to make it someone else’s problem…namely mine! In one case, the sellers, who had little equity, had tried for more than a year to sell conventionally, without a single offer! In another, the seller was a “tired landlord” who had bad rental experiences with deadbeat tenants. The third was a house some distance from the seller, who had already tried listing with several brokers, to no avail. She simply didn’t want the headaches anymore. So I was happy to solve her problem, in exchange for a chunk of equity.

Remember, we offer solutions. And while it’s a common one, not everyone’s solution centers on money.

Brian (NY)