Try to take control of the meeting with this seller - it seems like he’s in control at this point and is ‘driving’ the conversation. Answer his questions but then ask one of your own for each one he throws out at you - that way you’re interviewing him and his property at the same time. Once a seller thinks he has the upper hand, you lose your negotiating position. So, try to direct or steer the conversation to the topics you need answered in order to buy this property.
This guy calls me this afternoon and says he talked to me a while back about buying his house. He goes on and on about the house and I asked him for the address and his name. He tells me and I tell him that my memory fails me as to who he is. I don’t recognise his name nor the address. He then stated that I called on one of his ads and that at the time he was trying other methods of selling. (That’s why I didn’t recognise the names etc)
Anyway, he says he needs to sell the place and has been asking his wife “What are we gonna do”? So he calls me. I tell him I can help and he’s agreeable (so far).
He goes on to ask me things like How long have you been doing this? How many properties have you bought and purchased? Do you have a real estate licence? (That one was easy) How come my name is not in the phone book? (I do everything off of my cell phone and my personal residence is unlisted)… those sort of questions.
The guy sounds really interested but he is about 40 miles from me. I’ll buy house 40 miles away but the only concern I have is…Is this going to turn into a circus when I get there? I just want to provide a solution that makes sense to everybody, but I don’t want to be answering all kinds of questions like the ones he’s asking!
Am I wrong by thinking this way?
Who knows!!! He’ll probably want to run a credit check on me next!!!
As TD says - have you determined he really is motivated? that you will have a deal when you get there, or are you going there hoping to sell him when you are there? You should know before you go whetehr he is really willing to accept your creative proposal, and all the visit needs to accomplish is to inspect the house, finalize a price and sign paperwork. Not to explain to him what you’re about to do. You say you want to provide a solution that makes sense to everybody, but do you already know from your phone call that it DOES make sense to him? If not, you can probably expect a circus. And you’ll waste a long drive and lots of your time that could be spent marketing your biz to motivated sellers.