How to Quickly Qualify a Motivated Seller

Why “No” is Great to Hear

When it comes to real estate, people sometimes say, “yes, I’m really motivated to sell”. Unfortunately, their definition of “motivated” may be very different than the kind of “motivated” you want, and need, when it comes to your real estate acquisition efforts.

Look, the bottom line is that real estate investment can be a real numbers game; you have to get to a lot of “No”s before you can get to the “yes” that will make your next deal. When you look at it from that perspective, you will quickly learn to celebrate those “no”s because you will find that your time will be better spent actually making money rather than chasing after potential.

As I’ve often said in the past, time is your only currency. You have a certain amount of time and you should be spending it doing something that is generating value, regardless of whether, for you,  “value” equals revenue or more time to do the things that you love doing.

4 Fast Ways to Qualify Your Sellers

… and get to the “yes” that is going to make you money!

Make sure you are talking to the right person.

Is the “seller” the actual person who is authorized to sell the property or is it just someone who has some sort of interest in selling, but doesn’t really have the power to do so. Sometimes the person you are speaking to is not the owner, or decision maker, but perhaps the daughter or son of an elderly, and reluctant, property owner. Occasionally it’s the executer of a will, or an accountant, or one party in a dissolving marriage. You need to be speaking with the person(s) who can sign the contract.

Make sure they have the ability to sell.

There are a number of questions you need to get the answer to in order to determine ability to sell: Do they hold title on the property or is there debt on the property and how much is it? Do they need to consult with someone else before they can make a final decision about selling? Are there any other issues that might interfere with their ability to sell?

Find out if their motivation to sell is based in need or desire.

What is their real motivation for selling the property? When you ask the right questions you can get to the bottom of what is really motivating them to sell. If they just want to sell, they are not motivated enough for you; they have to need to sell. Asking the right questions, and taking the time to sit back and listen quietly, will help you determine if their motivation is desire based or need based.   Divorce, debt, foreclosure, illness in the family and major life changes are all good indicators of a need-based motivation.

Get past pricing objections from the get-go.

Ask questions like “what would you take?” You are likely to get vague answers, which is a good thing. Throw out an extremely low-ball offer and see how they respond. Their reaction will tell you a great deal about how motivated they are to sell. It will also help you get to the answer you were looking for (“what would you take?”) if they were reluctant to tell you.

When you quickly qualify motivated sellers and weed out those “No” s, you save yourself time and effort, thereby moving closer to doing deals that will help you grow your real estate investment business.