TALKING TO SELLERS

Important Keys:

  • Main thing – find out what they NEED. Big difference between their “needs” and “wants”. What’s their story? Why do they need to sell this house?
  • If they want close to full retail, offer a Lease Purchase. (Probably 80%-90% of all leads will be like this)
  • If they have equity and they have to sell the house fast, make an all cash offer. Your goal would be to do a traditional wholesale flip to a cash buyer investor.
  • If they have equity but they aren’t in a hurry or they want too much, tell them we can probably get them their full price through a Lease Purchase.
  • Listen & ask lots of questions that push their hot buttons:
  • Why hasn’t the house sold yet?
  • Sounds like a nice house, why aren’t you getting any offers?
  • What are you going to do if the house doesn’t sell? Rent it?
  • Why would you rent it to a regular tenant and not someone who wants to eventually buy it?
  • What are your other options?
  • How long can you make payments on a vacant house?
  • Do you really think you’re going to get a full-price offer?
  • Don’t talk so much!
  • “Even a fool is considered wise when he is silent.” – Proverbs
  • Act like a disinterested buyer & negative phrasing (I don’t know if I can help you, but…)
  • See Peter Conti’s Chapter in MindMap ()
  • Don’t spout off all the benefits of lease purchasing. Give only a few if they ask.
  • You must stay in control of the conversation. Don’t let the tail wag the dog. (Remember, the chief is in charge, not the Indians.)
  • Answer questions and objections with questions. (“I understand that could be a problem, but why are you concerned about it?”)
  • Don’t worry about answering all their objections. Answer with, “Look, this may not be for you. No big deal, really. Do you want me to email you some information so you can review it later and think about it?”
  • Don’t spend more than 5 minutes on the phone with a seller. If they aren’t motivated and don’t want to do a deal today, get off the phone immediately.
  • For a traditional wholesale deal (where they have equity and/or they don’t want to do a lease purchase, they just want to sell), don’t let them tell you to just come by the house and make an offer. If they don’t give you a range for what they’re looking for, move on. They are not motivated at all.
  • Never, never, never make the first offer or throw out the first number. Just walk away.
  • Be strong and stay in control of the conversation.
  • Act like you are a dentist and they are a patient with a serious tooth ache. You are the only one in the yellow pages that advertises 24/7 care, and they have called you at 2 AM. They have a problem and need you to fix it NOW. They can’t wait until 9 AM. They don’t care if it costs $500 for 30 minutes of work if you can fix their problem NOW. They are in intense pain. Professionals in demand with fast and easy solutions don’t beg for business. These motivated sellers called you! A truly motivated seller will give you almost whatever you ask for if they know you can fix their problem NOW. If they are not motivated, you probably won’t do business with them. Tell them to come back when they are ready to do business with you.

Note: If they are not open to a Lease Purchase and they just want to sell it fast, try to get their bottom line number, or general price range. I will call back and follow up these leads. Assign a “Task” to me with a due date in these leads.

Seller Scripts

Hi, [name of seller]. This is Joe with XYZ Company. You visited our website (or called our voice mail) regarding selling your home on [street name]. Is the house still for available?

Tell me a little but about the house.

If you can’t sell the house, what are you going to do? Are you going to rent it?

This is a great question to determine motivation: “If we can put something together today, how fast would you need to sell this house?”

I am an investor and I am possibly looking to do a rent to own on your property. Is that something that you would be interested in?

What if I could Lease your property from you for a period of time and then buy the property at the end of that time? Would that be a good fit for you?

If I or one of my Buyers could help cover your payments, guarantee your rents on the first, take care of all the day-2-day maintenance, and buy the property at the end of that time without you paying a Real Estate commission, what would you want to do then?

I don’t know if we could make the numbers work, but if we could come together on the numbers, could we put a deal together today?

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Are you familiar with what Lease Rent to Own / Lease Purchaseis?

A LeasePurchase is simply leasing a home to a qualified tenant-buyer who will buy it in 1-2 years after we help them rebuild their credit.

In fact, we already have several tenant-buyers on the verge of getting a mortgage that are looking for properties in your neighborhood.

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Advantages to selling your house on a Lease Purchase:

(Note: Only go through all the benefits after you know they are motivated and ready to do a deal today. I highlighted the words in yellow to help me run through the benefits.)

  • Debt relief. Someone else is making your mortgage payments. "How long can you make payments on this house (how long can you hold out?)”
  • My mortgage broker and I have several tenant-buyers right now who are on the verge of getting a mortgage and are looking for homes in your area.
  • Most of our tenant-buyers can typically get a mortgage in 12-24 months
  • You get top market value for your home without having to pay any Realtor commissions.
  • Our services are free andcost you nothing. We collect our money from the tenant-buyer’s option deposit up front.
  • No obligation.We will aggressively market your home until we find a tenant-buyer. You can even still try to sell the home yourself. And if you find a buyer before we do, our contract terminates & you won't owe us anything.
  • We help you do a complete background check on all our applicants. We check their credit history, emplyment history, rental history, etc... We call all their references.
  • We require all our tenant-buyers to work with our mortgage broker and go through their credit restoration program
  • You will get a tenant-buyer that is going to take better care of the property than a regular tenant would. This is because they will have a larger ownership interest in the property, and tend to show more of a pride in home ownership.
  • Your tenant-buyer will be responsible for all day-to-day maintenance and repairs. You won't get any calls in the middle of the night to fix a leaky toilet.

The tenant-buyers that we work may have marginal credit issues. They may be self-employed, have a second house that won't sell, gone through a recent divorce, had some unexpected medical expenses, lost a job at one time, etc. But we put them all through a credit restoration program with our local mortgage broker. All of the tenant-buyers have had to apply for our program are pre-screened by our mortgage broker. They should all be able to buy your home in 1-2 years.

Can I email you more information?

Great, I will send you an email today & call you tomorrow. Is that okay?

Miscellaneous Good Questions To Ask:

“Mr Seller, I am going to ask you a few questions to make sure that a Lease Purchase can really meet your needs. While I hope we can do business today, I want you to be comfortable enough to also tell me that you are not interested, if this is not what you are looking for. Is that okay with you?”

“What do I need to do to get your commitment today?”

“OK, where should we go from here?”

“Is there any reason why we couldn’t do business today?”

“Let me quickly get to the bottom line… Suppose I could get you full price for your home without you paying any Realtor commissions. Suppose I could find a great tenant-buyer to lease purchase your home in 2-4 weeks and it won’t cost you a penny. Is there any reason why we couldn’t do business today?”

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When they won’t give you a price that they are looking for: “I see a couple nearby homes in this XYZ price range, obviously I've not seen your house yet, but would you consider anything in that price range?”

Note: When they are calling back from a probate or inherited property mailing, and they ask why you sent the letter to them, say something like this: “I do a bunch of mailings all over the area. I like buying older houses. Do you have a house for sale?”