Bankruptcy--Why would a debtor sell me their house?

Question

I have access to a list of debtors who declared BK.  The house was protected by the BK initially but the court is going to remove the house from the protection of the BK.  Before I spend time and money marketing to this list, I would like to map out some plausible problems they have that I can solve.

Here is what I have so far.  Is there some big "pain" point I am missing?

• They can control when the move instead of letting the sheriff throw them out
• I could try to set up an "us versus them" about the 'greedy bank.'  Don't want to let the !@#$ 'greedy bank' take your house.  Sell it to me instead.
• Some moving money
• Avoid a foreclosure on the credit report--but still have a BK.  So their credit is wrecked anyway.

That's about it.  Maybe I don't know enough about the process.  Is there a compelling reason a person going through this process would rather sell to me on a short sale or a sub 2 instead of living for free until the foreclosure process plays out?

Leonardo Tonaki · Answer

Avoiding foreclosure sounds like your best bet. Even if their credit is wrecked, they don't want to make it worse. Plus, even if the property became bank-owned, the bank may want to sell it to you at as a loss (relative to the debt owed) because it does no good for the banks to hold onto real estate.

One of the best advices I've ever heard is "Find a hole and fill it." Know what the seller is trying to accomplish, and help them with it. Remember, the seller is a human being with needs. If you can't fulfill their needs, you're going to fail.

Luckily you have the advantage of immense pressure pushing on the seller. I wouldn't exploit this because no one likes being pushed into a corner. Find what they need, and supply it if you can. If you can't, I suggest moving on.