ATTRACTING " REAL" MOTIVATED SELLERS !

[Lawrence Brooke]

I'll try to keep this short...Have done 3 mailings ( a combination of yellow letters, hand written and stuffed in pretty envelopes letters, postcard mailings). Total cost approximately $2,500. Response rate roughly 1-3%. "Motivated Sellers"...MAYBE 1-2%. Deals out of all this mailing/time/$$$...ZERO!!!! ( and yes, I did all the right stuff with the mailings as per the "experts'" recommendations). It seems to me that soliciting someone with an offer to buy their house should be more of a "focused" exercise rather a "hit or miss" type of one ( mailings to me seem like just throwing a dart at the dartboard and hoping for a good lead...it's not really addressing the "real" distressed/motivated sellers who really want someone to help them). I also realize it only takes 1 deal to make all the mailing efforts worthwhile, but where do I draw the line and say...HEY, mailings just don't work for me!? I have several different marketing avenues I use ( bandit signs, Craigslist, business cards, flyers, local REIA meeting, etc. etc)....each one generating different lead results. I have as of this post closed only 1 deal...and that was a lead generated by Zbuyer in the past 8 months...not exactly "crushing it"!! I firmly believe my negotiating skills are up to par ( we can always get better) and I like to think I establish a good rapore with the sellers. I'm currently working with a wholesale coach, but the deals are not coming fast enough ( I also believe that our offers are WAY too low for the sellers I actually DO negotiate with!). My question to everyone is...if the "real" name of the game of investing is to generate "quality", "motivated" leads, what are some of your suggestions based on what I've said in my experience to attract "REAL MOTIVATED SELLERS"? Thanks to all for listening. :-)

[Michael Quarles]

@Lawrence Brooke 

My suggestions.

PC - because of your voicemail

As for your list 

County

SFR, Duplex, Triplex, Quad

Combined LTV 1-70%

Equity 30-100%

Beds 2-4 1-3 

Baths 1-3

Built from 1950-2002

Absentee Owned ( In state and out of state)

Trustee owned- no preference

Corporate owned-exclude

Mailing address complete...

ADD - Last sale date of Today/2010

Voicemail

" Hi, and thanks for calling. As I mentioned in my postcard, I am excited that we are finally talking... The reason I contacted you is because you own a piece of property  and I'm interested in buying your property "as is", making you a fair for "cash" offer, and  I will close whenever as soon as you want...even in as little as 30 a few days. 

Here's how I can make it easy and convenient it is for you to sell your house to me. 

First, I'd like to pay all of your typical closing costs.. things like commissions, escrow fees, transfer taxes, the list goes on and on... this alone will save you thousands of dollars. 

Normally when you sell your home, you, as the seller, are responsible for certain closing costs on the transaction. These closing costs would be in addition to any realtor fees or commissions that you would normally pay. However, 

when you sell your house to me, I buy your house there is are NO Realtors involved, so there are no commissions to pay, AND, as I've already mentioned, again, I will pay all of your closing costs so you'll end up making more money saving everyone thousands on the sale of your property. 

One of the great features Secondly, when you sell your property to me, you don't have to worry about having your tenants move out either...even if they are not paying rent right now or even if the property is vacant, it doesn't matter. If you have family members living there, that's ok too. 

I can close on the property, get you your money, and then make arrangements for tenants or family members to move out later or perhaps even allow them to continue to live there after I buy the property. 

Finally, if the property needs a few or a lot of some repairs or fixing up, that's not a problem either I am going to buy your house As IS no repair costs required.

I can handle making the repairs when you sell to me so that you won't be inconvenienced. 

That means that you don't have to worry about spending money to make repairs to the property and incur additional costs or expenses...Not to mention, avoiding the hassle of dealing with contractors or handymen to coordinate repairs. Yuck! Of course, when you sell your property to me, you'll be able to avoid all of this. 

When you sell your property to me...I'll explain everything in clear and easy to understand terms, and I will handle all the paperwork...and of course, you will have everything in advance so that you can have enough time to review it and and I will always make sure you feel comfortable along the way. 

I'll have the transaction handled by a licensed and insured title agent or attorney in the local area. This way, you'll know that everything is will be being done above board, legally and ethically. 

Now, Probably the most important thing about me is that I can easily pay you a fair price based on the condition and situation. As you can imagine most of the properties that I purchase are in need of repairs or updating because of the    and sometimes substantial expenses are involved in doing this, I am probably not going to be able to pay you full, fair market value for your property. However, . The bottom line is this...I just want to come up with a fair value based on the condition of the property, the situation...and your sense of urgency. If my fair offer is acceptable to you, then you'll get CASH on the date of your choice and if needed in a few as a few  30 days or less..and avoid having to wait the typical 4-6 months it normally takes to sell a property in this market. Now, just to be completely transparent, there is nothing funny here...nobody is going to try and sell you anything, so rest assured that I'm not interested in convincing you of doing something you don't feel completely comfortable about. 

I'm just an a professional investor looking to find a few properties and I want to make sure everyone is happy and that you and I create a win win situation  in the end. If this isn't right for you...then I certainly don't want to push you into doing anything...In the end, you can decide if working with me is right for your situation. 

Here's what I need you to do next. Take a few moments and leave a message with your name, first and last, phone number with area code and the address of the property that you are thinking of selling, as well as any details about it's condition, the number of beds and baths, and so on and so forth, and your asking price. Once I have some of the basic information about your property, I'll go ahead and review it, and then I can call you directly to go over any other details that may be relevant, and then be able to give you a firm offer within 48 hours...then, you can decide what's best for you. At the end of this message, you'll hear a beep...when you do, go ahead and leave the information that I requested earlier. Again, thanks for taking the time to listen to this message and remember to speak slowly and clearly, spell any uncommon names, and give me as many details about the property as you would like to. I look forward to speaking with you soon. Have a great day. Bye bye"