First Appointment With Seller - Massachusetts

[Michael King]

Hello everyone,

This past Wednesday my wholesaling business officially went live! Although I don't have money for mailers or bandit signs quite yet, I have been receiving FSBO and Expired leads on a daily basis. I got myself set up with a nice desk phone in my home office and have started cold calling leads. I do have my real estate license, so I have been checking the Expired leads against the MLS to make sure they haven't been re-listed, and to make sure that the owner is not also the listing agent as I imagine that would be a little bit awkward.

    Wednesday I called my first 23 people. Having never made calls like this before, I am still quite nervous. I am sure that if I stick to it on a regular basis, I will get the hang of talking with sellers and it will become like second nature. But for now, I am focused on learning from every call I make. I have been noting any objections and questions/comments that stump me, and coming up with responses to them. This has proven to be worthwhile on a few occasions and is certainly keeping me on my toes.

Anyhow, earlier this evening I made 6 calls all to FSBO sellers. The 6th caller was the most interesting. An older gentleman answered the phone. I asked him if the property was still available, and if he could tell me a little bit about it. The property is still available, and he described it as a 4 family house. The apartments all have separate electric meters and electric heat, the hot water is supplied by a single 50 gallon hot water heater supplied by the landlord, the house is fully rented, and according to the gentleman it is in close to turn-key condition. He also mentioned that tenant on the top floor manages the property, and the other tenants are kind of shut-ins (and a little bit messy/dirty).

    So I asked my next question: "That sounds like a really nice house, and you said it's fully rented and in close to turn-key condition... Why would you ever consider selling it?"

    His response was, "Well I'm glad you asked. I'm 76 years old, and I want to quit. I live 50 miles away and only drive to the house once a month to collect the rent."

    We chatted for a little bit longer and I told him I was interested in taking a look at the property and would love to set up an appointment to see it. Before he agreed he said, "You forgot to ask me one very important question..."

    "The price?" I asked, quickly glancing at the price on the computer. "I have it down as $179K." I told him.

    He chuckled a bit, "Well actually I recently dropped the price down to $160,000 if you pay the closing costs."

    The gentleman had to come out to this area next week, so he agreed to show me the house next Wednesday at noon.

    So now I am both very excited and very nervous about my meeting! I plan to give him a ring Tuesday evening to both confirm the appointment, and warn him that I am 23 years old but look very young (that way he won't be surprised when there's a 14-year-old-looking kid on his front steps). I will bring an Offer to Purchase form, and a Long Term Lease Option with me to the meeting, but will likely keep them in my truck. I figure I'll talk to him and try to really get to know him, and have him show me around the house while we build rapport.

    I am looking for any sort of instructions or guidance on what to do at this appointment, and what type of deals would work best for a "tired landlord" situation like this? I appreciate any random suggestions that people may have for me as well. My goal is to see if this gentleman will be interested in either some sort of seller financing, a long term lease option, or a subject to purchase (which I don't believe is a viable option in this particular case). He doesn't necessarily seem motivated to sell (besides wanting to hand over his reins as a landlord), but he may be in a situation where he wouldn't mind carrying back some of the financing or doing some sort of terms deal.

    [I do have a few books that have specific steps to follow when meeting with sellers. i.e. build rapport, build motivation, then talk about numbers last (I'm sure there are a few steps that I missed in between). I am definitely planning on re-visiting those books prior to my appointment, but wanted to get this forum post up as soon as possible because BP always seems to get me really good information and feedback rather hastily].

    Also, what is the easiest way for me check and see what the mortgage is looking like. Maybe there's some equity? Is there an easy way for me to check this ahead of time? I know I've read someplace where this information can be found, but I haven't needed to explore that avenue until now, so it hasn't really sunk into my brain quite yet.

    Any suggestions on attire? Nice shirt and tie, or just a nice polo? I'm new to this and don't want to risk doing anything that may scare off the seller.

    Thanks everyone!

                                  Mike