Any advice on how to response to unmotivated sellers

[Iris Ortiz]

I recently sent my second campaign of direct mailers and I have 4 leads out of it but three of them are people that are curious as to how much I would be willing to offer for their property. Any advice on how to handle this? Should I make an offer based on 50% of ARV or should I just let them know I will not be able to help them. Is it worth to drive and see the property?

[Edgar U.]

Hello Iris,

One of the biggest issues I have when training our VA's is letting them know that I don't know how to convert unmotivated sellers to motivated. What I do know is trying to convert the motivated ones to appointments and then into signed contracts to closings!

Usually you can tell when they are motivated by following the signs below:

• They answer all your questions down to the bone. Even if you were to ask them if they are single and ready to mingle...just kidding. But you get my point.
• They ask you questions like "How long does closing take?" or "Do you pay for my closing costs."
• If you give them the offer and they don't give you a flat out no (which 90% of the sellers do). They just say "Hmm, let me think about it, or I have to speak to my husband." Get THAT APPOINTMENT! If you give them an offer and they answer you with a question like the one above GET THAT APPOINTMENT!
• You ask them a crucial question like "Mr Seller, why are you selling?" if they answer any of the following: Tired of dealing with tenants. I am an [insert age above 60] and don't want to deal with tenants or I'm thinking of getting rid of it. I live in [insert state/other part of town], and don't want to drive "X" amount to do the repairs because I hate driving cross town/state! 
• I am an looking to retire and looking to use this money for [insert bucket lists (it's usually traveling or buying an RV or doing something BP won't allow me to put, lol]

You can also spot unmotivated sellers by:

• They usually tell you that they have no reason to sell because I have [insert X amount of money in the bank or X amount of properties] but you sent me a letter on the mail and what the hell.
• I want 4 TIMES as much as the propeties is worth. I get this a lot. Especially for people whom were trying to sell during the peak of the market. They were getting ridiculous offers and now want the same thing if not more. I usually before going further bring them down from Pluto to Earth, kinda give them a reality check. 
• Even before you start qualifying them, they tell you what they want and tell you "If you don't give me X amount, I won't sell my property" 
• Last but not least, they give you no information because they are busy, you caught them at a bad time, or just plain dont' want to speak with you. When a person really wants to sell their house they will STOP WHATEVER THEY ARE DOING TO SPEAK WITH YOU!!

Sorry for the long article, but my point is when they aren't motivated MOVE ON, NEXT!