Time between phone call and face to face conversation

[Michael Norris]

New investor here. When getting a lead would it be wise to chat via phone for an initial screening of the potential seller rather than driving to meet with the seller? A conversation by phone would save a lot of time, instead of driving across town. It would be nice to feel out the motivation of the seller and possibly capture some pricing information through an initial phone conversation. Although, while doing all of this work via phone, I could be out talking face to face with the potential seller and building a rapport.

I understand there will be a starting phone conversation, the question is how far to take the conversation and how quickly do you get out to talk to the seller in person? 

I was driven to this question through Michael Quarles podcast. He has a big operation and screens his leads twice. Maybe it all comes down to the size of the operation. A big investment firm would screen sellers via phone, while the small operations would visit every lead in person.   `\O/`  

[Justin Lenk]

You can still build rapport via phone, driving to meet every potential seller would be tiring and likely a waste of time in my opinion. You have to ask the right questions and connect with them on the phone and if they're motivated and the deal make sense then schedule an in person meeting at the property and continue to build rapport in person. Everyone has walls built up and it's a matter of breaking down those barriers so they feel comfortable and want to do business with you rather than the investor that just emailed her a number and said "take it or leave it".

You're going to find most people are not in a hurry to sell and will wait for the right buyer to come along, imagine driving to meet a potential seller and 5 minutes in she says "Oh we've had multiple offers but not at our asking price, we're just going to hold on to it until we get $XXX,XXX" what a waste of your valuable time!

Pre screen potential sellers on the phone, you'll know if its a deal or dud by asking the right questions and if you think it could be a deal then say you'll be in the area tomorrow and you'd like to stop by and check out the property.

Just my thoughts,
Justin