Is it okay to present an offer in the mail or email?

Question

Does less confrontational mean less professional?

I like the idea of giving the seller something in writing that they can think over...and obviously not being around when I present an offer they may get offended at.

What are your thoughts?

Michael Quarles · Answer

Docusign.   We buy all of our houses without ever meeting the seller.  Docusign is 50 a month and super easy.

Dave G. · Answer

Maybe I'm old-school, but in-person is always the way to go unless there is a good reason preventing it. Comprehensive communication skills and business acumen cannot be developed via email.

That being said, I can appreciate the DocuSign approach if you're doing a high volume of offers or out-of-state activity.

William Brown · Answer

1.) A true motivated seller will have a minimum number in mind to get for their house and if you come in there or close they will accept it because they aren't in the business of getting the highest offer, they are in the business of having their problem solved. Now lets break that down:

2.) "and obviously not being around when I present and offer they may get offended at" This is rational and logical for you to think this way, but there's only one way to build kahunas. Look sellers directly in the eye, break the numbers down for them and give them your offer. If they get offended, you haven't done a good enough job at building rapport. That's another thing, let's talk about rapport with offers.

3.) Say you have a conversation with them and build the very best of rapport, then you mail them a letter or an email with your offer, you give them the chance to separate and isolate the two. Suddenly they feel betrayed because you truly listened to their problems, talked through with them and said you would try to help them out. Then they see a 50% ARV offer pop up in their inbox or mailbox and all that rapport disappears.

3.5) What I do when sellers call me is I ask about their situation, their property, and then I tell them I'd get back to them later in the day with a range of what we might be able to do, and I always say if we are even in the same ballpark then we would love to come take a look at the house. We do an actual analysis with the given info, and give them an honest range. They will either say, oh, we were really looking to get more for that, (in which case we end the conversation nicely and ask if we can give them a call in a few months to check in) or if they say "yeah, that's pretty close or not too bad" then we will set the appointment and go see them at the property.

Be a truth teller and a truth seeker. Don't hide behind the safety of mail or email just because you are scared to do it face to face. Do it enough times and it doesn't scare you, and you actually get better at negotiating. Tell them your intentions as a wholesaler, and be completely honest and confident. And make a lot of offers on a lot of properties.

Joshua Levasseur · Answer

@Jesse Meader Face to face is often more effective, but Emailing still works! As long as you can articulate yourself in a professional manner, you should have no problems. For example, my partner and i made an offer lower than the one they had before, but through an in-depth email explaining and breaking everything down to the seller, we were able to seal the deal, beacuse we were completly transparent and honest. An email will provide something tangible for the seller to look at and go back over. Alot of times a seller will have so many offers from different people, that it becomes confusing. With a well written email, you may just be able to seal the deal.

Michael Quarles · Answer

Good to meet you... I posted my first answer from my iphone so simple and quick was the task however I wanted to address the issue of  offers that sellers get offended at.

Back in the day when I thought it was necessary to knock on the front door I was very careful to always remain the leader and certainly never gave the power to the seller. Besides sellers are followers in the most part. And being a follower isnt a bad thing however two followers or two leaders won't get anything done and if you allow the seller to be the leader you'll pay too much for the property.

Back to offers. IMHO and I have bought hundreds and hundreds of houses, is that we don't make offers we accept them. And although they could "Look it over" them having/wanting to means someone didn't do their job well enough during negotiation. The agreement is a closing tool use it...

Take that bad boy out and say these words... We are now going to go over the agreement we are going to use to sell me the house today. And start filling it out, sometimes even before you have agreed to their price. (the underlined sentence is an embedded command)

Your first question is. Is your name(s) the name(s) that is(are) on the deed? It so second question. Can I see your driver's license so I make sure I spell the name(s) correctly... Even if their name is Sam Smith. I look at the driver's license.

Go over every single line in the agreement... BTW They are agreements not contracts.

Everytime you get to a paragraph where you are disclosing something to the seller; example mine says I am going to make a HUGE profit buying and selling your property today. And HUGE is bold and all caps. tap yourself on the chest lightly and shake your head up and down in a yes fashion. These paragraphs are what are referred to as character closes. They work great.

Occasionally a seller will ask. Are you filling out the contract? To that I always say I absolutely am. It is my job to buy your property and you want to sell me your home, YES? End the question with the word YES anytime you ask a question you want a yes answer to. Works great, Yes?

Let's assume you get to the end of the presentation and you have not yet agreed to their price so you can't write the value in yet. Now what? Continue negotiating.

There are going to be times that you excuse yourself by saying. I can see that you need to think/chat/talk whatever they need to do. I am going to go out to my car and make a couple calls. One of them is an appointment to go buy another property and I need to give the seller a heads up that I will be on my way. I will come back in in a few minutes and we will agree to a price and wrap this up so you can have you your money on the day of your choice, YES?

Say that you are at an impasse.. Then what... there are two closes that work well.

1- May I be super honest with you about buying your home today? they're going to say yes... you say... I have another appointment to buy another house that I need to get to and I would hate for you to call me tomorrow and say Michael will you buy our home for this value only for me to have to say. Ouch, I wish you would have asked that yesterday before I used your money to buy someone else's home. So if you have a number in mind that would cause a win win fair agreement for me to buy your home today please give it to me.

2- It appears as though your price does not fit within my business model. If things change and you can see yourself lowering the price to cause me to purchase your property please call me back. Ask for a referral by saying... One last thing who do you  know who is needing to sell me their house? Obviously that is a backhanded slap however at time it will sink in if not get up and go to the next appointment.

Presentation and negotiation is fun and difficult to learn however when you do your life will change.

Happy house hunting

Is it okay to present an offer in the mail or email?

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