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Posted almost 11 years ago

Negotiation w Sellers - You must do this!

If you can negotiate well, you can have sellers sell on terms versus sell on cash.

Let's use an example of what we mean by that negotiate well.

Let's say that Bob and Susan Johnson, live at 123 Frost Ave., in Des Moines Iowa. Let's say that they bought at the top of the market. Could be 2007, 2008, or 2009. But say they bought FHA with 3 and 1/2 percent down. Let's say their payoff amount is $200,000. Comparable Sales are $210,000. And market rent is $1200 a month, and their PITI payment is $1359 per month.

Bob and Susan tried to sell an agent for six months. They hired an agent for six months with no written offers. Because they had very little equity, they did not get their asking price of $210,000.

Enter into the situation Gary, who owns a "We Buy and Lease Houses" business.

Gary sends out postcards and yellow letters to houses that were purchased in 2007, 2008, and 2009.

Bob sees postcards and yellow letters come to his house over three months, and ignores all of them. But on the fourth mailing, he calls Gary and tries to get more information.

Note: It is important understand that when you market for motivated sellers, it takes a frequency of 4 to 6 times of the mailing to the same household to get them to call you, the real estate investor.

The conversation goes someone like this:

Bob: Hi, I got this postcard mail and I understand that you buy houses.

Gary: yes thanks so much for calling, I appreciate you giving us a ring, I would like you to just jot down a couple pieces of information on that marketing piece, do you have a pen handy, I'm happy to wait…

Bob: Uh, yeah sure just a second,… I have a pen, shoot.

Gary: Just for your information is what you write down my name, Brian Gibbons that's G-I-B-B-O-N-S, and my cell phone number which is 626-318-0599.

This is important because if you like what I have to say then you'll have a way to get a hold of me. So again that's Brian Gibbons, 626-318-0599.

Bob: okay great, I got the number.

Gary: I'm sorry... your first name was?

Bob: yes my name is Bob.

Gary: thanks Bob, to put very simply, our company buys houses. If we like your house, the floorplan, etc.... we will give you a written offer. If it doesn't suit what you and your wife were looking for, we will be able to tell you in less than 10 minutes.

However, if we love your house, we will write an offer on the spot. I assume you want to sell your house, otherwise you wouldn't be calling me, right?

Bob: yeah, I guess so.

Gary: just one more thing, if we like the house we just need to look at your house file folder when you bought the house, there's a legal description on the paperwork, if you could show that to us, then we could note the legal description and place that on the offer, is that a problem to have that file folder available so we can just look at the legal description?

Bob: sure, that is not a problem.

Gary: most of the people I talk to work 9 to 5 and it's hard for us to see the house during daylight time, so we generally write offers on the weekends, do both you and your wife work 9 to 5?

Bob: yes by wife works 9 to 5, and so do I.

Gary: okay, I have two slots available on Saturday at 10:30 AM or is Sunday afternoon at 1 o'clock better for you?

Bob: I have to check with my wife but I imagine 1030 am would be better on Saturday.

Gary: let's great, if you can do me a favor and contact your wife, I'm sorry her name was?

Bob: Susie

Gary: great so if you could call Susie and just ask if 1030 is okay, and to reassure you only take 10 minutes for us to say "yes" this is the house we want or "no" its not our kind house that we want to buy. I'll be on time right at 1030, we have a busy day ahead of us. I'll call you 30 minutes before to confirm and let you know that we will be on time. I look forward to your call confirming Susie says it's okay at 1030.

Bob: okay I'll call you right back.

Gary: thank you, I look forward to your call in a couple of minutes.

----------(end)-----------------------

This script helps you get into the house favorable basis to do lease option assignments. It also helps you make sure that both decision-makers are there in case you can bridge over from buying the house for cash to doing a lease option assignment.

PREVIEW OF NEGOTIATION TRAINING

The negotiation training summary (for sellers) contains the following five steps:

1. The rapport step

2. the upfront agreement step

3. The motivation step

4. The money step

5. The "what if" step

1. The rapport step

Allowing them to get more The rapport step number one, allows you to build rapport with seller, allowing them to get more emotionally while most all with involved with "liking who you are", and "what you're about". People want to do business with people that they like and they trust. This step takes no more than five minutes, but is very important in the very beginning. The danger of doing this step poorly is that the will not be open to what you have to offer, which is a terms offer.

2. The upfront agreement step

The upfront agreement step is a vital part to having the seller understand that you are (1), in a business to make profit, and (2), you're not there to waste anybody's time, either the sellers time, or your time. If this step is done properly, you will avoid the objection "let me think it over." If this step is not done properly you may have to keep coming back on your appointments, and you will not be able to do one step closes.

3. The motivation step

The motivation step takes a good amount of talent and execution by the real estate investor. Your purpose is to figure out what the real motivation is from the seller, and what their timeline is. We do this by using negative phrasing and NLP, which is neurolinguistic programming. People tell you the truth if you phrase your questions correctly. This motivation step takes sometimes 45 minutes to even two hours. You have to know what their motivation as if you are going to the design a terms offer that makes sense to them. In comparison, the first two steps only take a few minutes.

4. The money step

The money step has to do with the detail of the offer regarding financial terms. If you do a good job on step three above, the money step should be fairly easy.

5. The "what if" step

The "what if" step has to do with throwing out an idea and testing the waters. It does not make a commitment from the real estate investor's perspective, but if the sellers say "yes they would be open to the idea", then you can move further to go from general to specific terms. If you asked them a question, "Would you consider this solution?"

They can say no to that, and your dead as far as the negotiation is concerned.

But if you said something along the lines of,

"Bob and Susie, I don't know if you would consider this a good idea, and you might probably hate it, and I would need to clear it with my business partner, but what if we could find a way to get you a payment every month that would match your PITI payment of $1359, and then pay off your mortgage of $200,000 down the road, would that be something you would even consider... or probably not?"

The "what if step" helps you never have to take a "no" and then pack up your bags because you couldn't close.

For more information on how to properly negotiate the terms offer, please email me at [email protected] or call me at 626 318-0599.

For fastest results, fill out this form.

FYI, We are gearing up for our next Elite Negotiation Training Class, where you can close on one sales presentation, handle any seller objection, and make more money in the next 12 months then you ever have before.

Thank you.

Brian Gibbons

Owner

www.REISkills.com

[email protected]

ph 626 318 0599


Comments (3)

  1. Interesting article. I like the approach you are giving here. I personally focus mostly on doing all cash offers to fix and rehab but I have dabbled in doing some LO deals and think that they are great options for deals that don't work well for my main ideas. Also I assume the fact that Gary gave out your name and number helps your dealflow? :)


  2. ....price range at the lower end of what is a nice house in your area, if possible select for break even equity to a small amount of equity but not enough to pay commissions etc in a traditional sale.... Price range can be ANY 3-4 B house in the sweet spot, because our approach is saving their equity dollars by AVOIDING the Costs To Sell With an Agent. The more expensive the house, the more the costs to sell add up to. A rule of thumb is 12%, can be more, when you include sales commision, closing costs, seller's concessions, vacancy holding costs PITI, preparing the houses to sell (landscaping, paint, carpet, etc) Compare $100K to $350K house. Smart people want to save $35,000 or more. See Video http://www.biggerpockets.com/blogs/3/blog_posts/29012-how-i-talk-to-sellers-with-no-equity Lots of Equity Houses are less receptive to lease option or sub2 or cfd or wrap than Little Equity Houses. Little Equity - Pretty Houses are "Terms Offer Candidates" in this Sellers' Market. See how this is easier than wholesaling?


  3. Thank you Brian! Sounds like a valuable and essential training you're offering. My yellow letter campaigns where opposite of what you just prescribed. I heard you say and I've added a few: create a list from peak year purchases, good school zip codes, price range at the lower end of what is a nice house in your area, if possible select for break even equity to a small amount of equity but not enough to pay commissions etc in a traditional sale. My letters where to folks with lots of equity, vacant owner... Those folks where NOT receptive to lease option. LOL And as bad luck would have it my mailings where in Spring when everyone here in Atlanta had max price sales in their dreams. So getting a discount to wholesale was not within my negotiating skill scope as well. Those mailings where a total loss. But in retrospect I now know it was predictable. I would follow your list filtering methods next time. You've re-reminded me what a lease option seller looks like from creating a mailing list perspective. Thanks, curt