All Forum Posts by: Chrissy Parsons

@Patrick Tudor It's best to start a conversation and find out about their situation before getting into the nitty gritty. This is sales. Find out their hot buttons.

What's their level of interest?: What prompted your call? Why are you thinking of selling? How long have you been thinking about this?

More about them and the property: How long have you owned? Why did you buy it in the first place? How many properties do you own? What's the maintenance been like? Has the neighborhood changed? Do you currently have tenants? Does the rent cover your costs?

Competition: Have you gotten other letters? Have you talked to other buyers?

Once you have a conversation going it will be easier to get to the question about price.

If you find that the competition is pretty stiff with the absentee owners (some get multiple offers every week) think about adding some names from one of the new motivated owner occupied lists.

@Heather Johnson What information does your list have? Phone numbers? the owner mailing address?

I would try to be as inclusive as possible. You can always walk away from $3MM house, but you don't want to risk missing the one you do want.

@Dave Vona, Yes, Testing a couple lists is a good idea. I would suggest the FSS list with absentee and owner occupied and Seniors - owner occupied. If you want more absentee, include a 3rd segment as well.

@Robert Wilson GREAT SYSTEM! Do you ever try calling on a Saturday?

I do think at 5-12 is too many times to mail - especially if you are contacting absentee owners since they are getting mail and calls from way too many investors. Some of the newer motivated owner occupied lists are good to mix in.

@Randel Doubty There are a number of on-line sources to get lists. However, you need to know exactly what you want and learn to navigate their systems. A List Broker can offer suggestions to optimize a list for your area, including some of the newer motivated owner occupied segments to mix. in This can be good since as @Brian Midden says, in most markets  Absentee Owners are getting a lot of offers.

You might be able to get better pricing than with ListSouce

@Uneeq Khan They work for multi-family. Unfortunately, most of the NJ counties, including Somerset, are really bad about segmenting single and multifamily. Everything is coded "single" when they provide the data to list compilers.

@Uneeq Khan Realtors are working wtih people who have taken the time and invested in fixing up their houses before they list them for sale.

You can work with a list broker so you are targeted rather than just any needle in that haystack. Many investors have met with good success by mailing. You just need to be sure to get a good list - which is where a list broker comes in.

There are some owner-occupied segments with people who share motivating factors for selling their home.

• Seniors with Long-time Ownership: often ready to downsize or transition to assistance.
• Homeowners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS): Struggling financially and likely ready to cash in on their asset.

Both these categories have additional advantages in that they probably don’t haven’t been updated and may have deferred maintenance. They won’t be expecting the same money as their neighbors with the shiny new kitchen and fresh paint. 

@Luis Paulino The first thing is to start the conversation - Have you thought about selling your property? (if no, what are your plans for it over the next 5 years? this might open up conversation and they might actually realize how easy it is to sell to you.

If you are talking to Absentee Owners - ask Have you been talking to other people about selling? This will tell you about the competition you face. If most of the people you talk to say yes, then you might consider one of the newer motivated owner occupied lists.

@Uneeq Khan Are you seeing these homes with a realtor? Have you thought about looking at off-market leads? You have a lot of competition in NJ.

 Mailing is probably the best way to find your own off-market deals. These are people who share motivational characteristics of people ready to sell, but haven't yet done all the work they think they need to list property. The best way to find them is to send out mailers.

There are some new owner occupied lists that you could try such as Seniors with Long-time Ownership and Homeowners with Low Financial Stability Scores.

That way you don't have the problem of uncooperative tenants and you don't have competition from other investors and buyers.

@Robert Hall@Brian White It can be tough to find deals in your area because prices are high and you get a lot of competition.@Kenesha Lewis, what sort of list did you use.

Mailing can be very effective, but you do need to get innovative when you are in a crowded market like this. 

You should consider mailing to people who aren’t in every other investor’s sites. Absentee Owners have been popular for a long time, and are apparently still somewhat effective (people are still mailing to them) but they are getting multiple offers to buy their home. It's hard to stand out.

There are some owner-occupied segments with people who share motivating factors for selling their home.

Seniors with Long-time Ownership: often ready to downsize or transition to assistance.

Homeowners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS): Struggling financially and likely ready to cash in on their asset.

Both these categories have additional advantages in that they probably don’t haven’t been updated and may have deferred maintenance. They won’t be expecting the same money as their neighbors with the shiny new kitchen and fresh paint.

Robert, even if you go the traditional realtor route, the seniors could be a good segment for getting listings.