Do you have property scouts (a.k.a. bird dogs) who’ve joined your team with loads of real estate investing knowledge and know-how about dealing with sellers?
Didn’t think so…
See, most property scouts you onboard won’t know a thing about real estate investing.
And this is actually very typical and nothing to be alarmed about… because in today’s lesson, Dolmar Cross here, to help you get those scouts educated about the key to the investment deal: the motivated seller.
I Spy with My Little Eye Motivated Sellers
Your property scouts need to understand that if they ever want to get paid, they have to learn what a motivated seller looks, acts, smells, feels and tastes like.
The best definition I’ve heard for a motivated seller is:
“An owner of a property whose number one goal in life
at this moment is to sell their piece of property.”
See, these people are dealing with an unusual situation:
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financial
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emotional
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time-sensitive
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often it’s all of the above
Their situation has put them into a position where they truly need to sell – not just that they want to sell.
And, in addition to a unique situation, the numbers must work.
What do I mean?
Well, either they must be able and willing to sell at a notable discount, or other circumstances must be in play allowing you to do a profitable deal another way (like a short sale).
Your scouts must understand these are the types of sellers and properties that can turn into deals, which means they get paid. If they don’t get this piece of it, expect to unnecessarily waste a lot of your valuable time dealing with dead-end leads, which will leave you both feeling frustrated.
Training Guide
So, here’s some info you’d want to include in your Property Scout Training Manual about motivated sellers…
The Motivated Sellers
To turn a property lead into a successful deal, we should only work with highly motivated home sellers. This is the key principle that will bring you success as a scout.
We specialize in working with property owners whose #1 burning need is to sell their property – they just need OUT. This could mean they’re facing a time-sensitive situation, maybe financial duress or even great emotional stress.
Some examples of these situations are:
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Mortgage payment issues: This is a big reason people may need to sell. While finding these people isn’t obvious, some indicators are delinquent taxes, bankruptcy and houses in great disrepair. If these homeowners continue to not make their payments, the bank forecloses, they lose their home and they’re thrown into a world of financial trouble. Their best option may be to sell fast to us and walk away.
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Inherited a house: Sometimes, heirs of an estate that has property just need to liquidate the property quickly and move on, either because they don’t want the property or can’t afford to keep it. Sometimes cash could be a lot more help than suddenly owning (and renovating) an extra house.
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Divorced: No one plans on getting a divorce but, unfortunately, it happens. Often, the house becomes the responsibility of one individual who can’t make the payments by him/herself or they just want to move on.
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Moving: Work or family situations force people to have to move in a hurry, which means selling fast is necessary.
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Unsellable house: Many people see their house sitting the market week after week, month after month, with little-to-no interest. When their listing agreement expires with agent, they usually don’t know what to do next. Re-listing it again and again is often a costly, poor decision they’ll want to avoid.
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Burned-out landlords: Many landlords are just tired. After dealing with a series of problem tenants, they’re just fed up with the headaches and ready to sell.
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Vacant property: Houses can be vacant for many reasons, and we’ve found that owners of these gems-in-the-rough are often willing to negotiate a sale.
Scouts: The very best lead you could bring us is one where the owner is in one of the above categories, has a lot of equity in the property and needs to sell right away.
Pro Tip: Equity is the difference between the market value of the property and the amount the owner owes on his/her mortgage.
For sellers in situations like those above, we are the fastest, easiest solution to their problem… and they’ll be thanking you and us for helping them out!
Share your training thoughts
What tips do you have for training scouts about motivated sellers? Share below.
Realize that new property scouts with likely no nothing about investing and it’s your job to train them well.
Teach you scouts that the key their success is understanding who motivated sellers are.
Create a straightforward training manual for your scouts that includes the basic info about motivated sellers.
Dolmar Cross
Dolmar is a guy who struggled, at first, to get his investing business off the ground. But, thanks to some fierce determination, raw persistence, and a savvy mentor’s friendly guidance and help, he eventually starting making it happen.
But the money went right to his head; he started splurging… snazzy luxury cars, taking friends on lavish trips. He thought he was on top of the world and could do no wrong. Unfortunately that’s when it usually all hits the fan—which is exactly what happened to Dolmar.
When the market crashed in ’08 Dolmar lost everything (literally – everything; he had to file for bankruptcy). Discouraged, he met with an investor who gave him some powerful insight, basically kicked his butt back into dusting himself off and getting right back to it – for the sake of his kids – to teach them that when things get hard, we don’t just quit. We fight on.
So with this powerful, new mindset and very little money left, Dolmar found himself with a sincere need to get good property leads without spending any money. Thus sparked the inspiration for the Property Scout Pipeline.