Friend w/ sales lead

[AIR]

A friend of mine told me a couple of months ago her boyfriends buddy was thinking about selling his condo. He is moving out of the state and wants to sell. Well finally he called me today and left a message, the condos are in an excellent area, newer 90's construction. From what I have heard from my friend it is in perfect condition. What type of info should I collect before calling him back? I am going to come right out and explain that I am an investor and that I will need the numbers to work.

[Ceres]

I wouldn't start off by telling him you are a investor and you need to make your numbers work. I'll explain why in my next post. For now this is what you need to know. You can obtain this info by calling him, get the ball rolling.

1. Why are you selling? (you already know the answer)
2. When do you need to move?
3. What is the price or what are you asking?
4. How much do you owe?

Then of course the address (so you can run some comps), how many beds, baths, assocition fees, memberships cost obtain ect.

This would be a good start.

[AIR]

Thanks for the reply, Why is the amount owed on the property important? and why shouldnt I tell him Im an investor?

[Ceres]

Amount owed. It is important to know how much equity is in the deal. If the condo is worth 100k and he owes 90k you are short on equity to do a retail sale. You couldn't offer him 65k. There wouldn't be much equity. Then what do you do next? Could the property be a potential lease option or subject to deal and be a long term hold. In short that is why it is important to know.

Real Estate is a people business. Sometimes people can feel intiminadted if you tell them you are a investor. You want them to have a sence of comfort with you so they will tell you exactly whats going on with them and their situation. I've gotten alot furter with people playing the less professional role than a professional one. You want them to tell you what there needs are and in return you'll be you'll be able to be as problemsolver for the deal. After all this is what a investor is a problemsolver.

Here is a Article I read a while back. Good Luck

Don’t Sound Too Professional!

By Tony Reaves of YourLearningCenter.com


When I travel around the country investors always ask “How do you find great deals”?
During a recent For Sale By Owner Call Session one of our Students thought it would be a good idea to role play a potential call. The Fast Track Trainers and I considered role playing and then decided that there is nothing like the real thing. So the students began to examine their newspapers, selected For Sale By Owner ads and began to call homeowners who had advertised their houses for sale. At the end of such an exercise you will have gained some real life experience talking to homeowners and you may also acquire leads on houses to buy or wholesale. The Call Session resulted in several leads for our students and we learned some very valuable information about calling and speaking to homeowners who advertise their homes for sale. Our most valuable lesson was “Don’t Sound Too Professional”!.

During the For Sale By Owner call sessions we get together to do some sample calls and then we let the participants make as many live calls as they like, while we listen in the background for points they can improve upon. We did this one Saturday with several of our Students in The Fast Track Real Estate Training Program and some guests, if you missed it you missed some fun stuff and informative training. During this last session I came across some very surprising things. I would like to briefly recap some of those issues here:

#1 The first and most important is like the Title of this article says “Don’t Sound Too Professional! I heard this early on and it has worked for me very well too well almost natural some people say.

Listen the way you talk at work does not help you in real estate investing in dealing with single family home owners who decide to sell the house themselves. They already think they know it all, that is why after 4-6 months they still have the FSBO sign in their yard, have stopped running ads in the classified section of their local paper, are avoiding real estate agents and are just waiting for the phone to ring from a buyer who is qualified has the down payment and happened to be riding down their .dead end cul-de-sac.
People get talked down to all day at their jobs when it comes to their home and how it should be sold even professional real estate agents know you can’t bump heads with the homeowner it will get you nada. I try to leave my professional voice at the door when I make cold calls it does not impress anyone. Don’t sound ignorant but $8 & $10 dollar words do not help. ( i.e. advertisément, I called regarding, Creative financing, Seller Carry Back, Lese Options ) these are trouble words & concepts, use the KISS method.

A piece of advice from an old Investor, sound almost like you’re not sure of what your doing people’s natural reaction is to jump in and help. When people hear a long awkward pause they try to jump in to help you.

#2 Lastly and just as important, use the
darn script.. People had scripts they undoubtedly paid some guru for or borrowed from someone who did, but failed to follow it. It doesn’t matter to me whose script you use, just learn it and know it well, one of our students is practicing it in the mirror GREAT. I would practice on the phone with a seller not in the mirror but Real Estate Investing is flexible like that. The point is the script is your safety net use it, the words on them are simple $2 dollar words, 1-3 syllable words everyone understands and can afford

[AIR]

how about if he doesnt want to tell me how much he owes? Is there a way to find this out?

[Ceres]

you could go to the county records and get a idea what he bought it for. then again the county records may not tell you if he did a refi or it's paid off. Just ask him and if he doesn't want to tell you. Tell him I have numbers that I need to work with and I need to know if we can work something out. If he still doesn't want to tell you walk away and if hes motivated he'll stop you. Good Luck and give him a call.

John Y
cereshomes@earthlink.net

[AIR]

thanks man,

I plan to call him tomorrow. I just talked to my friend online and she said hes lookin for 140K and there are about 10 listings and they are all in the range of 160-180, looking good so far.....:thumbup:

[Ceres]

Did you build your web site? If so great job. One thing I would look at would be current sales and use acting listings as a competitive pricing point. The sales price of the units will give you the best comps for your unit to which you can sell it for. If that is your intention.

John Y.
cereshomes@earthlink.net

[AIR]

Yes I did build my website, thanks so much for the compliment. I am going to look at the condo 2night!!!

[Ceres]

Alright Air. You gotta tells us what happened. I hoped everything worked out or you learned something.


John y.
Cereshomes@earthlink.net

[AIR]

okay, so we looked at the condo 2night. It was very nice, the location is incredible! Not to my surprise he is asking more then my friend told me, I thought 140K he said 170K. Anyway heres the scoop, he has lived there for two years and recently lost his job because he is returning to school. He says he doesnt have a specific date which he has to move out but sooner would be better. He said he can afford the mortgage for a couple more months and if necessary he could borrow money from family. I am having my realtor friend do some research on it as we speak, what he bought it for, comps, rentals, etc. Once I get this information I plan to run the numbers and finally create a report for him showing the commission he would pay a realtor, carrying costs, avg time it take to sell, # of homes on the market in the condo area. If I dont purchase this property as an investment (since I think numbers might be tight, not to mention the downturn in the market) to rent I think it might be a good place for my girlfriend to live in. Anyway what do you think of my plan so far?

[Debbie]

If I dont purchase this property as an investment (since I think numbers might be tight, not to mention the downturn in the market) to rent I think it might be a good place for my girlfriend to live in. Anyway what do you think of my plan so far?

Oh Dear Goddess!

Sounds familiar guys? :SM105:

Air--Obviously, you don't need our approvals. You already asked for our opinions in your other thread. Other than your girlfriend part, the rest of the plan sounds decent. Good thinking process, Air!

[Ceres]

Wait till the money runs out. Let him know when he needs to sell to call you.

[AIR]

Wait till the money runs out. Let him know when he needs to sell to call you.

my thought exactly!!!!!!!!!!!!:SM086:

[AIR]

just an update... he got his job back and decided to keep the condo... BOO!

[shortsalesonly]

See now I totally hit it from a different angle I never go out and look at a house. People call me everyday telling me "you have to see this house" I ask them question "does it have a kitchen and doors and bedrooms and bathrooms?" and I get the same answer 100% of the time YES Then I tell them that is amazing I live in a house just like that...Is there a fax number or email address I can send an offer over to?" County records, sold comps, Appraisal will tell you what the property is worth.. SEND THEM A OFFER that fits in your guidelines. There is no need to go look at the property if the owner has no desire to look at your offer PERIOD. Every contract is contingent to Inspection and Appraisal PERIOD.. If the numbers don't work save your gas and your time. This is a numbers game the more offers you have out the more deals you will close. OH and make sure the seller pays for the inspection if it passes the inspection pay for the appraisal if not WALK or wholesale the deal. Look at it like this Banks only look at the appraised value and sold comps. So if they don't care to personally look at a property they are lending on I don't care to go either. After all its there money.
As far as don't act like a pro that is odd. Be strait to the point have fun and get the offer on the table.

Just my 2 cents,
Robert