10 Quick Ways to Find Motivated Sellers

Posted In Finding sellers, Getting started, Marketing | 36 comments

Happy Monday folks!  Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend.  This week we’ll be doing a bit of follow up with leads from our calls last week, so I’m looking to have some great updates soon.  In the meantime, one of my new blog readers Britanny (Hi Britanny!) asked a great question which prompted this quick post.  Britanny is new to real estate investing and is starting off by being a bird dog (property scout) for another investor.  She was looking for some ideas on how to find properties.  So here are the first 10 quick ways that came to mind!

10 Quick Ways to Find Motivated Sellers

  1. Drive around neighborhoods looking for For Sale By Owner (FSBO) signs — knock on the door and talk to the owners! They have a sign on the front lawn and essentially are inviting you to contact them so don’t be scared!
  2. Drive around neighborhoods looking for vacant houses or even homes that may be obviously occupied but look like a hot mess!  Write down the addresses, make notes on the properties, and then head on over to your computer and look up the owners in the public records and contact them.  I’ve heard of people even leaving post-it notes right there on the door encouraging the owner to contact them.
  3. Make 1000 business cards and tell everyone you can about what you’re doing so you can get leads.  I’ve also seen people leave business cards in all kinds of interesting places and I’m sure you have too!
  4. Leave flyers at unemployment offices….a lot of people there could be having trouble with their homes and may need a solution
  5. Check the newspaper or your local “flyer” or PennySaver paper — yes, its an old school method but there could be old school sellers who use it when they need to sell. Doesn’t hurt to look since so many others are looking on Craigslist only!
  6. Speaking of Craiglist…use it. It’s free!  I’m personally yet to find a deal on Craigslist but I know plenty of people who have and I’m not giving up on it! Check out the Houses for Sale (by Owner) section as well as the Houses for Rent.
  7. Call the numbers on those For Rent signs around your city…talk to the landlords…they actually may consider selling.
  8. Referrals, referrals, referrals! Don’t forget referrals! (read my BiggerPockets article “Referrals: An Often Overlooked Way to Get Motivated Seller Leads” for more on this one)
  9. Buy leads from Listsource.com, USLeadsList.com, MelissaData.com or other sources and mail postcards or letters to them — there are a number of different motivated seller lead types that you can focus on!
  10. Be a walking billboard….have a nice polo shirt that says what you do! Or if its more your speed you can try a not-so-professional shirt and have an obnoxious attention grabbing t-shirt.  Different strokes for different folks!

Feel free to add your favorite ideas on how you find motivated sellers!

Have a rockin’ Monday and come back tomorrow for a book review that I think you’ll really enjoy! :-)

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Related posts:

  1. 7 sure-fire signs that your seller is NOT motivated
  2. Lessons from XBM: Zig Ziglar’s Wisdom and 10 Ways to Create New Belief

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Leave A Reply (36 comments So Far)

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  1. Scott Costello
    647 days ago

    hmmmm…I’m trying to think of even more ways…How about making offers on houses that are on the MLS? If they counter, that makes them a good lead :)


  2. Torrey
    647 days ago

    Great list Shae! Here is one to add, contact probate attorneys and see what they have for sale. I’ve picked up some great deals from this one source and usually they have more then 1 property to sell!! Thanks


  3. Omar Johnson
    647 days ago

    Shae,

    Here are some other creative ways to find motivated sellers. 1) Garage Sales 2)Abandoned Properties 3)Mail Carrier 4)Social Networking Sites 5) Housing Court 6) Bankruptcy Court


  4. Dave Peniuk
    647 days ago

    Great post Shae! We use almost all of those to find motivated sellers. To add to Scott’s point about using MLS….watch for consistent and fairly large price drops. For instance, if listed at $300k on June 1st, drops to $280k on June 20th, and again to $270k on July 1st, you may have found a motivated seller! Of course, it depends how “reasonable” the starting price was, but if it started close to market value and has dropped 5-10% below in less than 1 month, that may be a hot lead!

    Cheers


  5. Shae
    647 days ago

    @Scott & Dave, really great points on the MLS. I’ll also add to that…you can do some very specific searches on MLS comments…looking for words like motivated, estate, divorce, must sell, etc.

    @Torrey, awesome one! In fact, I’m adding that to my list of things to do :-)

    @Omar, hey! Nice to see you over here on the blog :-) Thanks for the additional ideas! Ya know…I never thought about garage sales. I guess the thinking is that if they are having a major sale, they may be moving?


  6. Bilgefisher
    647 days ago

    Shae,

    Even better then the reply. I’ll agree with MLS findings as well. Folks are already motivated, its just a matter of determining the level of motivation.

    Jason


  7. Shae
    647 days ago

    Thanks Jason! Your comment from my last post was exactly why I made this one :-) Congrats on getting your first house under contract too! That is awesome — really happy for you!


  8. Brian
    647 days ago

    I will use some of this in my real estate investing business.


  9. Julie Broad
    647 days ago

    Just wanted to say you rock Shae. This post is gold. So many great tips in here …


  10. Shae
    647 days ago

    @Brian, glad to hear it!

    @Julie, thanks! Thanks to all of the awesome ideas in the comments section, we can call it platinum. LOL! :-)


  11. Esi
    646 days ago

    You make a lot of good points Shae. I’ll just add sending letters to probates, online lead source like webuyhouses.com, and my favorite, landlords. Keep up the good work Shae.


  12. Shae
    646 days ago

    Great additions, Esi!


  13. Jonathan Blue
    643 days ago

    I think all the ideas Shae had were awesome and I use quite a few of them myself. Listen to this girl, she knows what she is talking about. I am the marketing coordinator for a Cincinnati real estate investor and I spend a lot of my time organizing and finding motivated buyers and sellers through any marketing avenues I can come up with. One of the very profitable ways I have found in finding motivated sellers is by contacting my local section * office and getting a contact list for all their landlords. A lot of these people are investors who are tired of renting and just want to make their money and move on and ifg you can offer them a fast alternative then you may make a sale. The other plus side is that many of these people are active investors and would be great contacts to keep on your buyers list. This is just one of the additional ways I quickly generate more motivated sellers.


  14. Shae
    643 days ago

    Hey Jonathan, thanks for the great additional ideas! The HUD/Section 8 office is definitely another source of possibly motivated landlords. I need to do this myself and add them to my absentee owner/landlord mail campaign. It’s easy to do!


  15. Carey_PA
    639 days ago

    Excellent post Shae. And I love, love, love the unemployment office idea. I never even thought of that. Awesome tip. Thanks!

    And I read the section 8 tip somewhere before..can’t remember where though? But I like that idea too!

    Also, just a list of landlords who just won judgments to evict their tenants! (maybe that’s what Omar meant by housing court though!)

    And I have to say that Torrey looks like a famous movie star…don’t you think?


  16. Shae
    639 days ago

    HA! Carey, I told Torrey the SAME EXACT THING! Ok…so here’s the question of the hour. Which famous movie star do you think he looks like?


  17. Bob Kent
    624 days ago

    Don’t forget to create your own ant farm of people finding properties for you, taking pictures of those properties and filling out property information sheets. Of course you would have to pay them for each completed property information sheet that they submit to you. I actually pay $10 per complete property information sheet.


  18. Shae
    623 days ago

    Great one, Bob! Thanks for the contribution!


  19. Shae
    619 days ago

    Just wanted to add this last comment….Brooks has a similar post on his blog that adds to the many great ideas already contributed.

    http://www.thesoutherninvestor.com/100-ways-to-get-real-estate-leads/


  20. Carey_PA
    588 days ago

    Btw, Shae…I know this is a total delayed reaction but he looks like Laurence Fishburne for sure.. No ifs, ands or buts about it!


  21. Joe McCormick
    525 days ago

    keep me posted of new ideas and what to use them for thanks joe


  22. jones
    259 days ago

    I read the section 8 tip somewhere before..can’t remember where though? But I like that idea too!


  23. Kelsey
    256 days ago

    Wow, thank you for making the effort of making this list. Very helpful. I bet good sales talk works with this too.


  24. Cring-Cring
    246 days ago

    I am the marketing coordinator for a Cincinnati real estate investor and I spend a lot of my time organizing and finding motivated buyers and sellers through any marketing avenues I can come up with.


  25. pineapple56
    245 days ago

    Wow, thank you for making the effort of making this list. Very helpful. I bet good sales talk works with this too.


  26. nayumigrante
    245 days ago

    I am starting a business like his.. This will be a great guide to accomplish my expectations.. Thanks for a great post!


  27. altaria
    233 days ago

    Congrats! It’s a great info that you share.. Thanks for the info! | :P


  28. Eunice
    231 days ago

    great post! I need to do this myself and add them to my absentee owner/landlord mail campaign. It’s easy to do!


  29. Felly
    231 days ago

    this ia a great effort that you made i wonder how i can made this lots of work.


  30. REginna
    224 days ago

    A lot of these people are investors who are tired of renting and just want to make their money and move on and if you can offer them a fast alternative then you may make a sale.


  31. jellyace5
    217 days ago

    A lot of these people are investors who are tired of renting and just want to make their money and move on and ifg you can offer them a fast alternative then you may make a sale.


  32. reelsteel06
    212 days ago

    I need to do this myself and add them to my absentee owner/landlord mail campaign. It’s easy to do! GREAT! | :P


  33. Ayahli
    211 days ago

    Great one, thanks for sharing…


  34. Coach Mitch
    202 days ago

    All ways to find motivated sellers are good. The best part is that you are seeking out sellers.

    The method I like best is getting a list of those who have not paid their property taxes. A tax delinquent list can have thousands of leads, and they all have one thing in common; they all have not or cannot pay their property taxes. I find that these folks are the most motivated of all motivated sellers.

    I explain here: http://coachmitch.com/2007/06/02/coach-mitchs-tax-delinquent-property-5-step-ridiculously-simple-system%E2%80%A6-%E2%80%9D-post-28/