Vicki Irvin-Maryland Real Estate Investing-Vicki Irvin

13 – Motivated Sellers, Part 1- Maryland Real Estate Secrets
Vicki Irvin
Lloyd Irvin
The Real Estate Investment Queen

Half the battle in finding property bargains is judging the seller. In today’s market you not only have to know what the realistic price for a property is, you have to find a seller who is motivated enough to accept that price.

TIP: Typically most sellers have dollar signs dancing in their heads after having read how far prices have advanced in recent years. Unfortunately, many take projections of future value and bring them into the present. They truly believe that their house is worth today what it might be worth in a few years. Don’t cater to their false beliefs.

Thus, in order for you to get a bargain price you need to find a seller who is forced to look at prices as they are, not as they will be, or as he or she hopes they may be. There are at least six good seller motivations to look for:

1. The seller is making a job change to a different area, necessitating a rapid move.

2. The seller has bought another home and has to quickly sell this one in order to close the deal on the next.

3. The seller has lost his or her job or for other reasons is in financial difficulty and needs to get out quick.

4. The seller wants to “move up” to a bigger house or to a better area. (This is usually a low motivation.)

5. The seller has some other problem such as a divorce and simply must get rid of the house immediately.

6. For one reason or another the seller can’t make the payments on the property and must sell soon or lose it.

TIP: The best motivations involve speed. The quicker a seller must act, the more motivated he or she will be.

In each of the above cases the seller must get out. As a result, he or she will be more willing to accept a realistic price (or offer better terms) because of that motivation. However, unless the seller has one of the above motivations (or one of similar intensity), your chances of getting the house at a bargain price may be just about nil. Without motivation the seller will simply sit and wait for a better buyer to come by.

How do you find out what the seller’s motivation really is? Most sellers believe as a cardinal rule in selling real estate that you should always keep up the best front. That’s the way to get your price. If you let a potential buyer know you’re motivated, you’ll get a lower offer. So, how do you, as a buyer, find out which sellers are highly motivated? The answer is simple. Motivated sellers always tell you they are motivated!

Why would a seller break the cardinal rule? The reason is that highly motivated sellers want out, now. They realize that it’s no longer a matter of waiting to get the best price; they just want to sell.

Most very quickly realize that keeping their need to get out to themselves won’t do the trick anymore. The only way they can get out is if they let every potential buyer, everyone who is even remotely a potential buyer, know their situation.

As a result, it’s not a secret. If the house is listed, ask the real estate broker. A highly motivated seller will instruct the broker to “Find any buyer. Tell them that I’m highly motivated! Get me any offer!”