How To Reach Motivated Sellers Who Need To Sell

Direct marketing is one of the fastest ways of locating great real estate investing deals by targeting motivated sellers. This article will walk you through how to reach that all-elusive motivated seller, get his attention and close the deal. 1)  Target motivated sellers  A motivated sellers is someone who is desperate to sell their house. They must sell it to get out of a financial situation.  They could be behind in their mortgage payments, facing foreclosure, or they know they cannot afford more payments. Motivated sellers are more than willing to negotiate and leave a profit margin for you.  Often the houses must be repaired before they can be sold, making them hard to sell.  Such properties are best bought by real estate investors. So the first thing you need to do is target these motivated sellers and get a targeted mailing list.  The best way to do this is looking for people in  legal trouble who own real estate. Such people could be going through divorce, have inherited property, have bad tenants, are making more than one mortgage payment, are facing liens, etc.  Public records are the best sources of this information.  People with expired properties from the MLS have been trying to sell unsuccessfully, and could become motivated sellers.  You may need to work with a Realtor to get these mailing lists. I always target people who have owned the properties for at least 10 years, meaning they have possibly accumulated equity on their house. 2)  Get a real estate investor website and phone number:  Before you start your marketing, you must get a real estate investor website and a phone number. The real estate investor website must be able to pre-educate and pre-screen motivated sellers so that when they submit their information to you, it takes you a few minutes to tell whether it is a deal or not. Some people will call, others will submit their information quietly from the privacy of their computer.  A website will save you lots of time because it tells your story before you ever talk to them and pre-screens and pre-negotiates deals for you. And it does this at no extra cost for you.  When you pre-screen them on the phone, you spend lots of time even for deals that cannot work.  This can wear you out pretty fast. A good real estate investor website is  recommended at the end of this article. 3)  Send out your mail pieces My most preferred method of reaching motivated sellers is post cards.  I get them from overnightprints.com.  The key is a postcard that commands instant attention and delivers your message direct and brutal.  I like the We Buy Houses, Get Cash For Your House, etc. You only have 10 seconds to deliver this message or it goes to trash.  My cards are brightly colored and glossy and impossible to miss.  Make sure your web address is prominent so you send them to your website instead of the phone.  Of course you must provide a phone number because some will still call.  Two postcards 30 days apart should be enough. People who have inherited property get a series of personal, sympathetic letters once a month for 6 months during the probate process.   4)  Close the deals  Next step is to follow up through closing if it is a deal. Simon Macharia is a real estate investor buying and selling houses in Dallas, Texas. Learn how an interactive real estate investor website can help you automate your real estate investing while pre-screening and pre-negotiating with motivated sellers for you. Visit http://www.realestateinvestorswebsites.net for more information.