Bird Dog

Hello everyone! I’m new and very interested in getting started. I just want to know what are some good questions to ask the seller so that it’ll be easy for the investor to come in and start to deal? All help are best. thanks

Great poll! Vote early, vote often!

What the heck happened to your poll? :shocked :biggrin

Check out this old posting I did on Birddogging and maybe it will help you out:

http://www.reiclub.com/forums/index.php/topic,31214.0.html

I wouldn’t worry so much about asking sellers questions as I would asking buyers questions. Buyers will dictate your pay and what you are looking for.

MUST Ask Questions, Do NOT Avoid or Skip

Try to avoid sounding like a real estate drone that has been to a seminar. This is where we make you sound like a pro. We need to teach you how to “Not waste your time”. Many, many times I have gone out to visit properties and not taken the time to ask the key questions that setup a contract signing when I get there. Why is it that I didn’t ask the questions? Very simple it was FEAR. Even the pros have fear that if they ask the tough questions they might be rejected.

Let’s say the phones haven’t been ringing and you haven’t had a sale in a little while and you really want something to happen. You might unconsciously leave out these questions just to get an appointment with a seller. If you just want the practice, fine, but don’t think for a minute you are conducting efficient business.

Just as your sale can fall apart at its weakest link, so will your purchases.

Questions you need to ask before you go to purchase a house:

  1. “I would be willing to offer you in the range of [$30k +/-] of your target.”
    They will only hear the high number but if you are in the range they will agree to an appointment. If your Realtor is making the offer, ask them to use the same strategy. During your appointment you will be able to find things wrong with the house to justify your offer. In general, if there was nothing wrong with the house they would be calling a Realtor, not you.

  2. “Are you the only person on the title?”
    Even if the tax rolls only show one person it is important to make sure it is indeed this person and there are no other people that will need to sign after they show up during a title search. Explain that you will be doing a title search to make sure everyone is in agreement.

  3. “I am coming out to sign a make a deal with you, is there anyone else that needs to be there to give you advice or for you to review everything with?”
    This will give them the opportunity to say that their wife, husband, son, their mother, attorney, etc. needs to review the contract before making a purchase. If they do need to review it with someone, tell them the following.

You: “John, with the amount of properties that I have to look at here on my desk, I can only afford to make one visit to see a property per transaction. During that visit I need to assess repairs, drive the comparable properties and finalize a purchase contract. If someone else needs to be there, when can we all get together?”

There are many other questions that you need to ask of the sellers, however, I like to specialize in giving you the 2% that will make the difference between long-term success and being another failed investor story.

Hope this helps,

Matt Gerchow
Currently Touring South America for 4-months

Thanks Matt, Keep up the helpful posts :biggrin