How to Put Yourself in the Seller’s Shoes

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As a consultant with Cole Realty Resource, I speak with investors on a routine basis. And the most successful investors are able to not only find the best deals, but also able to connect with sellers and close them.

Why Do You Invest in Real Estate?

Think about it.

If you’re like most of us, you invest because it provides financial stability in an unstable financial world. It helps you provide for yourself and your family. It makes you money.

What if, on your next sales pitch, you put yourself in the seller’s shoes?

As it turns out, you both want pretty much the same things.

Selling a home can provide an extraordinary amount of financial relief. If there is any equity in a property, it can be used to pay off debt, provide for a college fund or medical need, add to retirement, or even allow for further investments.

Despite this advantage, some homeowners may be unaware of the potential financial relief that is waiting for them in the sale of their home. You could be the messenger that saves the day.

Start with the kind of information that you’d want to discuss if it were your property.

1. What the Property is Worth vs. What is Owed

There is a reason marketers use “What is my home worth?” as a way to capture contact information on social media and across the web. It works!

Home values can be confusing for homeowners since they aren’t experts in the market. They may not know how the condition of their home or the activity of the market affects their home’s value.

2. Can a Cash Sale be a Financial Lifeline?

Credit ratings can be a quick way to get an idea of how a home sale may benefit a potential customer. If they have a particularly low rating, they may be struggling with credit card debt, having a difficult time paying their bills, or working to pay off a greater debt (like student loans or medical debt) while ignoring other loans.

These same people may also have a decent amount of equity build-up in their homes. A glance at the home value versus what is owed can tell you if they are good candidates for an all-cash sale. Sometimes, even just getting them out of a mortgage they can’t afford is help enough.

Presenting these customers with the financial freedom that can come from the sale of a home could be the message they’ve been waiting to hear.

3. There’s an Easier Way

Similar to financial relief, stress relief can be a big factor in accepting a cash offer. Chances are, if they are struggling to make ends meet, they will not be able to afford improvements that may need to be made to meet lender requirements or pay for the fees associated with listing the home with a real estate agent.

An all-cash sale will also avoid appraisal or inspector fees, saving them the time, money, and hassle associated with keeping a house staged for as long as it takes to make the sale (which could be days, weeks, or even months).

You can put the financial power back into their hands by showing them the benefits they could reap if they sell their home. You can turn the tables by giving them the same financial stability you seek when you purchase a property.

While a multi-faceted, customer-centric approach like this can seem like more work, if you have the right tools, it’s really not. For example, Cole Realty Resource has a laundry list of facts about any given property, and all you need is an address. You can check specs like how much a property is worth and how much is owed, but it also gives you some information that is a bit more difficult to come by — like the credit rating of the homeowner.

Using programs like CRR to access this rich information can help build your list of benefits to a point where it might become unreasonable not to accept a cash offer.

Putting yourself in the seller’s shoes is powerful because it helps them feel at ease. Instead of feeling like a target or like it’s a stepping stone for you, they can feel like you’re on the same team because you see them as human beings.

When you are the one that leads them to the realization that financial empowerment is right around the corner, you improve your chances of adding another satisfied customer to your client base.

Try turning the tables, and you might be surprised how quickly you find yourself with a sale in hand.

Cole Realty Resource has a 70-year history of providing contact information (including cell phones and emails) for a specific property or entire neighborhood, which means more meaningful conversations about buying and selling real estate. Because of your relationship with BiggerPockets, you can now get access to unlimited home phones, cell phones and emails—all tied to a specific address and all at a discounted rate. To start getting contact info within minutes, click here.