Find Motivated Sellers

Using the right "list" to locate motivated sellers is "key" to your success!

Some of the best prospect lists to use would include ”out of town owners, lis pendens (pre-foreclosure), deed transfers (quit claim deeds) , delinquent taxes, zip codes or sale dates.

Every county is different and you’ll have to inquire as to how to get this information in your area. Many times, you can get all the info you need online. It depends on where you live.

There are many mailing list services like RealQuest and others that provide the information you need. Make sure that whatever list you’re using has "up to date" information. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time and money.

Out of town owners can be a good source for finding potential sellers. They are people that may have to be managing from a distance and unless they have a relative, friend or management company, they have a hard time dealing with the issues relating to being a landlord form a distance.

Lis Pendens is the legal term for an action filed against someone to begin a legal process for a legal resolution. Usually it’s a pre-foreclosure filing. These potential sellers are another good source for finding motivated sellers. If you approach these people with the right attitude, you can find yourself with some good deals.

Deed transfers are the legal exchange of ownership from one to another. Sometimes these are “quit claim deeds.” Divorce is one reason where the transfer of property from both of their names to just one can be found. Check your local court house for “quit claim” records. Another reason to quit claim a property is when a family member wants to give another family member their property for no money exchanged. A “quit claim” doesn’t always mean that you have a potential seller “waiting in the wings,” but, many times it may. You can also get lists of people who are newlyweds. You’ll be looking for situations where the bride owns a home, or both the bride and groom own a home and maybe they want to sell one or both and buy a home of their own together now.

Delinquent taxes are an indication that either someone has no further interest in a property or they don’t have the money anymore to keep paying in order to hold onto it. These people have a problem they need to solve and when they get your letter, they will see a way to solve it. You may have to go to your local court house to get this information on who’s behind or delinquent with their taxes. Every county has a “tax sale” where they offer these properties at a public auction after a predetermined amount of time of being delinquent, but you should track down the properties before they get close to the auction. This could be the best time to negotiate a deal with the seller because they will lose everything if the property goes to the auction. Get the list of tax liens available in your county.

Mail them a friendly letter saying you’re interested in buying properties in their neighborhood or area. When you first mail these letters don’t mention the seller’s tax problem. You could do this once a year and you’d be done with this list.

Other Potential sources are "death notices, liens and judgments and notices of bankruptcy." Most of these lists are available in the newspaper or at your local courthouse. These are all people with problems to solve who may want to sell a property do to a change in lifes circumstances.

This will give you a "jump start" if you're new to real estate investing.

If you work hard to do the things on this list, you will have success.

Like a good friend of mine always reminds me,... "Nothing worth having comes easy, but then, if it was easy, everyone would have success!"

Find out the 8 critical components that make a successful direct mail marketing campaign, and have motivated sellers begging to give you their houses... click here