What do YOU Say To The Homeowner?

Once you have established that a homeowner is ready to sell or dispose of their property, now it is time to start getting the necessary information to begin the process of a short sale.

The next question you will ask the homeowner (remember this initial contact is most usually over the telephone) is:

“Will you be willing to sell the property for what you owe?”

If the answer is “YES”, then you keep going.  If it’s “NO”, then you want to find out from them some more information about the property and at some point you will ask them how much above what they owe are they willing to accept.

If the homeowner is not willing to sell it for what they owe, then you need to find out some more details about it:

• How much above what you owe will you sell it for?  Don’t be worried about unrealistic numbers.  Just accept their number and move on.  You won’t be able to tell them a good number until you’ve gotten more information.

• What will the house appraise for?

• What repairs does the house need?

• How many payments are you behind?

• What’s your interest rate?

• How much are your monthly payments?

• Who is your lender?

• How old is the house?

• How long have you lived there?

• Have you made any repairs or updates to the house since you have moved into it?  If the answer is “NO” and they’ve lived there a long time, then the answer to this question is going to be “YES” even if they stated “NO”!

• What is the square footage?

• Does it have a garage?

• Does it have a basement?

• What is the size of the lot?

• Is the house currently vacant?  If not, how soon will you be moving?

• Is the insurance up to date or do you have force placed insurance? Force placed insurance is placed on a property when a homeowner fails to keep it insured.  The lender will then put insurance on it and that insurance is typically 2-3 times higher.

• Is it listed?  Can the listing be cancelled?  How long have you had the listing?

• When is the foreclosure date?

• Why did you call me?  Here, is where you are looking for their motivation.

• What are your needs?  What are you looking to do?

Once you get all this information, then you can set an appointment date and time to actually meet the homeowner in person.