I once had a call from an out-of-state owner telling me that he wanted his house sold by the weekend.  It was Wednesday.  When I told him that could be done for the right price he asked me to fax the listing papers.  We had the house sold by the weekend.

He was a MOTIVATED SELLER.

Some sellers are not motivated.  How do you know they aren’t motivated?  Here are a few clues.

• The house has been on the market for 600 days with no price reduction.
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• They don’t want to show the house today…how about next week?
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• It’s still a mess, even though they had a 24 hour notice for showing.
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• You make a good offer which they reject with no counter.
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• When you show up to the house you are greeted with a snarling pittbull

On the other hand, there are sellers who are very intent on getting their house sold.  A motivated seller will always try to find a way to make a transaction work.  They won’t balk about a $2,000 difference between the offered price and asking price .  They will make the reasonable repairs to get the deal done.  They will even change their plans to move early to help a buyer out.

How do you find these motivated sellers? 

• Sometimes you can tell immediately by the price.  If a new listing comes on at 10% below the competition you know that is a motivated seller.  Buy the place for the asking price before someone else does.  That seller will be a willing partner throughout the transaction.
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• Sometimes the listing will say “motivated seller”…that’s a good hint.    Actually, that seller often owes more on the loan than the house is worth.  The seller is motivated but not able to do anything about the price.
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• It’s been on the market a while with a recent price reduction.  This seller is still serious about selling, but is trying to find the right price.  Make them an offer.
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• It is owned by a relocation company, or is a foreclosure.  These people are going to sell…period.  But they aren’t going to give the property away.  Read this on foreclosures. 
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• It’s a divorce sale.  They need to sell so that they can get on with their lives.
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• Last, but not least, get my MOTIVATED SELLERS LIST.   I  go through the MLS system and actually read the listings to see if it’s a Relo, Foreclosure, Divorce etc.  I also include those that have been on the market a long time but have had recent price reductions.  Occasionally a realtor will call and ask to have a house on that list because their seller is genuinely motivated.

Just drop me an email by clicking on my contact button.  Ask to receive the motivated sellers list. I just updated it.  There are 43 homes on the list right now. 

And here is a bonus that didn’t make the list.  This guy is really motivated.  He has only been on the market 10 days and has lowered his price three times already.  Click here to see the listing, call me to get in.  My cell phone number is 232–7900.