We have talked about the art of creating a deal that works for the seller to take away their pain, but we have not talked about how we even find these sellers in the first place. Time and experience have taught us that when we want to create a winning deal for the buyer and seller that it's always best to be working directly with the seller and avoiding real estate agents as much as possible.
Why would we say that we want to avoid working through real estate agents, when 80% of people tend to sell their homes through a real estate agent? The answer is quite simple really. A real estate agent is motivated by three things. Listings, Sales and Commissions. The more stock they have, the greater the chance they have of selling one of the many listings they may have.
In a slow market, sellers who have an urgent need to sell don't normally have the time sell through a real estate agent. In many cases, they don't have enough equity to pay the real estate agents commissions, so it's not worth their while anyway.
So how do you reach these sellers to be able to work with them in the first instance? We have found that the most effective way to find these sellers it to go directly to the source.
We have found the three best ways to do this as follows:
1. Run a continual classifieds advertisements in your local paper, under the Houses Wanted section, educating the seller of your Fast Home Buying Service.
2. Target the areas that interest you and do a small to medium sized flyer run in that area. Use attention grabbing headlines like ?We Buy Your Home Today? and under this, add some bullet points that show problems that you can fix.
3. Drive around the area and make note of homes that have been for sale for over two months, and write directly to the seller, informing them of your Home Buying Service, and to contact you if their real estate agent does not find anyone to buy their home.
The above three methods generate phone calls. We know this from experience. This creates a serious sales funnel that can be repeated over and over again. You must always be asking yourself the question ?How Do I Make Money From This Deal??. It's easy to get caught up in the "Solution Man" mentality and try to help everyone that calls, but you will only end up wasting the seller's time and yours, if you don't qualify each seller and tell them up front if you can or can't help them.
If the numbers don't work, tell the seller right away, and if possible, make some suggestions that could be an alternative for them. This way, you may have been able to provide them with some alternatives that could help them, even if you can't make money on the deal. We have even given some sellers the phone numbers of similar companies, just in case they have a way of helping the seller when we could not help.
When you are talking to the sellers and you have identified that you can help them, its best to sound them out on the styles of deals that you might be able to work with them on. If they sound open to these ideas, then you should make the appointment with the view of putting a winning deal together.
By following the above methods over and over again, you will have an endless supply of motivated sellers and no shortage of homes to purchase with the most flexible terms available. Your income streams for the homes you buy are endless as well. In the articles to follow, we will talk about creating winning deals for tenants who would like to share the equity in these deals or even enter into a rent to buy option to help the tenant become a home owner over time.
There are 2 programs that can help especially if
1.) you live in another country and do not have any credit here in America.
2.) you live here but do not have any legal status
First Lets talk about the buyers that are currently living in other countries. If this is you then you are considered a Foreign National and as such there are certain items you need to have in order to purchase a vacation home or rental property here.
This loan requires 10 to 25% down depending on what country you are from as well as the following:
a. you need a passport and a visa that allows you to come here at varying times(if your country does not need a visa to come here then you require a "cedula de identidad" or other government issued ID).
If your country does require a visa to enter the U.S. but you do not have one then you can still purchase but only as an investor(slightly higher down payments and interest rates)but the other requirements are the same.
b.You will require 1-2 letters of banking reference with English translation, showing a 2 year relationship. You only require 1 letter if your bank is an international one or has a presence in the United States.
Can be a U.S. bank or Foreign bank
c. credit report if you have U.S. credit but must try to pull a international credit report for their country. If no credit reporting in the country that is fine but you will need a credit letter from someone you have had credit with for at least 2 years.
d. verification of funds to complete the transaction plus 3-6 months of mortgage payments in a bank here or in their country.
e. an accountants letter from their country, on accountants letterhead reflecting the income of the person for the previous 2 years, % ownership of any business they own-or- a letter from the borrowers employer if they are not self employed al income must be converted to U.S. dollars.
f.contract, appraisal and all other required documents for a purchase transaction .
2. If they are already living in America the best thing to do is to apply for a Tax ID number (TIN) from the IRS, pay taxes for 2 years and then you qualify for a non resident type of mortgage from several banks that do TIN mortgages.
They require 5-10 % down payment and:
a. proof of income in the U.S. If cannot prove income then need larger down payment and must be in a job that typically pays cash.
b. proof of income tax paid for 2 years
c. proof of credit in U.S. including utility bills, car insurance, cell phone etc. that have been paid monthly for approximately 2 years.
As you can see it is not as difficult as previously thought and if you want to buy a home here there are ways to make that dream a reality.
If you want to be an investor, the same rules apply but down payment requirements are higher.
Buy American especially if you are from a country where the dollar is weaker such as the Europe and now Canada as you may actually be able to buy for less than in your own country.
Both Dallas Kelso & Keith Junor are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Dallas Kelso has sinced written about articles on various topics from Real Estate, Mortgage and Heart Conditions. Dallas & Kerrie Kelso are experts with helping you to ! Regardless of the reason for selling, they have many pro. Dallas Kelso's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.
Keith Junor has sinced written about articles on various topics from Property Investment, Real Estate and Marketing. Keith Junor is a Licensed Realtor and Mortgage Broker in Florida with 17 years experience. He authors a Blog at that giv. Keith Junor's top article generates over 40500 views. to your Favourites.