First of all, I'm absolutely not talking about going around always smiling, always being happy-go-lucky, thinking positive that the glass is half full. Of course you need to have a good mindset, a positive attitude and that kind of thing, but I'm not talking about singing kumbaya and holding hands when you're looking at houses.



What I'm talking about is the outlook and today we are going to focus on having the right attitude when speaking with sellers. There's a certain attitude that you have and air that you must have around you when you're talking to sellers. Let's face it, we're trying to get them to do something.

First off, if your seller is difficult. If they're difficult in any way they're probably the wrong seller. You do not want to deal with someone who is looking to get full price on their house. We are looking for the low hanging fruit. we're looking for motivated sellers. But sometimes you have to sway them a little bit. Let's face it, deals are not always found, in a lot of cases deals are made and your mindset is going to help.

Your attitude should be, even if you're a newer investor, your attitude has to be ?I'm a real estate investor.? Yea, that seems like common sense to many of us, but your attitude has to be with those sellers, ?I am a real estate investor. Mr. Seller, Ms. Seller, I know you have an issue right now but I am here to solve that problem.? You have to look them in the eye, price them high, and watch them buy. That's what's going to get you the deals. You have to have confidence in yourself and in many cases you're going to have to fake it until you make it.

If you go in and let these sellers know ?I really want to be a real estate investor when I grow up, and someday I know I get a deal!? you're not going to get a deal. Your attitude must be ?I've done plenty of these deals.? You do not have to say it and you don't have to lie about it, but they can feel it if you have the right attitude while you're meeting with them and there's a lot of confidence in your voice. You have to fake it until you make it.

You've got to be the one, first off, asking the questions. This goes for on the phone as well as in person. The one posing the questions is the one in control. You do need to be the one asking the questions. Because if you're on the phone with them and they're asking all the questions and you're only answering, you're not getting anywhere. You're following their agenda. They are pulling you down their street instead of you pushing them down your own.

Now, there isn't anything wrong with them asking questions: As a matter of fact you can destroy your credibility if you won't answer their questions, so you do have to give them that opportunity. But the ideal way to do it is answer their question and follow it up with a question of your own, which gets them moving more in your direction.

So they ask a question regarding a sub-to deal, ?What happens if you don't make my payments?? And I answer, ?Mr. Seller, if I don't make them, then the house would be foreclosed. Then all my work, all my time, and all my money that went into this house would be lost. Now, what's the least you would take if we were going to pay you in cash or if we were going to take over your payments in the next 30 days?? So you answer their question and then you ask a question of your own.

Practice in your everyday life. This will make it easier to do when you're talking to sellers, especially if it is not typically how you communicate. Your wife asks if you'd like to see a movie this weekend. You answer yes, you would, and follow up with a question regarding where to go to dinner. Just getting in the habit of answering a question and then asking one, thus regulating the conversation, will help you when talking with a seller.

And you know, it's tough to do so you might want to practice within your daily life. If your wife asks you if it's okay to make a frozen pizza for dinner tonight, answer yes and then follow up with what you'll watch on television tonight or something goofy like that. Just get in the habit of answering a question and then asking a question, and, like I said, it will become habit. So be in control and ask the question.

Another part of your attitude has to be everybody's doing it. When you're talking to them, let's face it, we're proposing something to these sellers that in most cases they've never heard about. Now if we're proposing a cash buy or we're wanting to lease it from them, that's not really untraditional.

But when we're proposing a subject-to deal or maybe an option deal where we want to get an option on their pretty house and hopefully get a buyer, it's something most people haven't heard of, but you have to give the impression and have the attitude that everybody does it. ?It's something that's absolutely normal, Ms. Seller, and I'm shocked you've never heard of somebody giving their house away and letting them make the payments.? So you must come across like it is something we do all the time, it's normal in the business and has happened many times. And, in my case, I tell them ?We've done this many, many times? and I'll actually show them a list of the houses that we've done it with in my presentation portfolio. I'm actually going to have an episode about how to make a portfolio.

You need to have the outlook, confidence, and air about you that this is something normal, whatever it is you're asking for.

One thing is: I know some of you are new, and nervous, and don't know what to say.

First off, get a script. If you put a script in front of you it's going to help you a lot better get through that phone call. Even today everyone that works for me and myself when I talk to a seller on the phone, I have somewhat of a script in front of me. So, have a script. You would not take a trip half way across the country without figuring out what roads you are going to take first. So have a script.

I know it sounds like a stupid thing to say, but I'm sure there are some of you that do not have scripts out there and you're just sort of hoping you say the right thing. Now, by having a script, it's going to help you become more confident and yyou're not going to come off as anxious.

And let me mention this, I was speaking with my good friend Charles Dudley who is a very, very successful investor on the east coast, and he practices adding and's, uh's, and um's and things like that into the conversation so he doesn't sound too practiced. You don't want to sound like a big ?wheeler-dealer? kinda person because they just might not trust you for some reason.

You don't want to seem stupid either, but if you feel that you come off too polished, perhaps throw a few pauses in and do not be afraid to tell someone you don't know. You want to come off as an average guy like them, but you're in a place to help them out in a deal.

In any case, don't show your nerves as you're going through this. And, granted, although you have a script, that seller does not have one. So they don't always say what we want them to say, they don't always answer the way we planned on them answering. In any case, they don't have any clue what you should have said. So if you made a mistake, who cares? Keep on going. They don't know you messed up. They have no idea you said the wrong thing or you're at the wrong section of the script, so keep going.

Remember, we work with motivated sellers. We get the low hanging fruit. Moreover, we shake the tree and let the fruit fall into our hands. So if we're working with people that the way we say something is going to make or break the deal, we're not working with the right person. When you gotsomeone that says basically, ?Mr. Buyer, I'll do almost anything to sell this house,? those are the people that we want to find. And if you're not finding enough of those, and I'm guilty of this myself, in many cases, you're not marketing enough or your marketing isn't right, so get your marketing in place.

Anyways, you have to know that when you make a mistake, the sellers have no idea that you messed up unless you start getting all goofy, fumbley, and all sweaty. You can't have an attitude like you're selling something-you're not selling anything. That's why we call the person with the house that calls us or that we're calling back; we call them the seller because they are selling us. Never get the mindset that you have to talk them into something. Your attitude should always be ?I have the best thing around, the best thing since sliced bread. I got the answer to your problem, Mr. and Mrs. Seller. You just need to follow me down the yellow brick road and you're going to end up in Oz and I'm going to have your problem. I'm going to take your problem from you, if you allow me.?

So you have to be sure that you're not trying to convince them of anything. They're trying to talk you into buying the house. That's the attitude that should be overwhelming on that phone call: that they're calling you, you're asking them questions, and they're hoping ?Oh man, I hope this guy can help us out of this situation: We have this house, we can't make the payments anymore, we're getting a divorce, we're making two payments, there's a foreclosure happening, grandpa died.? Whatever it could be.

You have to have the mindset and make the whole feeling of that call that they're talking you into something. So you should be saying lines like you know ?We are looking at a lot of house right now. If your house qualifies it might be something we can work with.? The word ?If? is a magic word in this business when talking with sellers.

Your attitude should never be like ?Oh my gosh I'm so happy to be talking with you, Mr. Seller, this is a so wonderful!? Even if in the back of your head you're thinking, ?Ca-ching! This is a $50k deal.? You don't want to let them know that. You don't want to come off that way. You always want to have the attitude that they are selling you. Let them talk you into buying that house from them and they will feel much better about it. If you just jump at it, they will think it's too easy. You have to always make them feel like they did their job, that they won by convincing you to buy that house, coming to look at it, or signing the contract. So use the if word a lot.

One of the things that is quite harmful in this business is desperation. I know, some of you are new at this, and you want that deal like you want air. You have had a few contracts signed, none of them went through, and you realize you can make it in this business if only you can get that first deal done. You can't let them know that. You can't have that attitude. Your attitude has to be, ?This is just another day in the office. We do this regularly and have lots of people who want us to buy their houses. We're looking at a lot of properties right now, and signing a couple contracts. If yours is one that we choose, maybe we can help you out of this situation.?

There have been times where I have talked to people on the phone and I know that the deal is a home run, but I have to remind myself during the call to slow down. When I get off the phone I celebrate because I know I just got one.

But in any case, never show desperation. Let them know they should be desperate. They should be desperate to work with you, not you be desperate to work with them. You have to have smell confident through that phone or in person. Confidence has to ooze out of you. Now, not cockiness, but confident. You have to act like a professional and like you can get rid of their problem. Turn it around so they're the ones begging you, they're the ones that are desperate and need you. Really, they do, especially today because there are so many houses out there. Don't be afraid to remind them that there are so many houses out there.

It's so easy, it's so funny, all we do is take their money. I love it.

A few reminders: Be sure you get on our free membership list. We're giving a bunch of freebies out. Those on the list will get a free membership when the site kicks off. You are going to get free leads, free reports, free videos?more things than just watching me every couple days sitting here flapping my jaws.

Stick with us, keep in touch, and watch what's going on. We have flipping live every month. We had a great one last time with a special guest answering lots of questions for folks. We have the RE Insider getting kicked off soon where we will be doing long interviews with special guests who are going to be giving really good, knowledgeable training, all for free if you're a member. If you want to be a guest on the show, if you're a trainer or have a real estate product, I'd love to interview you, have you be a guest on the show. We can work together and partner on some things.

Also email me questions. Real soon we're going to start an episode right here on REI-TV.com where we answer your questions for an entire episode.

Flippinhelp@gmail.com. Send me some questions there and we'll have a whole show to give you answers.

I hope this was good. Remember, have a positive, make sure you give the right impression to these people, and let them know that you're there to help them. Let them sell you.

Now go make an offer.