In providing real estate training, I’ve been asked many times by agents, „How do I get short sale listings?“ Well, there’s more than one way to get them. Right now, I’m only going to focus on, perhaps, the easiest way there is to get short sale listings.
The answer is working your database of people you know for distressed home owner referrals. Since you have a relationship with your database it’s much easier for those in your database to trust you enough to refer distressed homeowners to you. The people in your database already have relationships with those they know that are struggling with their mortgages. They’ve done that work for you already. Doing this is more effective than other methods of getting short sale leads because you end up contacting fewer people before you get a short sale listing.
So, why is that? When you contact a distressed homeowner directly, they automatically have a thick wall around them that you have to break down before they will even start to listen to your message, no matter how great your message actually is for them.
So, here’s what you’re going to do to actually carry this out. First, seek distressed homeowner referrals from your past short sale clients, even if you haven’t contacted them in a while. Second, since there are so many distressed homeowners, make sure a good portion of the content you’re sending to your database is related to struggling homeowners. This can be information on foreclosure prevention seminars, tax and legal ramifications of foreclosure and short sales, bits and pieces of the foreclosure and/or short sale process, and what ever else you can think of.
Make sure you keep the info you send short and focused on one thing at a time. This way you’ll always have useful content to send your database over time. Don’t forget to always direct the person to share the info with someone they know who can benefit from it. Your goal is to relate that you are the source of relief for distressed homeowners. Convey that you know the answers and you know how to get answers. Also, make sure to share with them if you’re pre-foreclosure or short sale certified. This can be in an email or phone conversation by saying, „Did you know I have a Pre-foreclosure Specialist Certification? The reason I’m telling you is so you know who to refer your friends and family to if they’re struggling to pay their mortgage. I counsel homeowners with accurate information so they can make the best choice.“
You see, your approach is not to tell someone to sell their house right off the bat. Most distressed homeowners don’t want to sell their home as a solution to their problem and if you want people to refer others to you they also need to know that you’re not going to tell others, right off the bat, to sell their home. If you’ve given good info, the distressed homeowner will usually make the decision to sell their home on their own without persuasion from you.
You want to convey to your database that you’re a knowledgeable distressed homeowner consultant. Doing these things will educate and prepare your database to give you referrals of distressed homeowners. You’ll have more appointments, get more listings, and help more people. I’ll have more real estate training for the appointment with a distressed homeowner in another article.
Immobilienmakler Heidelberg Makler HeidelbergSource by Mike Pollak