Selling Houses Fast (Part 2)
by Ron LeGrand
The first step to success in buying and selling is locating prospects. Without
potential buyers it's very hard to sell houses. Frankly, an ad in the newspaper
should be enough to attract plenty of prospects if you know how to write the ad
and where to put it.
I can't turn this into an ad-writing course, but any ad that gets prospects to
call is a good one. Any ad that doesn't is a bad one, or it's in the wrong
publication. Make sure your ad gives the prospect a reason to call. Try to
include a USP (Unique Selling Proposition): What can you offer that everyone
else isn't?
For example:
Lease Purchase
No Qualifying Owner Financing
No Bank Qualification
No Money Needed
Easy Terms
Owner Will Help
Will Accept Anything On Trade
No Down Payment
You Get A Car With The House, etc.
Some students use flyers distributed in newspapers and don't run ads. Others use
a lot of signs, referrals, mail outs, the Internet and electronic voice
broadcast.
We'll cover all these in the Selling Houses Fast Boot Camp, but the key is to
make sure you keep a good flow of leads coming in until the house is sold. Where
most people fail is how they handle these leads once they come in.
That, my friend, will receive a lot of attention at the boot camp. It's by far
the weakest link in the chain. Leads must be prescreened properly and the good
ones worked daily. Out of any batch of leads will usually come some qualified
ones. Maybe not with a credit, but qualified if you're flexible as we discussed
in the last issue. What I look for most, are people who love the house and are
excited about owning it. Give me that and a little something to work with and
I'll get them in it.
8. No Follow- Up System in Place
Why do some folks insist on doing the same job several times when it can be done
once? If you're not building a buyer's list of some kind you must love
punishment. It's simple. If you have more buyers than houses, you don't run ads,
send flyers, mail letters or any of that other stuff. You pick up the phone and
call the prospects you've prescreened from the last time and tell them about
your new house.
Why is that so hard? It looks to me like it's easier to suffer the pain of
creating a buyer's list once, rather than talking to dozens of prospects from
ads every time you get ready to sell. You don't have to be an organizational
wizard to enact a little follow up. Hey, a pile of prescreened buyers on the
corner of your desk with no separation or filing system is better than nothing.
Sounds like my system. No, that's not true. At least I put them in a file
folder. Then I misplace the folder, but I always know it's close by (somewhere).
9. Functional Obsolescence
This one is a house problem, not a people problem. You usually can't fix this
and shouldn't buy if it's present. That way you won't have trouble selling.
Here are some things that come to mind:
- Extremely small rooms
- Bathroom off the kitchen
- Walk through bedroom to get to the only bath
- Low ceilings (under seven feet)
- House added-on unprofessionally
- Strange layout that can't be fixed
- Adjacent to odors, commercial property, school or anything else that makes it
undesirable
- Bad or no foundation
That's just a few of the things I can think of now. Note: Sometimes you can
correct this and sometimes you can't. If you don't see a way, simply pass.
10. House is Very Small
I guess this is also functional obsolescence, but it's very common. Any time a
house has less than 1,000 square feet I get cautious. I've learned that houses
under 900 square foot are usually hard to sell and there's not much you can do
but keep looking for a small family of 1 or 2 people. I'm not saying they won't
sell. I'm just saying they're harder. I've probably done 200 houses below 1,000
square feet.
I think I own 3 or 4 now. I guess that verifies there is a buyer for every
house. If I can buy them cheap enough, I'll still do some today. But I know
going in they may take a little longer to sell.
11. Salesperson Loses Control of the Loan Process
You must remain in control from the moment you buy the house until you get a
check. That includes the loan process. You decide who does the loan, who
appraises the house, who gets the survey and termite report and who closes. You
are also in charge of speeding up the loan.
Yep! You, not your lender. You should check in every few days, push for results
and round up missing paperwork. If you don't, the close will drag on forever.
Would you allow your boss to hold your paycheck for 2 to 3 weeks until he
decides to pay you? That's exactly what you're doing when you let a loan
processor jerk your chain. So, the next time you lose a buyer because he didn't
close quick enough, go to your bathroom mirror and cuss out the person
responsible.
The last time I lost a buyer two days before closing, it was because God told
them not to buy. If I'd been two days earlier, maybe I wouldn't have been
competing with God. Oh well. Six weeks later I sold the house for $3,000 more
than the first buyer. Maybe I wasn't competing with God after all.
12. House is Located Too Far Away from the City
That's an easy one. Don't buy it. Unless you want to create a lot of driving
time so you can listen to more of my tapes. Frankly, I don't buy anything I
intend to retail that's more than 30 minutes from my office. Of course I know
for some of you in big cities that's about three blocks away. Hey, you can
always move.
13. House is in High Price Range Where Few Buyers Can Afford
Actually, sometimes that has no bearing because the upper market is hot. If it
is, the high value is not an excuse for a slow sale. The problem is elsewhere on
this list. But in smaller cities where a $500,000 house is the mansion, you can
certainly expect it to take much longer.
All that just makes a case for you to not guarantee monthly payments on big
loans. Unless you're a sadist and looking for pain you shouldn't try to outguess
the market. Don't count on a high priced house selling quickly just because you
like it. Remove the risk, give yourself time and you'll discover the big ones
sell just like the little ones, but hopefully with a lot more profit.
Caution
You'd better make sure you have a large spread on those big babies. Buyers of
$500,000 homes are more sophisticated and more apt to ask for a price reduction.
The good news is these folks can usually qualify for a loan, and the majority of
the sales are all cash. Owner financing and lease purchase just doesn't have the
sizzle it does on the lower end. That doesn't mean it's not used, only not as
often.
14. Only One Bath
I've sold hundreds with only one bath but it's not my preference. Cheap houses,
not a problem. Houses above $80,000 - $100,000, it's very difficult. For houses
much above $100,000 it's almost impossible. People who can pay more, want more.
If you can't add a bath you may wish to consider not buying if you feel it's
important to the sale.
I have never added a room on the house to add a bath. The only time I have added
a bath I've used the existing structure. That should cost you no more than
$1,500 - $2,000. Trying to sell a 4-bed/1-bath house ain't easy. Selling a
3-bed/1 bath is okay as long as the house is small. Selling a 2-bed/1 bath is
the norm and buyers will expect it.
Well, that's about it. I won't guarantee that every problem you'll run into is
on this list, but chances are, the next time you're having trouble selling a
house, if you'll take a good look at this list, I bet the problem is in it. If
you do run into something out of the ordinary that I've not discussed here, drop
me a line.
In the meantime, remember that there are no real problems, just solutions. And,
very often, when you do run across a problem property, there's hidden profit
there for someone who knows the answers and can create a solution.
Bio:
Ron LeGrand is a nationally recognized real estate expert and trainer with 25
years experience in both residential and commercial properties and a 20 year
history of hard money lending and brokering. His experiences include personally
buying and selling over 1,600 single family houses and completing over
$300,000,000 in Commercial Property deals with student partners all over
America.
He’s obtained current real estate developments across America with market values
exceeding two billion dollars, all under his control. His properties include
office buildings, industrial, commercial, mixed use and residential land
development, luxury condominiums, marinas, etc.
Mr. LeGrand is a highly sought after platform speaker whose addressed audiences
as large as 20,000 and as small as 100 in hotels and convention centers across
North America, sharing the stage with leaders such as Donald Trump, Robert
Kiyosaki, Rudy Giuliani, Tony Robbins, Larry King, Dr. Phil, Suze Orman, and
many others. For the last 20 years he’s been helping thousands of ordinary
people take their lives back and create financial freedom by implementing his
systems for success as real estate investors. Today he’s considered the
country’s leading expert and is referred to by many as the “millionaire maker.”
His book is in stores and online and over the years he’s created dozens of home
study products, held live training events on various real estate related
subjects. He spends much of his time passing on his experience at those live
training events, held in various parts of the country, while simultaneously
running over ten different business he owns and controls.
Ron LeGrand's 41 year marriage to his wife Beverly has produced four children,
nine grand children, and two great grand children.