House Research and Seller Questions

Posted On 6:15 AM by Scott Costello |

I got a call back from the lady who responded to my mailer. I setup an appointment to go see the house on saturday morning. I couldn't get much out of her on the phone. I'm not sure HOW motivated they are as this seems to be the first attempt at selling the home. She said they were going to sign up with a realtor but saw my postcard and wanted to give me a call first. Not screeming motivation to me, but in order to get practice I'm going to meet her and see the house. Which reminds me I've got to do some research on the house before hand. This is what I plan on doing...


  1. Look on Realquest and Zillow to see if I can get a gadge on the house value and the area.
  2. Find the house location on MS Live to see what it looks like from a birdseye view
  3. Look the house up on the county tax records
  4. Locate the mortgage and see if I can figure out how much equity there is.
  5. not sure what else to do...


When I get to the house and talk to the owners I'm going to ask them the following to try and get some info out of them...

In no particular order

  • What has been updated
  • How much do they owe
  • What do they need to sell the house for
  • Any problems with the house
  • Is there an oil tank


If anyone has any other questions I should ask drop me a line.

Have a good holiday weekend everyone! happy BBQing
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4 Response to 'House Research and Seller Questions'
  1. Kelly
    http://sjcostello.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-got-call-back-from-lady-who-responded.html?showComment=1243003003123#c3693359376501863321'> May 22, 2009 at 7:36 AM

    Google maps will allow you to virtually drive the hood and see all views of the house from the street with zoom. It isn't available in all areas though. In my area, the photos are about a year old. plug in the address and if street view is available it will show a thumbnail of the target, click and go. Go get em!

     

  2. Scott Costello
    http://sjcostello.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-got-call-back-from-lady-who-responded.html?showComment=1243005031211#c1941550702267458789'> May 22, 2009 at 8:10 AM

    Thanks Kelly, unfortunately they only really have the major highways around here. But I'll give it a try anyway, maybe I'll get lucky!

     

  3. Shae
    http://sjcostello.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-got-call-back-from-lady-who-responded.html?showComment=1243009207036#c905518932111544590'> May 22, 2009 at 9:20 AM

    Hey Scott, nice job securing an appointment with a seller! Here are some other things you might want to get from her (you should have a seller information form and take notes during your conversation with her -- these are some additional questions I ask when pre-screening on the phone):
    (1) Why are you selling?
    (2) What do you like most about her house?
    (3) What do you like the least about the house?
    (4) Estimated repairs needed
    (5) When was the roof last replaced? Air conditioner?
    (6) How much do you owe on the mortgage? (1st, 2nd, etc)
    (7) Are you behind on your payments? By how many months?
    (8) Would you be willing to sell your home for how much you owe on it?
    (9) If I can make a cash offer and close within 10 days what is the least amount you would accept for your home?
    But mostly you want to be able to get her talking...the more she talks and the less you talk, the better the conversation will go for you :-) Looking forward to hearing about how it goes!

    Oh by the way, I really like Scottybuys.com too :-) Very easy to remember.

     

  4. Ingrid
    http://sjcostello.blogspot.com/2009/05/i-got-call-back-from-lady-who-responded.html?showComment=1243033323458#c2380489849742178310'> May 22, 2009 at 4:02 PM

    Hey Scott, good deal!

    I would check out Patrick Riddle's blog over at MustKnowInvesting, as he has some excellent entries in regards to how to approach sellers. Here's one which I think would work for your situation tomorrow:http://www.mustknowinvesting.com/2009/03/16/6-expectations-to-define-with-every-seller-lead/

    Good luck!