Number 1 Guide To Motivated Seller Leads For Investors
The best real estate investments are in undervalued properties that you can sell for a higher price later.
One of the best ways to find these opportunities is finding motivated seller leads – as they usually want to sell their homes quickly. The problem?
They’re usually quite hard to find unless you’re using the right strategies.
Throughout this article, we’ll look at how to find motivated seller leads for investors, what they are, and everything else you need to know.
What Are Motivated Seller Leads?
Motivated seller leads want to sell their home because they have been motivated by a specific reason, usually a life circumstance.
As they are motivated by this reason, they are usually happy to sell their home at a lower rate than the actual value, making it a great opportunity for investors.
Common reasons a motivated seller might want to sell their house:
- Divorce
- Debt or other financial issues
- Vacancy
- Homeowners in probate
There are many other reasons or life circumstances why a seller may be motivated to sell their home too.
But, in most cases, they will want to sell the house FAST, which allows them to forget about it, solve their problems and move on with their life.
This way, it’s a win for you and the motivated seller.
What Type of Valuation To Expect When Purchasing From a Motivated Seller
How much of a discount you get usually depends on the reason that is motivating them to sell and their financial situation.
For the most part, you can expect a 10-30% below market-value valuation, which is a pretty decent opportunity for you as an investor. If you purchase it for this price, you’re almost instantly making a profit – at least in terms of value.
However, in some cases, the valuation might be very similar to the market value, but with highly favorable terms such as:
- No money down
- 0% interest
- Financing over longer-term/smaller payments
As an investor, these favorable terms will also make the financial side a little easier for you.
When marketing to motivated seller leads, you will find both the leads that want to sell their property quickly below market value and the leads which offer favorable terms.
Types of Motivated Seller Leads
We also quickly wanted to categorize the types of motivated seller leads to help you understand what to expect when marketing toward them.
Vacant Seller Leads
As the name suggests, vacant seller leads are sellers that do not live in the property anymore.
With these types of sellers, they often aren’t quite as motivated as the others on this list – so expect favorable terms over, for example, a discount on the property for selling quickly.
Probate Seller Leads
Probate seller leads are sellers who have inherited the property and do not want to live there. These sellers are usually a little more motivated to get the process over and done with because it can be traumatic, as the person they have inherited it from has passed away.
Distressed Property Leads
Finally, we have distressed property leads, which are sellers under financial distress such as debt. Here, the seller often is looking to sell the property quickly, as it would solve the problems they are facing. So, you can expect discounts on the property in some cases if you act fast.
How To Find Motivated Seller Leads For Investors
We also wanted to walk you through finding motivated seller leads for investors. While there are quite a few ways you could find them, we have listed our #1 recommendation below – alongside some information to help you get started.
Our #1 Recommendation – SEO
The best way to find motivated seller leads is by targeting high-selling intent keywords like “Sell my house for cash.”
Someone who is searching for a keyword like this is obviously motivated to sell their house.
Real Estate SEO is so effective for this because you position yourself right in front of your target audience while they’re researching how to sell their home.
From there, you can funnel them into appointments and eventually the sale.
How To Find Motivated Seller Leads With Real Estate SEO
The way you find these keywords is by researching them with tools and identifying high potential/low competition opportunities.
You can target these keywords using SEO-optimized pages and blog posts, where you target each keyword using a separate page.
On them, you can have forms that your visitor can fill out with their contact information so that you can contact them in the future.
From there, you can go onto track your results and start building links to improve the overall authority of your site.
Once your pages are ranking, you’ll have a consistent stream of motivated seller leads coming in, and you might even be able to cherry-pick opportunities that suit you best.
If using SEO to find motivated sellers sounds interesting to you, we recommend checking out our recent article on SEO for real estate investors.
2. PPC
Another effective way of finding motivated sellers for investors is using PPC ads.
The cool thing about PPC is that it doesn’t take as long as SEO, but it can help you rank for the same keywords.
But the bad news is that it’s not near as cost-effective, and you have to continuously have to pay for every single click you’re getting from your campaign.
Still, it’s definitely up there with the best methods of finding motivated seller leads. But it can get costly.
3. Craigslist, Facebook Groups & Similar Sites
Another place where you can find motivated sellers is on craigslist, Facebook groups, and similar sites – depending on your location.
When sellers are motivated to sell their house fast for whatever reason, they will usually also share their listings on these websites.
Of course, you will have to filter through quite a bit of junk because these sites are public – but you can still find some great opportunities.
Some of the sites you should check are:
- Craigslist
- Local Facebook Groups
- Facebook Marketplace
- GumTree (If you’re in the UK)
Or anywhere in your local communities where people would list their homes. It’s also worth noting that you can always negotiate.
Final Thoughts
We hope you have enjoyed this guide on motivated sellers for investors.
However, remember that you should always thoroughly check all the properties you choose to invest in, no matter which methods you choose. Sometimes, a property has more issues than perceived.
So, while you should often be fast, try to be careful too.
If you would like to work with us to help you with your SEO from the Real Estate SEO Experts at Digital Bullet – you can book a free consultation with us here.