How to find homebuyers in a slow market? Part III

Using low tech, high return methods

If you read the post here regarding how to find homebuyers you already know my opinion of the foreclosure market place and how it can dramatically increase your real estate leads. Sticking with the concept of foreclosures, here is a great way to generate real estate leads and how to find homebuyers.

1. Go to USHUD.com and find a foreclosure in an area that you want to sell.
2. Go the foreclosure and inspect it. It doesn’t matter the condition (if you don’t know how to sell foreclosures in less than ideal condition USHUD.com will show you)
3. Go door to door (I know this sounds bad but it works) knock on each door and tell each person that answers that you are a real estate agent and that the foreclosures property down the street is for sale and ask some probing questions. Present yourself as a helpful steward of the community and not as an ambulance chaser.

Here is what you are going to find:

1. You will find a renter that is interested in buying the house (remember people love foreclosures)
2. You are going to find that the neighbor knows someone that is interested in buying a house in their neighborhood.

Either way you win. Just remember you are trying to find homebuyers so you have to ask the right questions. No one wants to answer the door and find a solicitor on their stoop. You have to project the concept that you are not trying to sell anything. You are providing a needed service. You are informing them of a situation that could be beneficial to them either directly or indirectly. If the person that answers the door owns their home, they are interested in getting the foreclosure sold so that they don’t have a vacant house or worse, an eye sore on their street. They will be happy to help you if you ask the right questions. This is a rarely used and highly effective method to the question of how to find homebuyers.

This method doesn’t always payoff in instant sales, but if you do it several times you will find out that the homebuyers that you are looking for are right across the street more often than you might think.