I recently sent out my first postcards to a county a couple of hours away from a major city. I acquired the delinquent list, sent out 500 mailers and the responses came pouring in. I had 12 calls within the first two days of them hitting mailboxes. Of those 12, about 5 of them were solid leads. And for context, none of these people have ever seen an offer letter or postcard. Now here is my problem… Even after offering to clear up their taxes and take care of closing costs, everyone wants 80% to full market value. This leads me to some questions.
Is there an essential part of this pitch I’m missing when talking to these sellers? Is there an aspect of the sale that you guys tend to lean into to motivate these sellers a little more? Or is this par for the course until the right opportunity arises?
Any tips or advice on how to turn these acquisitions into closings would be greatly appreciated.
@lcb do these people understand they’re about to lose their property completely if those property taxes aren’t paid off? It’s one thing to mention that you’ll pay off their taxes, but if they don’t understand what’s at stake, the reality of this situation may not be sinking in. It may even help for you to determine the exact drop-dead date, just so you can tell them this, and it will feel more real.
This is typically the #1 motivator for people on the delinquent tax list to sell immediately at a discount, and it’s a big part of the reason why a real estate investor would use this list in the first place because the property is on the line.
Has this come up at all in the conversation? Some people will even put it in the initial letter itself (if you do this, you’ll probably want to use letters in envelopes, so you’re not openly advertising to the world that they have delinquent taxes); sometimes, it’s just something to mention pointedly in the first conversation with them… but if the point isn’t made, they may think they’re negotiating from a place of security when they’re really about to lose it all.
When they call me I email them the tax statement and let them know how soon a tax lien certificate holder could file for foreclosure and (if and when they lose) attorney’s fees! That’s a huge motivator.
Recently one owner told me she didn’t even know there were any liens and they had been sending in the tax payments on time. The next seller that called said years ago she’d resigned herself to believing that the county had already claimed the property.