Real estate competition is fierce, especially with housing shortages pushing the market to the brink. For this reason, you want to make sure that you are targeting the right properties at the right time. That way, you land your dream property for an even dreamier price.
Here are our top tips for beating your competition when it comes to off-market real estate:
- Check out pre-foreclosures and distressed properties first
These are homes where the owners haven’t been able to keep up on payments. Pre-foreclosure indicates that the lender is threatening to foreclose and a distressed property can be include houses with liens on them. These scenarios usually mean homeowners try their best to sell the property before the bank takes over.
- Then check out vacant properties
By using a service such as skip tracing, you can keep track of vacant properties within a localized area. This allows you to target property owners and reach out to them with an offer to sell. Skip tracing also makes it easy because the name and contact information of the property owner is compiled into a tidy list.
- Get to know your for-sale-by-owners
You can accomplish this in multiple ways. One of our favorites is to hold a workshop during which you provide advice and tips on how to sell a home. Not only does this nudge homeowners in the direction of selling, but you also know who your sellers are before their homes hit the market!
- Cozy up to attorneys and agents
We’re talking divorce attorneys and estate agents. When something big happens in a person’s life such as a divorce or a death, often this results in the sale of the home. By reaching out to attorneys and estate agents, you will have your finger on the pulse of who is selling soon.
- Make friends with real estate brokers
They’re the professionals who understand the market better than most. They’ll be able to keep you up to date on trends—and they usually know about listings before anyone else.
- Let the wholesalers do the work
Wholesalers are people who work with properties that are under contract. By working with a wholesaler, you buy the right to purchase the property. In other words—they do they work of finding the property, you reap the reward (for a fee).
- Find your flippers
People who invest in large scale house flipping will obviously have a property ready to sell in the near future. They are also oftentimes putting their especially difficult projects back on the market. Know your house flippers and keep track of the properties that you might take off their hands.
- Don’t shy away from reaching out directly
With the seller’s market today, many homeowners are looking to cash in on high home values. Don’t be afraid to reach out directly to homeowners to see if they’re interested in selling.
ListAbility provides real estate marketing tips and services such as skip tracing and direct mail marketing. Have a question? Or maybe you want to learn more? Give us a call today!
