Contacting Out Of State Owners?

Question

Have you ever gotten a positive response by asking somebody if they wanted to sell their out-of-state property? We're tired of renting, and I'm thinking of sending a letter to several people with property we consider attractive, asking them if they'd be interested in selling...most, but not all of them are not living around here. The ones who do live around here - should we mail or call them?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Sorry cityofmobile, I disagree with you completely. And I'm sure you will be surprised to find out that I have a broker’s license in 3 states.

Jess Wundring, I would do exactly what you are suggesting. I prefer letters because I feel they are less intrusive and they are much faster. You can use a handwriting font for both the letter and the envelope.

For you to motivate the owners to respond you have to address their needs NOT YOURS.

Tell them you are PRE-APPROVED for the loan (make sure you really are), let them know you can work around most time restraints they may have (like a lease with 3 months to go), tell them you are willing to take the property while it's rented (no vacancy period), of course point out the lower transaction costs. Any time you get stumped on the letter think "you will benefit by selling me your because . . .".

Next you can get a list of property owners on CD or disk (labels are a VERY last resort) from your local title company. Most areas you could describe a list like - single family residence with 3 or more bedrooms, 2 or more baths, built between 1985 and 2006, with at least 1400 sq ft, 2 car garge or more, in a certain zip code or area or map or even a radius and often time within a school district, with an assessed value under (what you feel your limits are). Now obviously I don't know your needs so you will need to change the particulars to meet your needs. And take the lowest acceptable numbers, by this I mean if you could get by with 1.5 baths for an otherwise acceptable house use that other than 2 baths. It's always better to have too many places to mail to than not enough. Try to work with the customer service rep in real time (on the phone or in person) so they can tell you how many they are finding for you. If they run a search and come back with 5000 records then tighten your criteria, go ahead and raise the baths to 2 or raise the sq ft to 1550 or more or add a lot size etc. If your search only returns 125 records then either grow the area you are looking in or loosen critera or raise the assessed value (but not much more than 15% over what you can qualify for).

Most title companies will provide this service for free it you offer to close your purchase using their service (even if you find a house with a real estate agent you can direct the title company that closes your purchase).

Now start sending out 75-100 letters and 25+ a week until you find your house.

I'm planning to move in the next year or 2 and will be doing just what I described here (except I'll mail out 500 to start and 150 or more each week until I find my next place).

And I'll do this all before I get my brokers license in that state too.

Don't get discouraged it does work and there are always great bargains to be found in every market.

Good luck

Answer 2

I have never heard of doing this before, but it could be worth the try.
What kind of property are you talking about? Residential or commercial?

I would first put together a nice letter and then mail it. This will set the stage for a follow-up phone call. If someone called me out of the blue and proposed buying property from me I would probably hang up and them.

Good luck!

Answer 3

Hi I am a real estate agent in Alabama. Don't know where you are looking but why don't you leave all the work to a real estate agent? You do not get charged and believe me the price is not going to be better just because you try to go directly to an owner.
Real Estate Agent - a good one. Ask around and find one who will work their butt off for you!