How to Turn the Tables on UnMotivated Home Sellers

This is a true story of how I discovered an amazingly effective tactic for dealing with sellers by accident. At the time I was a fairly new real estate investor. I had already done a few deals so I wasn't totally green but I was still learning. I had heard about a tactic called take away selling but had never tried it. It has proven to be a strategy I use with regularity these days. Here's how it works.

This strategy works best when you put yourself in a position where it doesn't really matter if any particular deal falls through or not. You're not back on your heels desperate to make a deal because you have more leads than you can handle. It's a foregone conclusion the you'll meet your house buying goals. The only question is which houses you'll buy and which deals you'll pass on. That's an excellent place to be.

Unfortunately back then I wasn't quite in that position. I was intent of making a deal out of anything that came down the pipeline. That turned out not to be such a great idea as I ended up buying a few houses I later wished I hadn't. It wasn't uncommon for sellers to have the upper hand either but that all changed when I learned this tactic.

One day the phone rang and it was a landlord whose tenants had trashed the house and disappeared. The house was on the fast track to foreclosure. The numbers didn't really make it a great deal be the owner agreed to let me contact the lender to attempt a short sale. I arranged to meet him and his wife at the house so we could get the paperwork out of the way.

It turns out this woman was ticked off at life and apparently it was all my fault. She was convinced my real goal was to steal her identity and her husband's too. It wasn't anything new for sellers to be difficult but this was ridiculous. I'd had enough and it was time for me to fly.

At last she stopped flapping her lips, I looked at her and said something similar to this: "I'm only here today because your husband asked me to meet you here. I didn't cause this situation but I have a solution and I can only help you if you want to be helped. And if was going around stealing identities I hope wouldn't be so dumb as to target people with poor credit who are about to lose their home to foreclosure. Good luck. Sorry I can't help."

I really was leaving but I didn't take two steps before she said "Wait, I'll sign." It's a good thing I was turned the other way because I think my jaw about hit the floor. I was stunned and amazed. And I had just discovered the power of take away selling.

An outcome similar to this is not uncommon, but take away selling doesn't work every time. So before you try it you need to understand that you really do risk losing the deal. If the seller let's you walk out the door without giving in then it's over. You'd be a fool to go back and try to negotiate a deal at that point because you've given all the power to the seller and you won't get a good deal.

On the other hand, you'll be in the driver's seat if the seller is so motivated that they won't let you "take away" the solution to the problem they face. Now you're in control and the seller will be much easier to deal with because now they understand you have the power to "take away" the solution which leaves them stuck with the problem. Give it a shot. I think you'll like the results.

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