We have
received a fair amount of correspondences lately, from Investors & Agents
alike, asking us where we get our Short Sale leads; or better yet, where they
can find their own leads! Having been
in the same boat, & since lead generation is an ongoing process, we’d like
to offer some different strategies & avenues that are available to pursue.
Like any business, we had to start
from scratch. And just like any
business, our procedures, strategies, expertise, etc. have all steadily been
honed & sharpened as time goes on. Arguably
however, the amount of experience, success, & size of the company, does not
really have an effect on the lead itself.
There are no famous Short Sale “brands” or any famous Short Sale “names”
one can mention to the Homeowner to secure the lead. Indeed, most people don’t even know what a
Short Sale is!!
In other words, there is no
“easy-button,” and certainly no 100% sure-fire lead generation source. Finding good leads is difficult and trying!
Since we’ve been in the business, we have tried almost everything to find
leads. We’ve placed ads in newspapers
& magazines; we’ve set up “bandit” signs; we’ve tried “cold calling;” we’ve
created automatic mailing campaigns; we’ve sponsored investor/realtor groups;
we’ve taught classes; we’ve posted flyers…
The list goes on and on.
In our experience, probably the top 2
best sources to find ShortSale candidates, is the weekly NED list (obtained
through Title Companies, and renav.com). A few Realtors we work with
find their leads exclusively through cold calling, via leads from Renav.
Personally though, we prefer door-knocking off NED lists. If nothing
else, the Homeowner is appreciative that you went out of your way to actually meet them, instead of mailing an
impersonal postcard or making an impersonal phone call.
Homeowners in this type of situation
are incredibly stressed out, so one of our main goals is to just help calm them
down, and let them know that there ARE options available to them, for free. Just listening to
them & their problems can go miles! We never offer the ShortSale
right off the bat, since that may not be the best outcome for the Homeowner;
but instead discuss the best possible option first, then work our way down,
having the Homeowner come to the conclusion that the ShortSale would be best.
We do not & cannot pressure anyone into using our services or to pursue a
ShortSale, so a lot of the time we're just providing information to the
Homeowner, letting them know their options & what to expect from the
Foreclosure process. Additionally, we find that a fair amount of these
Homeowners are intent on keeping their heads in the sand (hoping it
will solve itself), but will end up popping back up months or even years
later. As such, we keep all our potential leads on file & will periodically
touch base with them. **Case in point, we just picked back up
with a Homeowner whose lead originally came to us in 2009!
