Marketing To For Sale By Owner Homes Online Part 2

June 24, 2010

If you don’t get their email address from the ad then your goal is getting them to reply via email to an email you sent them.  That both gets you their real email address and allows you to add it to your database.  You can add it because you have proof of prior contact them, and email providers usually roughly equate prior contact with permission to send them solicitations.  If your internet or email provider ever accuses you of spamming then you can send them this reply from the FSBO as proof you were acquainted with this person and weren’t sending unsolicited email to people you had no prior contact with and didn’t know. 

First Contact

Your approach to these sellers should be dictated by how long they’ve been trying to sell their home.  A definite clue is how old their online ad is.  The newer the ad is, the less likely they’ll be receptive to your overtures to be their listing agent.  But keep in mind that the ad you see may not be their first ad.  So you really can’t know how long they’ve been trying to sell on their own.  They may have been advertising in the local newspaper for 3 months and only decided last week to post their ad online.

So it’s best not to make your opening question “How long have you been trying to sell your home?” because they’ll probably sense right away you’re trying to get their listing and so they may not even respond to your email.  This question may get a response if they’ve been trying to sell for a long time, but then you won’t know that initially.

One approach that’s far less likely to get their back up is approaching them as someone who can help them find a new home.  Since they don’t want to list with a real estate professional they may also be reluctant to work with a single buyer rep exclusively.  But their motivation for selling on their own may be strictly because of money and not wanting to pay a commission, so working with a buyer rep might appeal to them since they don’t have to pay anything for it.

So a good initial question might be “What areas are you looking at for buying your new home?”.  If that doesn’t work then take a look at the ad and ask them something about the home.  You should always start the conversation with a question and make sure each reply you send to them ends with a question.  This keeps the conversation going.

Filed under: Using Email For Attracting Buyers/Sellers

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