Keeping the focus on the seller

I paid just over $25 to put my first classified ad in the newspaper this weekend. Its target audience is those who are behind in house payments and looking to avoid foreclosure or stop the proceedings that have already recently begun. I submitted the ad through a web interface, however, so I don't remember exactly what I put into the ad. I'm hoping I said "Looking to stop foreclosure and save your credit?" as the opening line, because that "save your credit" thing is important.

I talked to a Member Advisor last night - Reid was his name. It was an interesting conversation, quite useful, I will be calling back to bounce my thoughts off of other Member Advisors for sure. I wonder how many of them there are...

At any rate, he reminded me of an important thing I'd already learned in the past, that the focus of what I'm doing needs to be on how it will benefit the seller - that will be a huge difference between myself and others who may be contacting them about selling their home due to their financial difficulties. The big key is to make sure it's clear that while yes, I am a private investor in this business to make a profit, I am also a private investor who believes in finding mutually beneficial solutions even if that costs me some of my profits. I am a problem solver, but I am not looking to get all I can get, I'm looking to help someone out of a difficult situation but still make a profit while doing so.

When people call this weekend as a result of my ad in the classified, I was advised to start the call like this:

(after hello's etc)

Thank you for calling. My name is Jill and I am a private investor here in OurCity. I help people save their credit rating by buying a house being foreclosed on. May I ask you a few questions about your situation?

Of course, I hope to have plenty of opportunity to hone this starting chatter down when practicing against real people on the weekend... and since these people are calling ME, I can be a lot more frank with my questions.

Another important question after finding out about their financial situation will be:

How much, above and beyond what you owe on the property/house, would it take for you to save your credit, selling your home to me today?

This question above I have questions for the Mentors about again, however - they say deals should be done at the kitchen table, in person - not on the phone. But is this question above just a way to determine if this is a motivated seller or not? I could also see it being a question that could open up more conversation about things like CC debt that needs to be paid off, or other loans, etc. I'd imagine if folks are going into foreclosure, they don't have room on their CC's and they're not able to get loans either, so it's an important consideration.

I am looking forward to getting this practice in. It would be neat if I found a good deal as well, but I'm not really counting on it. I still haven't found anyone to buy/sell the homes, and the Member Advisor advised me to option the property to a real buyer instead of another investor, because then I can make more profit, still sell the property under market value, and everyone's happy.

In theory, anyway.