How To Jump-Start Your Lease-Option Business
A lot of gurus and other seasoned investors will tell you it’s hard work finding motivated sellers. Make no mistake, motivated sellers are what you’re after in this game. They’re out there, and I’m here to tell you they’re not as elusive as you’ve been led to believe.
Before I go on, let me tell you about a special kind of motivated seller. This seller has a serious case of heartburn and wants your help desperately. The problem with this seller is that he doesn’t realize he’s a seller yet (there are rare exceptions).
Who is this motivated seller? He’s a landlord! Now I realize you’re probably confused at this point and that’s alright. Landlords aren’t exactly the demographic most investors target when looking for deals. But think about it…who else is more fed up with owning a property than the landlord who has to keep evicting bad tenants or just can’t find any decent tenants to fill his rentals? By the time this poor soul applies his 3rd coat of paint to the same walls in the same house in 3 years (or less), he’s going to be fantasizing about chucking the whole landlord gig for something less stressful (bear wrestling, perhaps?). That, my friend, is where you come in…Landlords become don’t-wanters for lots of different reasons. They may be sick of evictions and screening new applicants. They may frown, weary of late-night calls and bickering neighbors. They may even just lose interesting in managing their rentals. Whatever the reason, they’re ready to hear from you. They may not know it yet, but they are definitely ready.
So how do you find these disgruntled landlords? Just take a look around! They’re everywhere! That for-rent sign on the house down the street? A landlord put that there. The for-rent ad in the Sunday classifieds? A landlord paid (too much) money to put that there.
These landlords are also down at the courthouse, filing to evict that bad tenant. They’re calling rental listing companies, trying to get their vacancies filled before they lose their shirts. When a rental unit only nets the landlord $100.00 per month, a 1-month vacancy can destroy his entire year’s profit. Talk about motivation to sell! Add taxes and insurance to the tab and you’ve got someone drowning in their own “investment.”
By offering that guy a way out of his problem, you’re doing him a great service and if you do it right, you’re going to make a tidy profit in the process.
By the way, FSBO’s are also a good source of lease-option deals. If you approach them the right way and offer to help solve their problem (you did remember to learn what the problem is, didn’t you?), you’ll find yourself doing just that. LED Screen Church