The amount of negotiating required varies from situation to the next and from homeowner (or lender) to the next but the nee for negotiating is always essential.
The way I like to look at negotiations with homeowners is simply me engaging the homeowner in conversation and guiding that conversation with a certain predetermined outcome in mind.
Anytime I am involved in negotiations with a homeowner, I am totally non-confrontational in my demeanor. What I mean by that is I don’t want to appear to be trying to push the homeowner into doing something that they don’t want to do for the sake of my own benefit. While I do have an obvious ulterior motive for talking with the homeowner in the first place, I never try to push them into anything or make them uncomfortable in any way.
If they’re in a stressful situation such as foreclosure, they are well aware of the fact that they screwed up or have fallen on hard times without me rubbing their nose in it. If they’re behind in payments, they already know it. Correct?
So, what good could possibly result from me reminding them of this fact and, in the same breath, telling them that they need to deal with me? If you said none whatsoever, you’re absolutely right.
I’ve been called in to clean up situations where some bone head investor offended a homeowner and made them feel really uncomfortable by using some high pressure sales pitch type of tactics. Now when I say tactics, I mean that some wannabe investor got in the homeowners face and told them that they were essentially a deadbeat and that the only way they could overcome their current situation was to sign the papers that were currently being waved in their face.
Now, the way that I approach negotiating with homeowners is simply to engage them in a conversation which guides them towards answering your questions as well as revealing any underlying situations that may expose motivation for them to sell to you.
When I mention holding a conversation with a homeowner, I mean exactly that. I’m not trying to pitch anything to them or ‘sell’ them anything. What do you imagine the homeowner might say or do if they had told you that they had it taken care of and you then replied “No, you don’t because I was just looking at public records and you haven’t taken care of it yet.”?
Let's presume that you would probably be asked to leave their property immediately.
Always remember that the key to successful negotiation is to always leave your opposition believing that they were merely having a conversation with you instead feeling like they were engaging in a cat and mouse game while being "worked" by a slick talking investor.
If you ever find yourself doubting your own negotiating tactics, you should probably stop and remember the Golden Rule. Put yourself in the shoes of the homeowner for a minute to confirm whether or not that is how you would like to be treated if the situation were reversed and then act accordingly.
You'll see your results improve dramatically!
Negotiating is oftentimes the key to making a solid deal happen…and in lining up solid deals one after another for the future. Where there is a deal to be made, you’ll have to do some sort of negotiating.