Landlords are another forgotten niche that agents don't heavily pursue. Finding recently rented properties and targeting those owners is a great strategy.
The key is showing them enough evidence that selling is easier and better financially then dealing with tenants.
It's true in a lot of ways, so it won't be impossible to convince them this.
Dealing with tenants, repairs and all the costs add up for these owners.
When you prospect these owners put together your marketing materials to address this. Really sell them on the burden it is being a landlord.
Finding these leads is pretty easy. It's not hard to find properties that were rented out over the last year.
Here's how to find rentals in your area. Pull up closed rentals in your MLS.
Look for all the homes that got rented out 6-10 months ago. These are the owners you want to target.
Of course, that won't give you the address where the actual owners live.
Then you need to research the owner's name and address on the public records.
You can get that information from your county’s website. Just Google, “county name property search or appraiser."
Smart Agents is in Jacksonville, Florida and Duval County. So I would Google “Duval County Property Appraiser.”
Your county's property appraiser is usually where you'll search the rented address at.
It’s usually the top result on Google.
On your county's site, there'll be an option to search for a property. Search the rented property address you got from the MLS.
There you'll find the owners name. You can get the owner’s phone number on WhitePages.com or Intelius.com.
If you want to get some disgruntled owners and landlords, look up eviction filings over the last few years.
For this, you'll have to go to your county's courthouse website. There you can find the evictions over the last few years and the owner of the home.
These owners will be a lot more susceptible to being offered help to sell their home.
The third group of owners to target in this niche are ones that recently put an ad up to rent a home.
Look up the address on your county's website and find their information as well. You could convince an owner before he ever rents, to sell the home.
When you reach out to these owners, be ready for their initial objections.
Most of them are going to say, because they think it at this time, that it's really profitable for them to continue renting out the home.
They think the time, effort, energy and money pays off throughout each month and each year they rent the home to tenants.
Like a lot of owners, these landlords might not be fully informed of the market and the entire home buying and selling process.
There are a few ways to get in contact with the landlords; each has their benefits. However, all of them will depend on your ability to convince someone that selling is a greater option than their current set-up.
Mailing These Owners Material or Dropping It Off
Build out a testimonial drop-off package. Create something that adequately demonstrates the time and effort they put into being a landlord.
Most people won't have an exact idea of their home is worth. Title your letter " “Did you know your home that is rented out is worth X?”
Now they start to get a sense into the amount of money they make off leasing their home.
A lot of these owners will want to sell once they realize what their home is worth. They just need someone to tell them.
Include your regular marketing material in this package as well. Our members can send their books out to establish themselves.
Remember what’s important to most owners who rent: the time and effort they spend or the money they spend to have someone do it for them.
Highlight examples where you made a quick sale. Note any listings that sold above asking price.
Use testimonials that speak to the point of difference you bring to sellers, and how that enabled a home sale.
Use them to prove how easy the process is with you as their agent.
Pull together photographs of the homes. Use pictures of the owners you worked with.
Let them do the selling for you. If you only have a handful, start there and begin building your file.
If you work for a brokerage, you may be able to use testimonials about the company to bolster your collection or to get started.
Then follow up with them throughout the next week and try to set up a meeting in person.
Target These Owners By Door Knocking
This is skipping the period where they get to know you from some material they get in the mail.
It can work for a bunch of agents, especially if they hit it off with the owner. Bring a package of marketing material like the one you would mail to them.
Present the same argument to them that you would over mail.
The owners here are somewhere between cold and warm leads.
Follow up until you get the listing. This niche is similar to FSBOs. Many sellers will wait to list their home.
So, you have to follow up consistently until they list with you or someone else. We've seen so many agents do this right because people rent when it's a bad time to sell.
If you can prove to these owners that selling with you is easy and you are legitimate, most will want to.
Getting these leads and mailing out your package could take some effort.
What if you had someone on your team who could do all the small parts of prospecting landlords for you?
They could get you lists of rentals and evictions in your area.
So this is one of the tasks you can get done with a VA. But how do you hire them? What do you pay them? How does the training go?
Imagine You Had A Business Like This:
- You didn’t have to set up the appointments.
- You didn’t have to mail out anything or email your list.
- All the grunt work is handled perfectly.
- The small parts of this type of prospecting could be done for you.
Our team has written a book that shows you how to build a business that runs itself. We go over hiring, paying, training and anything else you need to know about VAs.
Joe Nickelson is a real estate professional dedicated to helping home buyers and sellers achieve their dreams of owning property, and helping real estate agents stop using the sometimes-vicious tactics that weigh on their consciences. He believes that the Smart Agents books will, quite literally, change people’s lives for the better. Check out his full bio here!
