The Most Reliable Indicators of Seller Readiness

The Top 20 Intent Signals To Identify Owners Willing to Sell

In past guides we’ve covered the best methods for finding your first off-market property, the exact script to use when calling property owners, the top providers of financing for off-market deals, and the top title companies and closing agents to work with to ensure the closing process is as smooth as butter. This time around we’ve decided to switch it up a bit and walk through the top intent signals that you can look for to identify owners who may be willing to sell. This list is by no means exhaustive but, it's a good starting point for those of you who are just starting. Ready? Let’s dive in!

The Three Categories of Intent Signals

Generally speaking, there are three main reasons why someone would be willing to sell their properties off the market. The first is financial difficulties due to a job loss, a reduction in hours, or a series of unexpected expenses, which leads to the inability to keep up with mortgage payments. The second is an inflection point in life or a life event, which makes the property owner reconsider their holdings, and either upgrade or downgrade their homes. The final is the condition of the property or the ongoing management of said property. We like to think of these properties in a similar light to the saying “the juice isn’t worth the squeeze”.

Financial Distress

Financial distress signals encompass indicators of property owners facing economic challenges or legal obligations that may prompt them to consider selling their properties on an accelerated timeline. These owners may be motivated to liquidate assets quickly to resolve financial issues or avoid foreclosure proceedings. By monitoring pre-foreclosure listings, tax delinquencies, and bankruptcy filings, you can identify owners in distress who are motivated to sell.

Life Inflection Points

Life inflection signals pertain to events such as death, divorce, childbirth, or job relocation that may necessitate changes in property ownership. Property owners experiencing major life transitions have a heightened need or desire to sell their properties quickly to adjust to new circumstances. By identifying properties associated with these signals, you can target owners who are likely to sell their properties as part of the significant changes in their lives.

Property Condition and Management

Property condition and management issues can be indicators of owners who are willing to sell. They are usually not interested in repairing the property or bringing it up to a sellable condition, or they’re tired of dealing with problematic tenants and other management issues. Engaging with these owners can lead to successful acquisitions of properties that are significantly undervalued.

A More In-Depth Look At Financial Distress Signals

Job Loss / Reduction In Hours

This is an obvious one, people who lose their job or experience a reduction in hours are under financial stress. We’ve heard of people building webscrapers for LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to find people who have updated their job status to “open to work”, or make posts about being laid off. They’ll take that list and cross-reference it with a list of property owners in the geographic area where they live. We’ve also heard people purchasing a list of unemployed individuals (based on unemployment filings) and cross-referencing it against the same list of property owners. This is a grey area, so proceed with caution.

Property Tax & Insurance Premium Increases

Another major factor that can influence the affordability (and cash flow) of a property is the annual property tax bill and insurance premium. A few of the more experienced operators we’ve spoken with monitor the “board meeting minutes” from local municipalities to identify properties that will soon be subject to property tax increases. Then they’ll kick off direct mail campaigns to the affected property owners, letting them know about the upcoming increases with their contact information, should they be interested in selling. A few months later, when the effects go into effect they have a list of leads that no one else has.

Unexpected Repairs

Having gone through this ourselves, this one hurts. You plan for a repair or upgrade and add a buffer of 20% to be on the safe side. Everything goes well in the beginning, but then you quickly uncover that it's going to be significantly more work than you had planned for. Soon the bills start piling in and it's double or triple what you expected. Ouch. Some real estate operators request lists of permit applications from their municipalities and reach out directly to the owners. They offer a slight premium to what the previous owner paid, in exchange for taking it off their hands. The hit rate is low, but when it works, the upside can be huge.

Regulatory Changes

This one is interesting. Typically regulatory changes are planned for months in advance, yet people don’t pay attention to them. Case and point being the short-term rental ban in Palm Springs and other cities across the country. The ban had been on the docket for months, and it wasn’t until it went into effect that people started listing the STR investment properties they had purchased only months prior. It became a mad frenzy for the exit with everyone trying to sell their property for pennies on the dollar. The smart money got out early and went to cash, they’re currently waiting on the sidelines to purchase properties for pennies on the dollar.

Mortgage Rate Fluctuations

Most people purchase properties with a fixed interest rate and some purchase properties with an adjustable rate. They are drawn to the lower upfront fixed interest rate, which converts to a variable rate down the line. They intend to refinance the loan into a fixed-rate mortgage before it converts into a floating-rate, unfortunately for them, the Federal Reserve started raising rates in 2021. At that point, they were forced to either refinance to a higher fixed interest rate or let the loan convert to a higher floating rate. In either case, properties that cash flowed at 2-3% APR, are now underwater, and those owners are motivated to sell.

Pre-Foreclosure / Tax Liens / Notice of Default

People that are behind on their mortgage payments are headed on a one-way path to foreclosure and perhaps even bankruptcy. To find these individuals, check out the data providers that sell lists of homeowners who are 30, 60 and even 90 days behind. In a similar vein, people that are behind on their property taxes can also get their homes foreclosed upon. These lists can be accessed from the local tax-treasury office for no cost. You’ll need to enrich the data, but it’ll be a good starting point.

A More In-Depth Look At Life Inflection Point Signals

Childbirth

When individuals or couples are expecting children, they often transition from urban settings to suburban or residential areas. These homes provide them with more spacious accommodations, access to better schools, and a quieter, family-friendly environment that is more conducive to raising children. Typically, these individuals upgrade from a condominium or townhome to a larger single-family dwelling to accommodate the needs of their growing family.

Empty Nesters

After years of raising a family in their current home, empty nesters typically seek smaller, more manageable living spaces. They may also opt for a change of scenery, such as moving to warmer climates like Florida or Arizona for retirement. This transition allows them to simplify their lifestyle, and reduce maintenance responsibilities. To find these individuals, we’ve heard of groups scraping the graduation notices from high schools and universities.

Engagements & Marriage

Couples who become engaged (and eventually get married) merge their households and embark on a new chapter in their relationship. Often this involves the sale of existing real estate (usually condos and townhomes) and the purchase of new real estate (single-family homes). To find these individuals, we’ve heard of individuals scraping Facebook and Instagram posts.

Divorce

Divorce is a complex and emotionally charged event that may lead to the dissolution of shared property assets. Couples undergoing divorce proceedings often seek to expedite the sale of jointly owned properties to ensure an equitable distribution of assets. While the process can be contentious, individuals going through a divorce typically prioritize speed above all else to get the closure they are looking for.

Death

The loss of a spouse, parent, or child is one of the most traumatic events someone can go through. In the case of a parent, the individual responsible for representing the estate has control over the property and can choose to sell it. You’ll find these individuals listed in a probate notice (note: sometimes it's not a family member, but rather a legal representative listed). In the case of a spouse or child, the grieving partner may choose to part with the property they lived in together. In either scenario, be kind. The individual simply wants to honor the memory of their loved ones, and your role is to ease the practical burdens of property ownership.

Relocations

Individuals who undergo job relocations or career advancements that require them to move to a new location often face time constraints and logistical challenges in selling their current homes. These individuals typically receive relocation assistance from the employer to help with the move but are responsible for selling their current home. Consider offering them an accelerated close window in exchange for a lower price, in this way you both benefit from the transaction.

A More In-Depth Look At Property Condition and Management Signals

Distressed Properties

These are the properties that you will find by driving around your neighborhood. You’ll want to look for overgrown grass, boarded-up (or broken) windows, spray-painted siding…etc. Fire damage and caved-in roofs are also common. Long story short, these properties are often in a state of disrepair and the owners no longer wish to maintain them. Keep in mind that what you see on the surface is only a small part of the story, like an ice burg there is so much more under the surface that you don’t see. Proceed with caution.

Code Violations

Code violations can be one of the most lucrative signals for finding properties that are likely to sell. Most municipalities will provide a list of code violations attached to the relevant address if you ask them. You’ll likely need to enrich the information they provide in order to skip trace the owner, but it’s a great low-cost entry point! Look for vehicle abatements, overgrown weeds charges, and abandoned property notices.

Problematic Tenants

Tenants can quickly become the biggest headache homeowners/landlords have. Constant maintenance requests, illegal activities and noise complaints are just a few of the things that drive owners to consider selling. The other major trigger point, is the post-move out maintenance required to get the property back into rentable condition. Tenants use and abuse properties, its a cost of doing business, but sometimes its just not worth the headache or hassle.

Vacancies

Units that are empty, do not generate revenue for owners. Most owners can absorb one month just fine, two or three months and it might be a totally different story. To find vacancies, look on Apartments.com, Craigslist, Facebook marketplace and other similar sites. We’ve found the most success with this strategy when going after multi-family units that have been vacant for the past 30+ days, but occasionally they’ll bite for smaller buildings if you reach out as soon as the listing is posted.

Evictions

Whereas vacancies typically occur when a tenant moves out on their accord, evictions exclusively take place when a tenant does not pay their rent. Evictions are not only a headache because they take so long, they are also insanely expensive. The tenant essentially gets to live rent free for 3-6 months, the owner has to hire legal council to file loads of paperwork with the courts and when the tenant ultimately moves out, the property is typically in rough condition. Lists of eviction notices are sometimes available through the county or the sherrifs office.

Remote Management

Most first time buyers think that remote management is easy. They’ll live in a town closeby to the property they intend to purchase. Or better yet, they’ll live in California and purchase a property in Nashville or Charleston. They travel to and from the place to get it ready to rent and then they’ll find a tenant. Everything goes smoothly for the first month or two and then the issues start to roll in. They’ll travel to and from the property to fix whatever problems came up, but it soon becomes too much of a hassle so they hire a local management company. The management company takes 10-15% of the rent roll and soon the property is no longer cash flowing, then the owner sells off the property less than a year after they bought it. We’ve seen this story play out many times over again. To find these opportunities, you’ll want to look for absentee owners of multi-family properties.

How To Find And Take Action On The Signals

Once you’ve identified the three or four signals you’re interested in, the next step is to determine how to access the information. Most operators initially start out by aggregating the information themselves through manual entry or a webscraper. Soon they’ll realize its too much work, so they’ll hire a virtual assistant (or two) to gather the information. A few weeks later, and they’ll have a list of leads to follow up with. But even then, they’ll have to spend dozens of hours parsing and preparing the data for skiptracing software. While you can certainly go down this rabbit hole, we’d be remiss to highlight the more efficient approach. The alternative solution is using a platform like Goliath Data, which automatically aggregates signals in real-time and transforms them into actionable lead lists. You identify the areas and signals you’re interested in, and they build a custom data pipeline that fits your buy box. If you already have a lead list and just need help parsing and preparing the data, then the BYOD solution may be a fit.

Wrap up - The Top Intent Signals To Identify Owners Willing to Sell

As you can see, there are a virtually unlimited number of reasons why someone may be willing to sell their property. At the end of the day its typically because they faced unexpected financial loss, experienced a life event, or they decided ownership wasn’t worth it anymore. In any of the above scenarios, you’ll want to act as a trusted resource who can help them get to the other side of whatever they’re facing as quickly (and painlessly) as possible.

For help finding the properties with the highest propensity to sell, get in touch with us. We’d be happy to help.