FSBO Guide - Authorify

Table of Contents Introduction Page 4 Part I: FSBO Opportunities Why Most FSBOs Need Your Help Page 5 Why It’s Easy To List FSBOs Page 9 How to Prove to FSBO Sellers They’ll Get More Money If They Hire You Page 11 Warning! The Traditional FSBO Strategy is Flawed Page 13 Part II: The 5-Step Plan That Makes it Easy to List FSBOs The 5-Step Plan Revealed Page 15 Step #1: Get FSBOs to Talk to You Without Rejection

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Step #2: Follow Up

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Step #3: This Strategy Makes it So Much Easier to List FSBOs Page 24 Step #4: Sometimes You Need to Do This to Get the Listing Page 26 Step #5: Leverage Yourself with Virtual Assistants Page 27 Part III: Closing the Seller on Hiring You How to Get Every Seller to Like You — So They List with You Page 31 How to Dramatically Boost Your Listing Presentation Conversion Page 34 How to Do a Killer Listing Presentation … and Get the Listing Page 36

Part IV: Hiring, Training, and Managing Your Virtual Assistants How to Find Your First Virtual Assistant Page 39 Interviewing and Hiring Virtual Assistants

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The Easiest Way to Manage Your Virtual Assistants Page 55

Introduction Hi, guys. It's Calvin Curry here. It’s fairly obvious that For Sale By Owners are good lead sources. In a hot market, there might be a lot more FSBOs than there are expired listings. A lot of them don't even make it to sites like Zillow. For example, a FSBO popped up across from our office recently. I saw tons of people driving by looking at the sign. However, the home wasn’t on Zillow, and I didn't see it on any other websites at that time either. The point is that FSBOs are everywhere — in every part of the

country. When you drive home from work, take a different route every single day, if possible — depending on how far away your office is from your home — and look for new FSBO signs. If you see somebody out in the yard or just getting home, stop in and offer to help or drop off a resource. If you have a business card or a brochure, drop it off. In a survey asking FSBO sellers to list the "Most Important Reason for Selling FSBO," 48% replied that they “Did not want to pay an agent's commission or fee." The median age of FSBO owners is 56. Simply put, these owners have lived a little. They are not stupid. They just need your help. Take time to share stories and stats. Educate them on the benefits of listing with an agent. If you think their property is underpriced, use this to your advantage to validate your commission. The most important thing is to approach them in a hands-off, helpful way. In this guide, I’ll show you my 5-Step Plan that Makes it Easy to List FSBOs . The key to building a relationship with a FSBO lead and ultimately landing the listing is all about being different than every other agent who’s trying to approach them. I’ll show you how.

Part I: FSBO Opportunities

Why Most FSBOs Need Your Help You may not know this, but it’s true: Most FSBOs do a horrible job marketing their houses. If a real estate professional put the same amount of effort into marketing a house that a FSBO does, that agent would be at risk of losing his or her license! Here’s an example. I recently did a study by pulling up 20 FSBOs. Most of them did not put much effort into marketing their house. Only two or three of them had good-quality pictures. The rest had low-quality pictures — probably taken with a cell phone. The angles were bad. The houses did not look attractive. Trees and shrubs obscured attractive structural features. In some cases, the picture was so dark that it was impossible to distinguish any detail. Several photos were selfies, showing the owner competing for attention with the house — or blocking the view of the structure. Eight of the sellers did not even have a sign in the yard. Is that crazy, or what? Individuals who offer their homes For Sale by Owner do not understand how challenging it is to sell a house. They think it’s so easy. After all, if they thought it took any effort, they would probably hire a Realtor®. Consider some common characteristics of FSBO sellers: ● They don’t know much about marketing. ● They definitely don’t know anything about staging. ● They don’t want to show their home at times convenient for prospective buyers. ● They don’t want to paint. ● They don’t want to spend money on plumbing, electrical, roof repairs, etc. ● They don’t want to fix up their house. Even the most aggressive, hard-working sellers probably lack access to crucial resources. According to the National Association of Realtors®, only 7% of FSBOs use an MLS website. Some are forced to rely on shoddy consumer real estate sites, none of which generate nearly as much traffic.

Another 7% claim they advertise their FSBO on Facebook or some other social network, and 16% put their faith in online classified ads. Those kinds of scattershot efforts are a huge gamble, given that 51% of buyers say they find their homes on the internet. The most effective online advertising relies on knowledge of the local market, copywriting that hooks the reader’s interest quickly, and keywords chosen with surgical precision. These are elements best left to real estate professionals! ● Showing a House Well Many FSBO sellers use excuses to rationalize their unwillingness to perform necessary repairs such as painting, patching, or even simple chores such as cleaning and decluttering the residence. They might say they’re too busy, they lack expertise, or they can’t afford materials or professional help. Here’s an example from a FSBO I listed recently. The owner had tried selling the home unsuccessfully for almost a year. During that time, the house had been dirty, poorly maintained, and hadn’t shown well. The seller had never cleaned the house. After all, it was a vacant investment property, and he believed he had enough work to do on his own residence. A few weeks after I listed the property, I got him to clean up the place. Obviously, it showed so much better. A little while later, we got an offer. Even when FSBO sellers are willing to put in the effort making repairs and modifications, they’re likely to spend their money and time on the wrong projects — like converting a garage into a bedroom. You’ve probably known homeowners who wasted money adding a bathroom to a little-used part of their basement; an island that restricts traffic flow in the kitchen; or — shudder! — a high-cost, high-maintenance swimming pool. How many sellers have labored over backyard landscaping that has no effect on curb appeal? Homeowners are rarely skilled at showing their houses. They usually don’t take time to find out much about prospective buyers. Consequently, these sellers don’t know what to highlight and what to downplay when conducting a tour of their property. Their people skills might also be poor. Some stand glumly with their hands in their pockets. Others annoyingly hover over prospective buyers. Either way, house hunters are unlikely to express their concerns candidly to the homeowner.

● The Price Is Not Right Here’s another big disadvantage that FSBOs have. FSBO sellers usually take a hit-or-miss approach to pricing. Since they likely lack the resources to properly research properties, many FSBO sellers put their faith in unreliable statistics: ● Some falsely assume their property tax appraisal accurately reflects sales value. ● Many sellers rely on inaccurate, outdated websites and databases. ● Others thoughtlessly copy the asking price of a home in their neighborhood without understanding how it compares to their own. ● Some ignore the fact that prices have changed significantly since they bought the home. ● Many owners make pricing decisions emotionally, such as inflating the value market realities. ● Others take a relative’s advice or merely guess. Whatever the reason, poor pricing can prevent the sale of a FSBO for much longer than anyone would like. ● Realtors® Sell Houses for More FSBO homes simply do not get as much interest from buyers, at least compared to homes listed with a Realtor®. It might not seem rational, but it’s true. Here’s an example of a FSBO I listed a little while ago. The home had been on the market for three months at $220,000. Three or four people had looked at the house. All of them had told the seller that it was overpriced. Some had bluntly stated that the house was a rip-off at $220,000. I put it on the market for $240,000. Why? The house was worth it. It sold in about three weeks for that price. What made the difference? When a house is listed with a real estate professional, it’s easy for other Realtors® to show it. More showings = a higher sales price. According to the National Association of Realtors®, the average sales price of a FSBO home is $184,000. By contrast, the average sales price of an agent-listed home is $230,000— a difference of $46,000. The internet is replete with stories about FSBO sellers who’ve mispriced their homes with disastrous results. I read about a Denver FSBO who undervalued his home by more than because they’ve put so much effort and love into the house. ● Some base their price on how much they need to clear from the sale, ignoring

$100,000 and then had to spend $30,000 getting out of the contract . Another tale reveals how a Realtor® made a seller $50,000 more than she had expected when pricing her home. ● Unqualified Buyers Few FSBO sellers understand — or have the patience to deal with — complex paperwork. This leaves them vulnerable to serious legal mistakes, scams, and outright fraud. As any Realtor® knows, it’s important to qualify buyers early in the sales process. An open house — especially a higher-priced one — tends to attract lots of curious folks who have neither the means nor the genuine interest to purchase the property. Besides, buyers are usually more comfortable disclosing their financial information to a real estate professional than confiding in a FSBO seller. After all, buyers are wary of scams, too, and they’re more likely to trust a licensed professional. Do you think the average FSBO is covered by errors and omissions insurance? Guess again. Add the cost of potential litigation to a FSBO sale, and suddenly the money “saved” by avoiding a Realtor® commission doesn’t seem like such a bargain. Given all the facts, it’s hard to believe anyone tries to sell FSBO. Amazingly, recent statistics indicate that 9% of US homes are listed as FSBO every year. A lot of people try FSBO just to see if they’ll get lucky. Those are some of the easiest for you to list. Key Takeaways 1. Most FSBOs do a horrible job selling their houses because they lack expertise and resources. 2. Owners usually underestimate the challenges of selling a FSBO house. 3. Often, FSBO sellers are reluctant to perform needed repairs, maintenance, and cosmetic enhancements. 4. On the other hand, industrious sellers often waste money on misguided “improvements.” 5. FSBO sellers lack access to resources for setting realistic prices. 6. Realtor®-listed homes are easier for other agents to show, which increases exposure to buyers. 7. The average FSBO home sells for $46,000 less than an agent-listed home. 8. The complexity of paperwork can result in sellers being victimized or exposed to greater liability. 9. FSBO homes account for 9% of annual listings, presenting an enormous opportunity for Realtors®.

Why It’s Easy to List FSBOs The biggest advantage of pursuing FSBO listings is the lack of competition. All real estate agents know about the potential of expired houses leads, so those homeowners get a lot of calls. I sell in the Jacksonville area, which is a fairly large market with approximately 6,000 Realtors®. When a house listing expires, those homeowners will receive anywhere from 50–100 phone calls from agents. In contrast, FSBOs may only get 50 calls over the course of three to six months on the market. These numbers show that the competition for FSBOs is reduced, making them much easier to list. Here’s a little story to illustrate what you need to know to best approach FSBOs. When I was young, I remember being chased by a much larger kid who was going to shove me down to the ground. I was running away from this kid and, as I ran around the corner, I came to a door which I tried to push open. I pushed as hard as I could, but the door would not budge. Suddenly, I realized that I had to pull the door open, not push it. I pulled on the door and it easily gave way, allowing me to escape the building. It’s a simple story, but it illustrates an important point about listing FSBOs: if you don’t know how to go about it correctly, it’s going to feel overwhelming, challenging, and frustrating. However, if you know the one little secret that makes all the difference, getting a FSBO to work with you is easy. ● Taking a Chance on FSBOs The reality is that approximately 25% of all FSBO sellers put their house on the market for a few weeks just to see if they can get lucky without hiring a Realtor®. Every once in a while, in a hot market, they do get lucky and their house sells in a week or two. Usually, they won’t end up selling for the same price they would get with an agent, but every once in a great while they will get lucky and net more money on their own. Seeing this example of success, others might try the FSBO method for a few months. However, few enjoy the same results. If they’re motivated and under pressure to sell, eventually they will recognize that they are in over their heads. When that time comes, they’ll go looking for a real estate professional. That’s when you, as a pro, can tell them everything that needs to be done in order for them to sell their house: staging, cleaning, better-quality pictures, better marketing, and more exposure.

If you know how to capture these listings at the right moment, you can list a high number of FSBOs. You just have to know the secret.

Key Takeaways 1. FSBO listings are a great opportunity, partly because other Realtors® tend to overlook them. 2. Approximately 25% of FSBO sellers put their house on the market for a few weeks just to see if they can get lucky without hiring an agent. 3. The occasional lucky FSBO sale perpetuates the myth that the FSBO method is a good strategy for most owners. 4. By assisting with a FSBO sale, you give the seller the benefit of your knowledge and expertise. 5. The path to success is learning the secret to capturing FSBO listings at the right moment .

How to Prove to FSBO Sellers That They’ll Get More Money if They Hire You

Realtors® can sell homes for more money tha FSBO sellers can on their own. Unfortunately, not every agent believes this to be true. Until you really understand that fact, you’ll always struggle to list FSBOs. Why? Because before you can convince someone else, first you have to convince yourself. Perhaps this story will help convince you. I recently listed a FSBO. The house had been on the market for three months at $189,900, with little activity. I put the house on the market for $200,000. It then sold two months later for $198,000. On their own, given how long their house had been on the market, the seller likely would have accepted a reduced price of $185,000, had a buyer made that offer. Perhaps they would have accepted an offer as low as $180,000. However, I was able to sell it for more money. How did this happen? Here are four reasons. You might be surprised to know that they’re the same By listing through a Realtor®, most sellers net more money in their pocket — even after they pay the agent’s commission. Remember, the average home sold by a Realtor® sells for $230,000 while the average FSBO home sells for $184,000, a difference of $46,000. This doesn’t mean that a Realtor® can sell the home for more money every time, but the numbers support that they often can. ● Reason #2: The whole selling process is easier when the seller hires an agent. I talked to a title company manager who handles FSBO closings and Realtor® closings. He told me that when a FSBO sells their home, it takes about 45 days for the two parties to sign the sale contract. He said that sometimes they don’t sign the contract at all until they sit down for the closing process. When a Realtor® sells a property, the sale contract is usually signed in less than 48 hours. This is no small matter. Have you ever heard of “buyer’s remorse?” That’s what it’s called when a buyer makes a commitment to purchase your home and then begins to question the wisdom of that decision. reasons 91% of sellers use a real estate professional to sell their home. ● Reason #1: We can sell homes for more money.

It doesn’t matter whether the decision was good or bad. I’ve seen buyers get buyer’s remorse even when they were practically stealing a home. The very act of making a large financial commitment can be daunting for otherwise practical individuals. Sometimes it goes so far that they actually change their minds. If the seller has a signed contract when the buyer tries to back out, then the seller can hold their feet to the fire. If not, the buyer walks away and the owner has to sell the house all over again. This doesn’t mean that someone can’t sell their house themselves. They probably could, eventually. But unless you have sold a lot of homes yourself, you probably are not going to be as successful and efficient as a professional would be. ● Reason #3: A good real estate agent can save 80–100 hours of the seller’s time. Realtors® save homeowners time because they are equipped to handle all the tedious tasks. They are experts at financing, home inspections, surveys, title work, appraisals, negotiations, and so much more. It is estimated that Realtors® do 189–213 different tasks in the process of selling a home. It’s better for someone else to do that instead of the seller. ● Reason #4: They solve problems. Problem-solving is the most important part of an agent’s job. After all, selling a home is complicated and there are multiple things that can go wrong throughout the process. A Realtor® is an expert at handling these upsets and is motivated to make sure sellers are successful in their sales. Key Takeaways 1. The average home sold by a Realtor® sells for $46,000 more than the average FSBO home. 2. Realtors® tend to get buyers under contract quickly, which helps protect sellers against buyer’s remorse. 3. A good Realtor® can save 80–100 hours of the seller’s time. 4. Selling a home is complicated and often requires the problem-solving expertise of a professional agent.

Warning! The Traditional FSBO Strategy is Flawed The traditional FSBO strategy is flawed because it centers on Realtors® making potential sellers feel foolish for wanting to do things on their own. Sellers may lack the knowledge and ability to sell their own homes effectively, but telling them that is no way to introduce yourself. The reality is that the seller is much better off with a Realtor® but explaining that to them needs to be handled the right way. ● Relationships Are Golden Another flaw to the traditional FSBO strategy is that most Realtors® only call a FSBO lead once. FSBO leads are different from expireds; they require a longer sale process. With FSBOs, it’s all about building a relationship — not about making a sales pitch one time and closing the deal. You’ve got to build that relationship by genuinely wanting to help them and then following through on that assistance. You need to be perceived as a helper, not a salesperson. Unfortunately, many Realtors® aren’t willing to put in that extra effort because they’re looking for a fast, proven result. That isn’t how FSBOs work. If you want success with FSBO listings, you need to think long-term. An agent with a good strategy will make an appointment with the seller just to preview their house, or meet with them just to talk about their options and develop a good rapport. Those relationships are invaluable. I have met with several FSBOs through preview appointments, and my conversion rate with those appointments was almost as high as my conversion rate with appointments for expired listings. If you’re serious about FSBOs, you have to value those appointments as much as you do the expired listing appointments — even if the results are slower. Key Takeaways 1. The traditional FSBO strategy is flawed because it requires agents to make FSBO sellers feel foolish. 2. Your FSBO strategy should focus on building a relationship, not closing a deal after one sales pitch.

3. If you’re serious about success, you must value each FSBO appointment as much as an expired listing appointment — even if results are slower.

Part II: The 5-Step Plan that Makes it Easy to List FSBOs

The 5-Step Plan Revealed This chapter covers a quick summary of the five steps in the FSBO plan. Afterward, there are a series of chapters that detail each step individually. ● Step #1: Get FSBOs to Talk to YouWithout Rejection You need to start conversations in order to get to know the potential FSBO seller — and let them get to know you. This connection you develop will help you get the listing. ● Step #2: Follow Up Follow up on the conversation. Turn those conversations into relationships. Follow up until they’re tired of trying to sell the house themselves and they decide to list their house with you. ● Step #3: This Strategy Makes It So Much Easier to List FSBOs Use the Smart Seller Plan strategy. This strategy, explained in detail in a later chapter, will make it so much easier and faster to list a FSBO house. It will make you the best choice in the eyes of any potential seller. ● Step #4: Sometimes You Have to Do This to Get the Listing Consider buying the listing. Whether or not this is a smart move depends on the circumstances. Personally, I have made great commissions off of listings that I “bought.” I’ll explain the pros and cons of buying listings in a later chapter. ● Step #5: Leverage Yourself With Virtual Assistants You’re going to want to systematize everything . In this step, I show you the easiest way to systematize all that you do so you can build an organizational scheme that brings in FSBO listings for you like clockwork.

That’s a summary of the five steps. The next few chapters will take an in-depth look at each step in the plan. Key Takeaways 1. There are five steps to the successful FSBO plan. 2. The first step is to start conversations in order to get to know the potential FSBO seller. 3. Next, you need to follow up repeatedly to build that relationship. 4. The third step is to adopt the Smart Seller Plan strategy. 5. Next, you might need to consider buying the listing. 6. The final step is to systematize everything in your process.

Step #1: Get FSBOs to Talk to YouWithout Rejection The key to getting FSBO sellers to be willing to talk to you is to be helpful. Most FSBO sellers will begin the process of selling their home optimistically, but then quickly feel overwhelmed. Finding an expert they perceive to be genuinely, unselfishly helpful offers them relief and hope. It immediately sets you apart from the myriad high-pressure salespeople they encounter in other aspects of their daily life. Your helpfulness can also lay the foundation for a continuing relationship. Why not establish yourself as a non-threatening, go-to resource for FSBO sellers who have questions and insecurities? It helps ensure that when those sellers are finally ready to turn their listings over to a professional, they’ll turn to you. ● The Magic of Free Samples Here’s a strategy that sets you apart from your competition. I’m sure you’ve observed how effective free samples can be in a marketing campaign. For example, think about when you go to the grocery store and people give you a free sample of their cheese. You eat it, you think it’s good, and, as a result, you buy some of their cheese. This works at grocery stores, but it also works for real estate. Here’s a quick example of how free samples enabled one company to beat their competition dramatically in an industry where most people traditionally don’t give away samples. Recently, I was walking through Savannah, Georgia, while visiting on vacation. I ended up passing by a store that had a little sign in the window that said “Free Cookies.” I wasn’t hungry, but you know what? Free sample cookies? Let’s try it out! Keep in mind that there were a lot of shops in this area of town. Some were busy, some were not, but I decided to check out the shop that had the free cookies. I walked in and found out that the free cookies were tiny — probably half-an-inch in diameter. The store allowed me to try one chocolate and one peanut butter. This store was busy. Although I didn’t buy any cookies after trying them out, I saw that many shoppers did. If I had been in the mood to buy cookies, I probably would’ve bought one of their standard bags at a cost of around $7. Why did this shop offer free cookies? It was to get people into the store so potential buyers could experience what the owners had to offer. Once inside, prospective customers could enjoy the quaint décor — perhaps listen to the owners talk about their fresh ingredients,

high-quality standards, and the love they put into their home-style baking process. All of these elements created a goodwill relationship between the shoppers and owners that

represented more than just baked goods. Most importantly, customers could smell

the cookies baking! Not surprisingly, this shop attracted a bigger crowd than any other store around. I’m sure they sold a lot of cookies. What’s a good sample that you can give away to FSBOs in order to get your foot in the door and let them see what you have to offer? Offering free pictures works well for me. Remember in Chapter 1 when we discussed the poor quality of photos taken by sellers? Here’s a way you can be genuinely helpful. It takes about an hour to take pictures of the house. You get to talk to the people, go through their house, see the advantages and disadvantages, and discuss some of your marketing ideas. This has enabled me to list a lot of FSBOs. Once I’ve gotten in and taken the photos, I have my assistant call and give the seller’s instructions on how to get the pictures. In several instances, the sellers never even wanted the free pictures after I shot them, but I got their listings because I offered the samples. Offering a service before asking for anything in return accomplished several important goals: ● It demonstrates my willingness to help. ● It allowed me to prove I possessed expert knowledge about marketing homes. ● It lowered the seller’s natural resistance to sales. ● It created the basis for a conversation, which formed the foundation for a relationship. In one example, my assistant cold-called a seller . The seller had been a FSBO but was finally ready to give in and hire a Realtor®. My virtual assistant called and offered the pictures, but the seller was so impressed with the offer they just skipped right to hiring me to sell their house. I’ve even obtained referrals from taking pictures. I took pictures for one seller, and her house ended up selling FSBO. However, she later referred me to her friend and I listed his $400,000 house. You can put the same kind of proven marketing to work for you.

Key Takeaways 1. The key to getting FSBOs to be willing to talk to you is to be helpful. 2. Free samples can help demonstrate your expertise, start a conversation, and lower a FSBO seller’s sales resistance. 3. One way to provide a useful sample is to offer to take free pictures of the seller’s home.

Step #2: Follow Up Back in 2003, I worked as an assistant on a team. This team mailed all the FSBOs in our marketplace a series of generic, watered-down letters. As the assistant, it was my job to mail those letters to the FSBOs. We printed the letters automatically through Top Producer. We’d mail out the same watered-down letters week after week and rarely saw a listing come from it. Their primary purpose was to assist the team leaders with prospecting. We weren’t advanced marketers, but no one really was at that time. We did get some business from the letters, and I believe that they did assist with prospecting. However, what is really interesting is that we listed several homes a year simply because we kept mailing the FSBOs when other teams stopped. Our persistence paid off, which was evident every time we got a call from a FSBO wanting to list with us. During initial consultations, the leads would often explain that they had decided to call us because of the stack of letters they had received. The reasoning seemed to be that if we were so good at marketing ourselves to them, we must be good at marketing houses, too. According to all the studies, you have to follow up continually with leads to secure their business. This is especially true with FSBOs because they take longer to nurture into a listing. If you look at the study below, you will see 79% of all Realtors® usually give up on a FSBO after the third call. If you continue to stay in touch and build rapport, you’re more likely to get the listing down the road when they’re ready. If you call a FSBO back a fourth time, you’ve already pushed yourself ahead of 79% of your competition. Because only a handful of agents focus on securing FSBOs, that limits your competition even further. Beyond that, the potential seller will respect your determination and persistence. Who wouldn’t respect that kind of follow-up? The key is to keep yourself motivated to follow-up with them. The best way to do this is to consider each FSBO lead that you build a relationship with the same as an expired listing lead. Often, I will offer to go by a FSBO home and give suggestions on ways they can better market their home. By helping them out this way, it could likely turn into a listing. With this method, I converted as many of those soft-sell appointments into listings as I converted expireds into listings. Of course, you’ll want to build up to this preview appointment. The first time you call them, just ask them how long they plan to market their house themselves before they would hire a Realtor®.

Next, offer them free pictures of their house. Finally, after you’ve made several calls and switched up your offers enough, ask for that preview appointment. Of course, if you don’t have time for all this, you could always hire a virtual assistant to help you with some of the processes. We’ll discuss everything you need to know about finding, hiring, and managing virtual assistants in later chapters. Below are a couple of scripts you can use to get your foot in the door with FSBOs. The first script has worked very well for me. I think it works because it’s so simple and honest. Step #1: Make sure you are talking to the owner. “Hey, do you have your property for sale?” Alternate: “Hi, I’m calling about the home for sale. Is this the owner?” Step #2: Ask if they have a minute to talk. I just had a quick question for you. Do you have a minute? Step #3: Find out when they are open to hiring a Realtor®. My name is _____. I’m a local Realtor® here in _______. But I’m not calling you to list your home. (Slight Pause) I was just wondering … if by chance, down the road, if your property doesn’t sell … might you consider hiring a Realtor®? Step #4: Get their email address. “Ok. Well then, let me do this. Can I get your email so we can send you some information … and, by chance, if you ever wanted to contact us … then you could? Pause for a second to see if they’ll give you their email. After 2–3 seconds, say the following with a downswing: “What’s your email address?” Note: Unless they object … assume they want to give you their email address. Step #5: If you think there’s an opening, then continue. FSBO Script – First Call

“Now, if you could sell your home with a Realtor®, and they did all the work … and you still NETTED the same amount of money in your pocket … is that something you would consider doing?” Most will say, “Yes.” If so, then continue: “I know this may sound crazy, but in most cases, a Realtor® can sell your home for more money. For example, there was recently a FSBO on the market for $220,000. After four months on the market, they hired a Realtor®. The realtor sold it for $240,000. Even after paying commissions, the seller got an extra $5,000 in their pocket. I’m not saying this happens every time, but it happens more often than not.” [End Script.] I recently used the script above and got a $350,000 listing. My assistant happened to call the seller at just the right time. They had given up on selling FSBO and were looking for an agent. I had a good presentation and they listed with me.

FSBO Script – Free Pictures

Step #1: Make sure you are talking to the owner. “Hi, I’m calling about the home for sale. Is this the owner?” Step #2: Ask if they have a minute to talk. I just had a quick question for you. Do you have a minute? Step #3: Find out when they might be open to hiring a Realtor®. My name is _____. I’m a local Realtor® here in _______.

But, I’m not calling you about listing your home. I wanted to see if I could offer you FREE, PROFESSIONAL-QUALITY pictures of your home. You can use those pictures to market your home for sale by owner. (Slight Pause) Do you think that’s something that would interest you? (Pause and wait for them to respond.) Most people will reply, “Why would you do that? It sounds like a scam.” To which you reply, “It’s like when you go to the grocery store and someone offers you free samples. They give you the food samples, whether or not you buy more food from that. That’s why I’m giving away the

pictures. It’s a free sample of what I can do to sell your home. (Slight Pause) Is that something you’d be interested in? Step #4: Schedule an appointment to take the pictures. (I prefer to take pictures on Friday or Saturday, so that’s when I schedule it. You can do a different time.) When would you be available on Friday or Saturday for me to come out and take the pictures? Step #5: Confirm the address and time. [End Script.] Key Takeaways 1. FSBOs take longer to nurture than other real estate relationships. 2. Because 79% of Realtors® give up on FSBOs after the third call, persistence can set your marketing apart. 3. Staying motivated leads to success. One way is to treat each FSBO lead like an expired listing lead. 4. Don’t rush FSBO sellers. Be helpful. Drive by and offer FSBO sellers free advice. 5. On your first call, just ask how long they plan to market their house before possibly hiring a Realtor®. 6. Next, offer them free pictures of their house. Use one of two scripts included in this chapter to get your foot in the door. The first script is for an initial call to a FSBO seller. I designed the second script to work with an offer to provide free pictures of the seller’s house. 7. Ask for a preview appointment only after you’ve made several calls and several free offers. 8. If you don’t have time for all of this, consider hiring a virtual assistant to help with some of the processes.

Step #3: This Strategy Makes It So Much Easier to List FSBOs

You are now in the process of following up with the FSBO lead. You’re staying in touch. They’re close to listing with you, but they’re hesitant. They know you’re the best agent, and they’re going to list with you, but they’re reluctant to commit. What do you do? I use the Smart Seller’s Plan , which is essentially an exclusive agency listing. This kind of agreement means that the seller lists with you and agrees to pay you your commission if you or any other Realtor® sells the house. At the same time, the seller retains the right to market their house on their own and owes you nothing if their house sells as a result of their own efforts. When I call a FSBO lead and ask if this plan seems attractive to them, a lot of them will say that it does because it doesn’t require full commitment to a Realtor®. They still have the right to market on their own and to hold out hope of selling their home that way. What’s interesting, though, is that once you list the house and begin doing the work to market it, the seller will often stop doing their part of the marketing because they feel that a professional is handling it. Within two or three weeks, they’re relying on you to sell their house. In my experience, I have never had a problem with homeowners selling their homes out from under me after I assume the listing. Even if that does end up happening on occasion, the potential benefit to you outweighs the risk of this approach. You can do two things to minimize your risk: make sure that your sign is the one in the yard and that the Zillow listing is under your name or company. If the seller already has a Zillow listing, Zillow’s support team can help deactivate it so you can put the house back up with your name as the listing agent. There can be complications with this if the Zillow listing is not correctly transferred. Again, this approach is not without risk. But everything comes with a risk, and this is still a great way to get listings no one else gets. Sometimes there is an issue with listing an exclusive agency house with MLS. If that situation occurs, I simply list it as an exclusive right-of-sale agreement. In that case, I write into the agreement a little bit of legalese stating that, if the seller were to find a buyer on their own, they would not owe me a commission. This is similar to the approach taken when, prior to listing with you, the seller already has a buyer lead. Overall, this approach may not be traditional, but it does work, and I’ve made a great deal of money from listings that I’ve secured through this method.

Key Takeaways

The Smart Seller’s Plan is appealing because: 1. The FSBO seller agrees to list with you and pay you a commission if you or any other Realtor® sells the house. 2. Sellers pay no commission if the house sells as a result of their own efforts. 3. In actuality, most FSBO sellers discontinue their own marketing efforts after listing with you. 4. You might put work into the sale only to ultimately lose the commission, but the potential benefits outweigh the potential risks. To minimize your risk: 1. Make sure it is your sign in the yard. 2. Make sure the Zillow listing is under your name or company. 3. Make sure the Zillow listing is transferred correctly and that you meet requirements to list with MLS.

Step #4: Sometimes, You Have to Do This to Get the Listing People don’t always like to admit this, but sometimes you have to buy a listing. In fact, when the market is hot, you actually should want to buy listings. When the market is really hot and there are a lot of FSBOs, the only way you’re going to be able to list any of them is if you buy the listing. This method usually works out in your favor because you generate a lot of activity for the client, driving up the price. I met with a FSBO 12 years ago. He had his vacant lot priced at $180,000. I told him that I thought I could sell it for about $200,000. I listed it at that price, and after about three months, it sold for $185,000. His net, after commissions, was $174,000. Basically, he made money by hiring me to sell his vacant lot. Let me explain why. His net profit after commissions was about $174,000, but if he had sold the lot on his own, he likely would have accepted an offer of $170,000 So he made more money than he would have, and he didn’t have to do the work. He got a great deal, especially considering that most FSBOs have to put in 80–100 hours of their own time to sell their property. He saved a lot on time investment as well. I’ve done this same thing with many other FSBO listings. On multiple occasions, I have secured a FSBO home and then listed it for $10,000–$15,000 dollars more than the owner felt they could get for the home. Even if I do not end up selling the home at the higher price, the seller ultimately realizes that they haven’t really lost that 6% commission because I’ve done all the work for them — and they likely would have ended up with a much lower offer anyway. Buying a listing can be a great strategy. It’s not something that you would want to do all the time but used correctly, it can often work in your favor. Key Takeaways 1. Sometimes — especially in a hot market — it may be advantageous to buy a listing. 2. This usually works in your favor, because you generate activity for the client, driving up the price.

Step #5: Leverage Yourself with Virtual Assistants You’re a Realtor®. As such, you’re busy and you get interrupted all the time. If you build a system that relies on you to do all the work, it may crash and burn. Why? The answer is because you’re just too busy. It’s difficult to control your schedule. The interruptions never stop! The phone’s going to ring; you’re going to meet with sellers, and you’re going to work with buyers. Because you’re so busy, you can’t rely on yourself to have the free time every day to implement your FSBO marketing plan, just as the McDonald’s CEO can’t do everything for the business himself. However, the McDonald’s CEO can systematize what he does by delegating certain tasks to employees. Don’t hire an expensive employee. Get a virtual assistant. The beauty of hiring a worker who functions online is that you can choose someone from nearly anywhere in the world. Not having to maintain office space for your virtual assistant saves you money on overhead. I have had especially good luck working with individuals who live in the Philippines, where you can hire a virtual assistant to do all the work you require for about $2 to $3 dollars an hour. Bear in mind that wage scales vary widely throughout the world. In many developing parts of the world, costs for food, shelter, and other goods and services are much lower than they are here. What seems like a very low salary in America is often a sought-after amount in another country and more than enough to sustain your virtual assistant in comfort. You can have your virtual assistant do everything you need to establish FSBOs as a dynamic part of your growing business. Obviously, you need to make sure that you, not your virtual assistant, will handle anything that requires a license. I have my virtual assistants set up listing appointments, for example. You can have your virtual assistants pull the leads and call them on your behalf. They can put your leads into a database or CRM system and track them for you. I would have them call the leads — using the scripts that I’m going to give you below — and find out if there are any opportunities to get the listing. Here is what I do that gets the most listings. When I first started out, I did a lot of cold calling. I actually became fairly good at cold calling. I wouldn’t say that I was the best at it or that it was the best use of my time, but I got listings, and that’s what mattered. I developed my own scripts, voice inflection, and methods for handling objections. However, I knew there was a better way. So I put a lot of time into direct mail. I’ve obtained many listings from direct mail.

Have your virtual assistants call the FSBOs and offer them free pictures that you will take because it’s a great way for you to build rapport with the seller. Have them call the FSBO every single week and do the follow-up for you, so when the homeowner does get tired of selling FSBO, they end up listing their house with you. Here are some of the scripts your assistant can use to call the FSBOs and cultivate them so they turn into listings. These scripts are very similar to the ones presented in Chapter 7 but have been modified very slightly for use by a virtual assistant.

Virtual Assistant’s FSBO Script – First Call

Step #1: Make sure you are talking to the owner. “Hey, do you have your property for sale?” Alternate: “Hi, I’m calling about the home for sale. Is this the owner?” Step #2: Ask if they have a minute to talk. I just had a quick question for you. Do you have a minute?

Step #3: Find out when they are open to hiring a Realtor®. My name is _____. I work for a local Realtor® here in _______. But, I’m not calling you to list your home. (Slight Pause) I was just wondering … if by chance, down the road, your property doesn’t sell … might you consider hiring a Realtor®? Step #4: Get their email address. “Okay. Well, then let me do this. Can I get your email so we can send you some information … and if, by chance, you ever wanted to contact us … then you could? Pause for a second to see if they’ll give you their email. After 2–3 seconds, say the following with a downswing: “What’s your email address?” Note: Unless they object, assume they want to give you their email address. Step #5: If you think there’s an opening, then continue. “Now, if you could sell your home with a Realtor®, and they did all the work … and you still NETTED the same amount of money in your pocket … is that something you would consider doing?” Most will say “Yes.” If so, then continue:

“I know this may sound crazy, but in most cases, a Realtor® can sell your home for more money. For example, there was recently a FSBO on the market for $220,000. After four months on the market, they hired a Realtor®. The Realtor® sold it for $240,000. Even after paying commissions, the seller got an extra $5,000 in their pocket. I’m not saying this happens every time, but it happens more often than not.” [End Script.] As I mentioned earlier, I recently used this script and got a $350,000 listing. My assistant happened to call the seller at just the right time. The seller had given up on selling FSBO and was looking for an agent. I had a good presentation and they listed with me. The other script we use is one in which we offer to take free pictures of the seller’s house. It’s worked very well for us. Virtual Assistant’s FSBO Script – Free Pictures

But, I’m not calling you about listing your home. I wanted to see if I could offer you FREE, PROFESSIONAL-QUALITY pictures of your home. You can use those pictures to market your home for sale by owner. (Slight Pause) Do you think that’s something you would be interested in? (Pause and wait for them to reply.) Most people will reply, “Why would you do that? It sounds like a scam.” To which you (the assistant) reply, “It’s like when you go to the grocery store and someone offers you free samples. They give you the food samples whether or not you buy more food from that.

That’s why I’m giving away the pictures. It’s a free sample of what we can do to sell your home. (Slight Pause) Is that something you’d be interested in? Step #4: Schedule an appointment to take the pictures. (We prefer to take pictures on Friday or Saturday, so that’s when I schedule it. You can do a different time.) When would you be available on Friday or Saturday for us to come out and take the pictures? Step #5: Confirm the address and time. [End Script.]

Key Takeaways 1. Leverage your efforts by hiring an inexpensive virtual assistant. Your virtual assistant can:

a. pull FSBO leads for you. b. initiate calls to those leads. c. set up appointments with those who wish to list with a Realtor®. d. enter and track leads in a database or CRM.

2. Make sure you, not your virtual assistant, will perform any task that would require a license. 3. To ensure consistency in client contacts, have your assistant adhere to one of the scripts provided above. 4. Instead of cold calling, mail sellers the For Sale By Owner Guide under your branding and then follow up four or five days later.

Part III: Closing the Seller on Hiring You

How to Get Every Seller to Like You — So They List with You I’ve seen a lot of real estate agents get listings, even those who don’t do the best job. Maybe I should say they do a low-quality job. The reason they got that listing was that the seller liked them . You don’t have to do a low-quality job selling houses in order to use that same strategy. Instead, you can do a great-quality job selling houses and still use this strategy to get even more listings. That is, you can figure out how to get every seller to like you and build rapport with people. It’s so important to build rapport. One of the things I recommend doing if you want to learn how to build a better rapport with people is to get the book How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It’s an excellent book, and it will show you all the ins and outs of how to build better relationships. Take me, for example. I’ve obtained a lot of listings by showing people how I can do a better job of marketing their house. However, I’ve also gotten a lot of listings just because I was good at developing a rapport with that seller. Here is my biggest advantage in this area: I’m a good listener. Maybe I’m not the best listener, but I am halfway decent at it. I will sit there and listen to someone. They’ll tell me their story for an hour or sometimes two hours (I try not to let it go that long). I remember a recent example involving a former architect. I sat there and he told me stories. I was genuinely interested in what he had to say because I love houses. I didn’t “back slap” him. I wasn’t fake. I asked him questions about how he designs houses. We talked for probably an hour-and-a-half. I’m not sure if that was what got me the listing, but I think it was a big part of it. So do this: listen to people. Let them talk! It makes a huge difference because everybody wants someone to listen to them. So let them feel important.

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