What is a motivated seller?
A motivated seller is an owner with a real reason to sell soon, such as financial pressure, an inherited house, a problem tenant, or a relocation. The reason is the signal, it tells you there may be a deal. See the glossary definition for the short form.
What are the best channels to find them?
The main channels are cold calling, targeted lists with skip tracing, direct mail, PPC, and driving for dollars, and they trade off speed, exclusivity, and cost.
| Channel | Speed | Exclusivity |
|---|---|---|
| Cold calling | Fast | Exclusive, yours only |
| Direct mail | Slow | Exclusive list |
| PPC | Medium | You bid against rivals |
| Driving for dollars | Slow, manual | Exclusive |
For the cost-per-deal view, see cold calling vs PPC vs direct mail.
How do you build a motivated-seller list?
Start with a targeted owner list, then skip trace it to get current phone numbers you can actually call. Absentee owners, inherited and probate, tired landlords, and high-equity owners are common targets. We cover the lists that convert in this guide, and include skip tracing at low cost.
How do you qualify motivation on the call?
Qualify on four things: condition, timeline, price, and motivation, and motivation is the one that ranks the lead. A trained caller finds it fast without sounding like a survey. Build a script in our free script generator.