What questions should I ask a motivated seller?
By Josh MillerUpdated 3 min readAsk about the reason first, then the deadline, then the house, then the loan, then who else has to agree, and only then the price. The two answers that decide whether there's a deal are why they're selling and what happens if they don't by a certain date; everything else is detail.
A motivated seller call goes wrong the same way most of the time: the investor asks for the price in the first two minutes, the owner names a number from Zillow, and the call is over before anybody knows whether there was a deal.
The order of the questions matters more than the questions. Here are twelve, in the order they work, and what each answer tells you.
The reason (ask this first)
1. "What has you thinking about selling?" Open, and then stop talking. The reason is the deal. An inherited house, a job in another state, a divorce, two missed payments, a tenant who stopped paying: each one tells you how much time the owner has and what they need the sale to do.
2. "How long has that been going on?" A problem that started last month and a problem that's three years old are different calls. The county records already hint at this: a foreclosure filing or an expired listing has a date on it, and those lists sold off-market most heavily on very different clocks.
The deadline (this is where motivation lives)
3. "Is there a date you need this done by?" Listen for a real date: a foreclosure sale, a closing on their next house, a court date, a lease ending.
4. "What happens if it hasn't sold by then?" This is the most useful question on the list. A seller with a real deadline has an answer, and it usually isn't good. A seller who says "nothing, I'd just keep it" is telling you, kindly, that they aren't motivated yet.
The house
5. "If you were staying, what would you fix first?" Better than "what condition is it in," which gets you "pretty good." This gets you the roof.
6. "Is anyone living there now?" Owner, tenant, family member, nobody. A vacant house, a tenant on a lease and a relative who won't leave are three different deals.
The loan
7. "Roughly what do you still owe on it?" You need this to know if a cash offer can work at all. If they owe more than you can pay, the conversation turns to terms or ends politely.
8. "Are you current on the payments?" Ask it plainly and without judgment. If they're behind, ask whether they've had a notice from the lender or a sale date. Federal rules keep a servicer from filing a foreclosure until the loan is more than 120 days behind, so a filing means months of missed payments, and in Texas a trustee sale needs only 21 days' notice.
An owner who's behind with a low-rate loan is also the one conversation where taking over the payments might come up. Know the due-on-sale rules before you suggest it.
Who decides
9. "Is anyone else on the title, or anyone who'd want a say?" A spouse, a sibling, an heir in another state. The deal is only as real as the last person who has to sign.
10. For an inherited house: "Has the estate been opened yet, and who's the executor?" If probate hasn't started, nobody can sell yet. In California, some sales need court confirmation; in Texas, an independent executor can usually sell without a court order. Ask, don't assume.
The number (ask this last)
11. "If we could take care of the repairs, the timing and the closing costs, what would you need to walk away with?" By now you know the reason, the deadline, the house and the loan, so their number means something. "Need" is a better word than "want."
12. "If the numbers work, is there anything that would keep you from moving forward?" This is where the real objection shows up: the brother in Phoenix, the agent they half-promised, the emotional attachment to the house. Better to hear it now. Here's how to handle the common ones.
Make the first call the right call
None of these questions help if you're calling owners who were never going to sell. The best questions in the world won't turn a free and clear owner who loves their house into a seller. Across the 2,170 counties we measured, about 1.5 of every 100 free and clear owners sold off-market within 12 months. Owners with a foreclosure filing sold at about 13 of every 100 within 12 months of the filing, across 99 counties.
Start with the owners who already have a reason and a deadline, and call them while the deadline is still ahead of them. The free timing tool shows when each list sold in your county, so you know which calls to make this week.
Questions investors ask
What is the first question to ask a motivated seller?
Why they're thinking about selling. Their reason tells you how much time they have, what they need from the sale, and whether a cash offer or terms will solve their problem. Price comes much later.
How do I find out how motivated a seller is?
Ask what happens if the house doesn't sell by a certain date. A seller with a foreclosure sale date, a probate deadline or a move has an answer. A seller testing the market usually says nothing happens.
Should I ask the seller what price they want?
Yes, but last. Ask after you understand the reason, the deadline, the condition and the loan. By then their number has context, and so does yours.
What should I ask about the mortgage?
Roughly what they owe, whether they're current on payments, and, if they're behind, whether they've received a notice of default or a sale date. That tells you if a cash offer works, if terms like subject-to are worth raising, and how fast you have to move.
How do I ask about a probate property?
Gently, and about the process: who the executor is, whether the estate has been opened in court, whether the other heirs agree to sell, and if anyone is living in the house. In some states the executor needs court approval to sell.