What Is a Motivated Seller and How To Find Them?

The real estate world is complicated enough that almost everyone needs the help of a real estate agent or broker to help them. Maybe that is why the demand for the services of the real estate sales and brokerage industry has been growing by about 4.2% each year since 2017. In 2022, people spent more than $237 billion in this market.

There are a lot of good reasons that people come back time and time again to the services of real estate agents. If you are trying to decipher a real estate listing that mentions terms like "motivated seller", you may need an expert on your side.

Additionally, understanding what a motivated seller is can help you improve your own approach strategy when you find a home you are interested in. So what does a motivated seller mean in the context of real estate?

Read on to learn all about the most vital things to understand t what a motivated seller is and how you should respond to one!

The Theoretical Meaning of a Motivated Seller

In theory, the meaning of a motivated seller is simple. It refers to a seller who wants to make a sale as soon as possible. Not only that, but they are willing to tell potential buyers about their desperate situation even though that could mean sacrificing their preferred sale price.

When you are dealing with a real motivated seller, they will often be willing to negotiate for a lower price. At the same time, you may also need to be prepared to make a deal as soon as possible.

Common Reasons a Seller is Motivated

So why might a seller be willing to admit their desperate situation in a listing? In some cases, the seller may be on the cusp of foreclosure. In such situations, they may have no choice but to do everything they can to make a sale as soon as possible.

That can even mean selling their property at a lower price than they would like.

In other cases, a seller might want to sell their property as soon as possible because they are concerned that it will develop obvious maintenance problems in the near future. If a home is right on the edge of collapse, the seller might be willing to make concessions to get it off their hands as soon as possible.

Then, when something goes inevitably wrong with it, it will not be their problem anymore. In these situations, it is important to be careful when dealing with a motivated seller. You need to understand their motivations. As the saying goes, if a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.

In other situations, a motivated seller might be about to give up and cancel their listing. Before they do so, they might decide to edit their listing to indicate that they are a motivated seller. This way, they can see if anyone at all is interested before they give up.

In such cases, the seller might not be as willing to accept a lower price.

This is also true if a seller has to make a sale without entering short-sale territory. In that case, the seller might as well attract as many buyers as possible because they already know that they are not going to lower their asking price, no matter what.

Other Types of Motivated Sellers

All of this applies to genuinely motivated sellers. That being said, it is common knowledge these days that adding the term "motivated seller" to a listing can attract a lot of interested buyers. At this point, it is common to run across sellers who say they are “motivated”, but who are really just playing a deceptive game.

A seller might say they are motivated just so that many buyers make them an offer. Then, they might proceed with negotiations, with no intention of accepting a lower price.

Some buyers even get excited about the prospect of finding a motivated seller. This excitement can lead them to feel like they need to seal the deal on a property even if it turns out they can’t get a lower price for it.

Strategies for Working With Motivated Sellers

And sometimes, a real estate agent might mention that the seller is motivated to try to attract buyers. This can happen if the seller is being stubborn and asking for an unrealistic sales price. Real estate agents may indicate that the seller is motivated in an attempt to get people to make any offer at all for an overpriced listing.

For this reason, you should always ask the listing agent why the seller is so motivated. You can also try giving a lowball offer to see what kind of response you get back. If the seller responds back that they are unwilling to move their price, it may turn out that they are not as motivated as you may have thought.

If this happens, you might want to wait for a few weeks or even months to see if the listing price goes down. Sooner or later, sellers who create overpriced listings end up changing their minds.

Understand the Meaning of a Motivated Seller

Knowing the right real estate strategies can make all the difference when you are buying or selling a home. Understanding what to make of a listing that mentions a “motivated seller” can help you come up with an approach that could help you save a lot of money. On the other hand, you may be able to achieve the best results by depending on real estate professionals.

To learn more about how you can find the best real estate leads and marketing services for you, fill out our contact form to get in touch with our real estate leads experts, schedule a meeting, or call us at (402) 235-4556.