Lead Tips

We know you're a professional and have followed up on 100's of leads to make it in this business. We recommend you add these tips to your toolbox, too. Our most successful clients have offered the following advice when following up on leads that come to you through USHUD.com and our family of web sites.

Sample Opening:

“Good afternoon, this is John Smith. I am the USHUD.com Foreclosure Specialist in this area. I received the inquiry you submitted while viewing properties on the website and wanted to reach out to you. Did you see a property that interested you?”

1. Reference USHUD.com or your state HUD web site when you introduce yourself as well as your realty or mortgage company.

WHY? Potential clients recognize their recent interest and searches on foreclosures and USHUD.com before they recognize you or your banner information. This starts the conversation with less confusion which could derail the conversation.

2. Ask the buyer about properties they may have interest in order to get the conversation flowing.

WHY? Talking about mortgage terms too soon leads to a familiar refrain: “I was just looking.” Engaging buyers in a conversation about property helps build rapport and allows you to determine more about the prospect without specifically having to ask.

3. Call within minutes of receiving the lead notification.

Beware of language that intimidates:

Loan officers shouldn't mention the word “mortgage” or any relative terms in the first 5 minutes of in the introduction call or in the email.

Questions to build rapport:

“What type of properties spark your interest?” or “What prompted you to begin looking at foreclosures?"

WHY? Buyers access multiple websites and when they're searching ours, they may very well be searching others.
By sending you our leads in real time, you have the opportunity to connect before other any other professional calls them and possibly while they are still online.

Email Do's & Don'ts:

• Make sure your subject line is consistent with the buyer's inquiry, such as: USHUD Foreclosure Inquiry – Free listings in AA County. Subjects lines like: Your Home Inquiry or Your Online Request are too vague.

• Avoid telling the buyer all about your business in the first email.

• Consider sharing market information in bullet points to spice up the email. (Visit our Facebook page for great market information.)

• Keep all emails short & simple.

4. Send an email as a 2nd attempt – NEVER a first attempt.

WHY? Emails are easily overlooked and often marked as spam. You should call the potential client and follow up with an email. This will increase your chances for the buyer to review it. Emails are also a great vehicle for people who aren't comfortable speaking.

5. Leave one, maybe two voicemails – but only as a last attempt.

WHY? If you don't reach them live, another professional from another company will. So give it your best shot to connect live by calling at various times of day and different days before leaving a message. When you do leave a message, one good voice mail gives the prospect what they need to get back in touch with you. Too many voicemails and you're perceived as annoying or unprofessional.

HUD Foreclosures

HUD foreclosures and VA Foreclosures are some of the best homes to buy when price is part of the equation. As with most Americans, price is always a concern. If not buying the same house for less, why not buy more house for the same dollar invested? When looking for a good deal it is hard to do better than the VA or HUD foreclosures market. The simple truth is that there are just more VA and HUD homes on the market, as they represent such a large number of mortgages that are generated each year. This translates into more foreclosures just by the magnitude of difference between all others comparing to the two largest.

The two largest also being government owned and operated means that they have less time to wait to make money back on the home. The FHA is especially known for selling HUD homes for less than the average sales price in a given area. FHA foreclosures represent a fraction of HUD but they are still a significant number of homes and both should be considered.

VA (Veterans Administration) and HUD (Housing and Urban Development) have different and unique opportunities for the buyer. Both are often forgiven for the local taxes normally associated with the purchase of a home (this is on a county by county basis). Be sure to ask the local title company or escrow company to look into it for you before closing as this is often missed due to their are not used to dealing with the 2 to 3 percent of the market that VA and HUD foreclosures represent.

Foreclosure Listings Increasing

As the market settled after the mortgage meltdown foreclosure listings also settled and fewer homes were on the market with a placard reading “Bank Foreclosure” in big red lettering. This was a good thing for the entire real estate market. Having an abundance of foreclosures brings the entire market down and it makes it harder for home owners, who would like to move, to get the appropriate price for their home as a similar home down the same street was sold for substantially less and the appraiser is using the foreclosure as a comparable sale.

This is just one of the problems when there are too many foreclosure listings in any area. Another issue is the television set that sits in everyone’s living room harping about the price of homes based on the number of foreclosures and this constant barrage of negative information makes most people sit on the sidelines waiting for the market to either implode completely or to correct itself. Meanwhile while they wait, others are buying foreclosure listings and making great investments.

Whatever the reason, a market can only handle so many foreclosure listings at any given time. The more foreclosures, the lower the market gets and this is a lesson the banks that were foreclosing and selling off realized too late. The market and their investments would have been better off if there had not been a rush to divest themselves of the toxic assets made more toxic by their own actions.

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HUD Foreclosures

Foreclosure Listings Increasing