In this instructional video, real‑estate investor Joe Homs explains what distinguishes a motivated seller from a typical homeowner and outlines four common categories of motivated sellers: (1) owners in foreclosure, (2) recently divorced owners, (3) owners of recently inherited properties, and (4) owners of long‑held, distressed or hoarder homes. He describes how each situation creates urgency for a quick cash sale and why investors can leverage that urgency for favorable purchase terms. Homs then details practical methods for locating these sellers, emphasizing public‑record sources such as Notices of Default filed with county recorders, divorce filings, and probate records, as well as commercial lead‑generation platforms like PropertyRadar and PropStream. He explains how to obtain large lead lists, what data points are valuable (owner name, phone, lien amount, filing dates), and how real‑estate agents or title reps can assist. The video also provides a sample outreach script, tips for framing conversations without revealing the investor’s intent too early, and negotiation insights drawn from his own experiences (e.g., a hoarder property that was bought below asking price after on‑site due diligence). Homs encourages viewers to comment on their experiences, watch a follow‑up video on seller communication, or contact him directly for personalized help.
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In today's video, you're going to find out what a motivated seller is and how to find them. Coming up next. Keep in mind that there's a very big difference between a motivated seller and a homeowner who's trying to sell their property. A motivated seller needs to sell their property as fast as possible. Because they need that cash. The situation may be an emergency or there's some other urgent need. What makes a seller motivated instead of just merely interested? Let's talk about it. Before we begin, make sure that you like and subscribe. If you're looking to live the life that you've always wanted through real estate, I made this channel for you, the new or experienced investor. Here are 4 types of motivated sellers to keep an eye out for. Stick around to the end Because I'm going to show you how to get their information so that you can reach out and provide a possible solution. Number 1 motivated seller, somebody in the foreclosure process. I like to describe somebody in the foreclosure process as somebody raising their hand and saying, I'm in trouble. And we get all this information through public records because the bank files a document called the Notice of Default with the county recorder's office, and then that makes it public information so that you can go out and talk to them, knock on their door, or call them. Number 2, recently divorced. And yes, you can get those lists. Again, all that is public information. The problem that I usually have with divorces is that husband and wife are arguing and they don't want to agree on anything. And so sometimes it's very difficult to do a deal with them because they don't agree to anything. I can't tell you how many places that I have purchased on the courthouse steps because the husband and a wife didn't agree and they left $100,000 to $200,000 on the table because they could not agree. Number 3, a recently inherited property. I love this type of seller because they really have no interest in this property. They may have lived there at one point in time during their childhood, but they don't live there now. They didn't put their hard-earned money into paying down that loan. Their goal is, how much can I sell it for and how quick can you get me the money? So that's their desperation, which you should always take advantage of in the purchase price of that property and the closing of that property as quick as possible. Number 4, the owner of an old property. And I just recently had one where the owner said, yeah, we built this house ourselves about 10 years ago. We've had a tenant in place for the last 7 years. I go, great, how much do you want? We came up with a $380,000 price tag. I said, okay, I'm going to need to do my due diligence. I need to go out there, but I want you, seller, to meet me out there because I know when I get out there, this property is not going to look anywhere near what they thought it was looking like. So we get there, we open up the door from the car, and we get greeted by 5 large dogs coming out of the house. And that was a first indication that, oh well, we're going downhill on this property. We get up to the property, we go in, there's another 4 or 5 cats inside the house. It literally, as I'm walking around, looks like a hoarder house. You can imagine the smell of the house inside. The owners are there. They're not there. There right in front of me. She gets to the point where she says, Joe, I'm going to meet you outside. And I know why, because it's just in terrible condition. And she was really depressed at that point in time. So I do my due diligence. I walk around, I get outside, and the seller comes up to me. Joe, I apologize. I know we have this at $380,000. I'll sell it to you for $325,000 if you're still in. I said, absolutely. Why would I negotiate against myself? She's willing to lower the price? I said, yes. How do you find the seller's information? So there's probably, probably hundreds of places that you can find this information. I use PropertyRadar. There's PropStream out there. There's lots of companies like that that you can get this information from. If you're a real estate agent, you can ask a title rep to give you that information. They'll provide that to you. I pull large lists and I'm talking about 250,000. So obviously I'm not going to call my title rep and say, give me 250,000 leads. If you're just going to do, you know, one-off or 10 or whatever, they'll give them to you. But those, the sources that you get them from are out there. PropertyRadar, PropStream. There's, again, there's others. You just have to look. And It's got all the information that you need, owners' names, some even come with phone numbers, the date if you're doing NODs, the date that it was filed, how much is owed to the bank, what the price is that the bank wants at the end of the day at the courthouse steps. All that information is there. What do you say when you get a hold of them? It depends what your script looks like. It depends what kind of leads you're going after. Hi, my name is Joe. I'm a real estate investor. We're buying a couple of houses in your neighborhood. We're looking for another one. I just thought maybe I'd stop by and see maybe if you were interested. I know that they're interested because I'm knocking on a door that somebody's raised their hand and said, I stopped making my mortgage payment, and I— and now through public records, I can see that, you know, they're in trouble. So I know that. I don't come right out and tell them that. We get in further into the conversation, but that's the conversation that I have. Are you already reaching out to motivated sellers? Let me know in the comments below. And remember, the typical homeowner isn't in as much of a hurry as they are willing to wait as long as it takes until they get the best possible price. You want to go after those people who may have a property that is a burden or in need of too many repairs. If you need help talking to sellers, make sure that you watch this video next. Or reach out to me. I can help you talk to them. I'm always here to help.
