This YouTube video records a phone call between investor Mark Evans DM and a seller, Sharon, about buying her Ohio property on Osceola as she plans to move to Clearwater, Florida. The call covers property details (small 2-bed/1-bath house with basement and 1-car garage, recent roof, older siding), seller timeline (moving in July), local rental market context (nearby houses rent for about $600), and Mark’s buying process (two-page contract, paid inspection, flexible closing). The video is presented as a live call example with a debriefing framing by Mark.
Chapters
Hey.
So I'm sitting here getting ready to make a seller call. This lead actually came from big site that we use and we get leads every day. But it's not a matter about getting leads, it's how you handle them and how you call them and how quickly and all this good stuff. So hopefully this call goes well. I don't know. I'm going to call her and see what happens. And pen, paper. Hey Sharon, it's Mark Evans. How are you?
I'm fine, how are you?
Good. Hey, thank you for calling back. How's your day going? Good.
Oh, absolutely. Good. Now that's over.
I know. It's been a long day, huh?
Yeah, a little bit. My days always are.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, today is Monday. Yes, you're right. Oh my goodness. So Sharon, I was calling about your property on Osceola. Yes, you are. Do you live in the property?
I do. Okay. Actually planning on moving.
Where are you moving to?
Florida.
Oh, what part?
Clearwater.
Oh, nice. Yeah, we. I actually live in Palm Beach, Florida half the year and up in Cleveland the other half. So. Yeah, it's pretty down here. You know, I'm from Columbus, so I know the winters are rough. I don't mind the winners, I just hate how long they are.
I hate snow.
You're done with it.
And I'm from Ohio, but I hate it.
So on your property is. What's the exact address?
What's the exact one?
Igdras is too.
Yeah, yeah, Osceola.
Okay. And that's a brown house, right? It's all brown on the exterior.
Yeah. The tan house.
Yeah, tan. What's the lot? Is that lot empty? The lot's empty next door, right? It looks like.
Well, it's. There's a house and that has a double lot next door.
Okay, great. Good stuff. So I'm guessing this is what. Because there's a lot of the same style houses over there. Two bedroom, one bath.
Yeah. Small like less than 700 square feet.
Right.
With a basement.
Oh, you do have a basement.
Uh huh. And a one car garage.
Oh, that's great. And the car, where's the one car garage at? Is it on the backside of the house?
Yeah. There's a driveway beside the house on as you're looking at the house on the right hand side.
Yeah.
And then the garage is in the back.
Oh, that's great. It looks like you got new side, newer siding and a roof on there, huh? Yeah.
The roof is three years old.
Right.
The siding, it's about 15 years.
15 years old. It Looks good, though. Looks like they did a good job.
Yeah.
You happy with it?
And then I've got a new electrical box that, that's updated. All right. The main breaker.
Breaker box. So you go off to Clearwater. What are you going to do in Clearwater? Yeah, that's great.
Yeah.
So when are you planning on moving, Sharon?
July. July? Yeah.
Okay. How much are you asking for your property over there?
Well, the lowest I can go on it and still be able to make anything off of it is 25.
Is there any work that needs done on the inside?
Not the basement. May need some work bits. Nowhere else. I've redone the kitchen. I've put laminate floors in the kitchen and living room bathroom and carpet in the bedrooms.
Okay. What do you think needs done in the basement?
Well, I'm not really sure. There's. There's some water that gets in, so it may just need waterproofed.
How much water? Like if it rains three inches outside. Okay. Just like. So it gets just damp.
Excuse me, I'm sorry, somebody was just talking.
No. So it just gets damp or does it have standing water?
No, it just gets damp.
Okay.
Yeah, it doesn't have standing water in it.
So what about like if you move out? Like, I mean, am I gonna have to repaint the house and put new carpet flooring? No, no, you. You'll leave it real nice broom swap.
I actually had somebody look at it last year because I was cleaning on moving last year, but my sister and brother in law's also moving and my brother in law had some health issues, so we weren't able to move last year. And you know, so last year I had somebody that was going to want to buy it and you know, rent it out. And he was able to, to like rent right away. He was even wanting to show, you know, the house to.
Oh, wow.
To run it out right away.
So how long you lived there, Sharon?
I have lived here 20.
Oh, gosh, 24 years in the same house?
Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah, I bought it. It was. It was a repossessed house and I bought it and then fixed it up.
Wow, that's great.
Yeah, I've lived here. I mean, if I weren't moving to Florida, I'd probably continue, you know, because you can't beat the price of it. And my house payment.
Yeah, no, absolutely. How's the garage? Is it in good shape? The roof in good shape and everything?
Yeah.
Okay.
Absolutely.
Did it get replaced when you replaced the house roof?
The roof has been replaced on that. It was replaced before okay. Yeah. It was actually replaced before I got the. I've had two roofs on this house. Yeah, I've replaced the roof twice.
Okay.
And. But this one that's on it now, it's down to the first level. And they went all the way down and attached. Anything that need attached.
Right.
And so it only has one set of shingles on it now. Right. Before it had two.
Right.
So they had to take all that off.
Huh. If you were going to rent, how much would a place rent over there for like that? I actually own some houses on the street.
600.
600.
I mean, houses around me, I know are written for 600.
How's the neighborhood, though? Looks? It seems like it's cleaned up over there nicely.
It's. It's not the best. They're starting to have more rental properties.
Oh, are they?
So it's not the. Yeah. It's not the greatest. It's not the worst. I mean, I personally have not had any problems.
Right.
I haven't had anybody break in my house or.
Oh, yeah.
Try and steal my car or anything like that. But, you know. But it's not the greatest either.
Right. It's definitely changed over the years. You've been there 24 years a lot.
Oh, yeah, I've changed in 24 years.
So I'm sure the neighborhood, we have a lot.
There's a lot of people that have lived here for a long time in the neighborhood. But then a lot of them, you know, I'm passing away and then the houses are being sold, rented.
Yeah.
And that's what happens when you start doing that.
Understood. So are you the only one that are on the deed? You're by yourself on the deed?
Yeah, yeah, it's just me.
Okay.
No.
Awesome. So I. I do properties over there every day. Sharon and I know your house. Like I said, we own some properties like in that area and on your street, actually. So I would pay you 25,000 for this house. You're saying you need to move July 1st or July 31st. Do you have kind of date? That's fine. I can close whenever you want. Kind of how my process works. I'll just tell you because I want to shoot straight with you as I always do. All I'd want to do is send one of my inspectors over there and just do a quick inspection. I'll pay him to do that. Here's how we work is I'll send you a contract. I can send you. I'm sure you have email, right? Yeah, I don't do any funny Business.
Sent me an email.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have your email. I don't do any funny business. I have a two page contract that says, I want to buy it. Here's how much I'll pay, here's where we'll close, let's get it done. And you know, my guy will get over there. Just give me a, you know, I always say 14 days to get in there, look at the house, your schedule, his schedule, and we close. I can. You don't even have to be present to close. I have a title company. I will close it up. They'll stop by your work, they'll stop by your house, whatever's easiest for you. And like I said, it's very simple. If you need help on moving or trucks, rentals or whatever, I mean, we do this every day, so I'm sure we could help you out. But it sounds like you probably already got that dialed in.
Yeah, we're working on it.
But I'll email you the contract. You look it over and say, hey, Mark, we're all good. Give me thumbs up, sign it, send it back. As soon as you sign it, send it back. I'll schedule one of my inspectors, he'll swing over, he'll give you a call or email you and set up a time. It works. And you set up a time. And he'll send me a bunch of pictures. He'll say, hey, this is what I think we need to do here and there. And other than that, I think, listen, I think you've priced the property very fair and I'd love to have an opportunity to buy your house.
Okay. Yeah, that sounds great.
Okay. What are you gonna do with all this money?
Put a toilet place down there.
Oh, you don't even have a place down there yet in Clearwater?
Yeah. Oh, wow. Yes. But the thing is, down there, you have to work a month before you can even get approved for a house down there.
So I'm gonna have to rent, right?
You know, and get it. Get a job, rent and then buy. So I can't even just go down and try and, you know, buy a house right now. So.
So that's what they do.
But this money's going for.
They do a rent, you got to stay for, at least have a month. Why is that? You want. Why is that? Do you know?
I don't know. That's just Florida. Because I've checked with different realtors down there. Thinking I'm like, oh, wait a minute, this doesn't make sense. You know, I'm coming in, I'm going to have a down payment, you know, and my sister is selling her house, but she's got. We both have money to put down on it.
Wow.
And they just said that's how it is in Florida.
That's interesting. I've never heard of that.
Yeah, I've talked to several different realtors because I'm like, okay, maybe it's just this one realtor, but now everybody is telling me that you have to be established with a job for a month. So you have to show income for a month.
Right.
I guess. Unless you have the money to pay, you know, cash.
So maybe because Florida is very transient. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah, but like you said, if you're putting money down, what do they get? Like, exactly.
I mean, we're giving you money and we're going to make payments, you know, then it's going to fall on us if we don't pay it, you know, just like anywhere else.
Absolutely. So what I'll do what's the exact name on the deed so I can make, create the contract and I can get over to you.
Sharon.
Okay. And then like I said, it'll be $25,000 cash. There's no more. We'll pay cash. And then like I said, just get. There'll be 14 or 30 days. I'll get them guys as soon as you give me that contract, signed them back, I'll have them call you. They could be in there whenever you want. Whatever is best for you.
Sharon. Okay, great. That'd be perfect.
What's your timeline to get it back to me? Because I have to. So like we, we do a lot of property. You just say, hey, Mark, I want to be out July 1st. Here's what it looks like. Day of July 1st. You'll have your money, your role, everything's good.
Okay. So yeah, you send that and I can get it back to you in a couple days because I just want to have my son take a look at it and then, you know, I'll sign it back and get it back to you.
No, I appreciate you sharing that with me. Like I said, I think when you read it, I'm not that smart. So I like fifth grade level stuff, so. And I'm not saying that to be.
Silly because I'm right here with you. That's why I need my time to look at stuff.
Well, you know the way these realtors do these contracts. Page one takes out what seven says. Page seven takes out what page three set. Like doesn't make sense to me.
Yeah, I don't want to get screwed over.
No way. No way. I want to listen, I want you to have a great experience with us and I'll get it over to you. It's two pages, very, very simple, straightforward. And we will close. So how we close, it'd be very simple. So we'll be good to go. And so we'll schedule. Let me just put there, though. July 1st is when you want to be out though, right? 100%, yes.
Yes.
Is that when you'll be out? Or is that when you'd like to be out? Or is that worst case, best case?
That's. That's it. That's when I. My sister's house. That's the date she has to be out of her house. So that's the date I need to be out of mine because we're wanting to be on our way to Florida that day.
You'll be out. Did she already sell her house?
Yeah. Actually, the inspection's Wednesday, so that's the only thing they're. They're waiting on.
Where'd she live? At Gahanna. Oh, Gehanna. Nice.
Yeah. She's got a really nice house, though.
That's great.
And right now, I mean, it's the market that. I mean, she. She didn't even have it up for sale yet. And some. A realtor came knocking at the door and had somebody interested in it.
Oh, good for her.
She had it lifted. Yeah, she had it listed before and then took it off to market because of my brother and all back up yet. And they came knocking.
Nice. Well, everything happens for a reason, as you know, so.
Exactly.
I'm glad I got to talk to you, Sharon. I'll get this met. I'll get. So I'll get this contract over to tonight or tomorrow, more ideally tonight. I'll get it over to you shortly. Be very straightforward. And my company name, your name. We close with the company. Like I said, world class title. So very big in Columbus. And they will come to your house, they'll come to your office, they'll meet you wherever you want to meet them. They'll have a notary. I mean, they'll take good care of you and they'll give you the check and all that good stuff too, at closing.
Great. Sounds good.
Okay. Well, it was very nice to meet you.
Thank you, Mark.
Definitely. Sharon and I look forward to working with you.
Yeah, me too.
Thank you. Have a good night. Bye.
Bye.
I've never met Sharon in my entire life. I've never talked to Sharon in my entire life. I know where she's selling at because we do have houses that I've bought over there. So I have market knowledge which everyone watching this can gain. Market knowledge if you're active or non active as a buyer initially. So if you're brand new, you might not know the market knowledge because you haven't done a deal there. But you can go online, research Zillow, Drive for dollars drive and call real estate agents. You could do the work, put the work in to get the results and find out what's going on. But I'm sitting here in the office, it's about 5:30 at night. She just called me when she got off work. So that's a good trick too. So I called her earlier today because I saw a lead come in. I wanted to show you guys how, how this works. Called, left her a quick message. Hey Sharon, this is Mark. Just gave you a quick call in regards to your house. Give me a shout at this number. Boom, boom, boom. Very personable, short, sweet, to the point. And then secondly, I sent her an email because I had her email address on the lead and said, hey Sharon, it's Mark following up on your house. Just to let you know, I left you a voicemail. Hit her two prongs, boom, connected. She called me back, she said thank you for calling back. 14 minutes later. Have a house that will probably make about $15,000 on literally just by creating opportunity. So what does that opportunity look like? But first let me do this because Dan's on the other side of the camera. Dan, will you show, come here. Like let me show people. All I did is go to Google, type in the address. I'm gonna hide the address for obviously privacy reasons. But can you see this, Dan, can you see the house? Yeah. So while you're, when I was talking you heard me say, oh, the brown house. How did I know it was a brown house? Because I'm sitting in floor Palm Beach, Florida and I'm literally on Google maps looking at the property. Right? So you can do this, you can check out the street, Go down the street. She has a one car garage. I was like, oh you do? Where's that at? Well, whoops, just go backwards here, just push back. If you do that and look at the houses around here. I mean this is a no brainer. Newer siding, newer roof, three years old, but cool. So like I'm literally like looking at a deal from afar. Dan, this is in Ohio and we're in Palm Beach, Florida. Go figure. All right, let me finish up this face to face with you guys. I'm in Florida properties in Ohio. Lead comes in, I make a call, I have a high quality conversation. No, I did not talk a whole lot about her problem and this and that. Why? She told me what the issue was. She's lived there for 24 years, for God's sakes. Pretty decent. I would call that a long term homeowner. And I asked questions I already know the answers to, by the way. I was like, how much do you think it would rent out for? 600. Why do I do that? She has market knowledge. She's talking. The more she talks, the more she's connecting to me and the more I'm listening. If she said 800, I would know she's full of shit. If she says 500, I know she's playing it lower than what it really is. I believe, and I know this for a fact, we get 650 to 700amonth for her property. Her telling me 600 makes her a real seller. She's just selling. Why she wants to move to Clearwater, Florida. Why? Her sister sold her property. They're moving together. They're going together. So now I know the motivation. When are you selling? I need to be out by July 1st. Cha ching, cha ching. Cha ching. Today is May 22nd, is that right, Dan? May 22nd. But May 23rd. May 23rd. Three years old. Roof siding's about 15 years old, which looks brand new because it's a small house. New electric box. Asking 25k, we could sell for 40 all day long, easily. She said there's a little bit of issues in the basement and it is what it is. But again, like, it's not holding water. It's just like damp. So she's just a homeowner. It's not a big deal. So we go in, we put 500, 2,000, whatever the number is. We just factored into ROI and we're sitting back. So I have money in an ira, I have cash, either or, and, or if I just want to sell it and make a quick 15 grand, there's a lot of options with this deal. Not only that, notice how I preset her, how I work, get the contract in her hands. This is such a great deal. I get the contract in her hands ASAP tonight, we'll get the contract. I'm not leaving until it's to her she gets it. I'll call and make sure she got it. Confirm. Boom. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to call. You're doing that to connect, to show your professionalism to get the contract signed back. Once she signs the contract and sends it back that's when my process starts to be able to make money. Right now we have an opportunity the next step is get signed contract. Let's get this deal to the closing table. Hey I hope this helps you guys. My name is Mark Evans DM Follow me on Periscope Markevans DM Twitter Mark Evans DM Instagram Mark EvansDM Pretty much anywhere Mark Evans DM I appreciate you give your feedback here. Let's let me know if this is helping you, giving you confidence, giving you an insight of how to really talk to real high level buyers because I see so many people out here bullshitting you saying you need to be scripted in this. I promise you every call you watch me make will never be the same call because it's not about me. It's not about my script. It's about helping the client, helping the prospect on the other end of the phone. Take that to the bank. Talk to you soon. Bye. By.
