The Art of Getting Sellers to Open Up: Questions That Lead to Deals

Getting sellers to reveal their true motivations transforms ordinary conversations into deal-making opportunities. I've discovered that the quality of these conversations directly determines my success rate in closing real estate deals.

My breakthrough came when I shifted focus from property details to the sellers themselves. Instead of asking about square footage or bedroom count, I now start with "Tell me a little bit about what you got going on." This deliberately open-ended question lets sellers choose which direction to take the conversation, immediately revealing what matters most to them. When I follow the Closers Formula approach, I ask about price within the first 30 seconds, then use that simple prompt to uncover the story behind their decision to sell.

Another game-changing question in my toolkit is "How did you come up with that price?" This reveals so much more than just pricing strategy – it exposes their research process, who they've been talking to, and their level of market knowledge. A seller might mention they need a specific amount to pay off debts, they've consulted realtors, or they're simply testing the waters. Each response provides strategic information that helps me understand their situation deeper.

The classic "Why are you looking to sell?" becomes even more powerful when tailored to the context. For tenant-occupied properties, I might ask, "Why sell if you've got paying tenants?" For long-vacant properties, "Why sell now if you've held onto it this long?" These contextual variations challenge sellers to articulate their true motivation, quickly separating serious sellers from casual ones.

Remember that successful real estate conversations happen when YOU talk less and THEY talk more. By focusing on asking good questions rather than delivering your pitch, you'll gather the critical information needed to structure appealing offers while building genuine rapport. This approach works wonderfully for beginners and experts alike – simply ask thoughtful open-ended questions, listen carefully, and watch your signed contracts multiply. What questions are you asking sellers? Your conversation approach might be the only thing standing between you and your next successful deal.

Chapters

• 0:00 Getting Sellers to Talk
• 1:09 The Closers Formula Approach
• 3:58 How Did You Price That?
• 6:06 Why Sell Now?
• 10:10 Talk Less, Close More

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Today I want to talk about some of the phrases and tricks that I use to get sellers talking. The more they talk, the more information you're going to get and the more comfortable that they're going to feel. This is going to lead to more signed contracts and more closed deals. The better quality conversations you have with a seller, you're going to have more success. Conversations you have with a seller, you're going to have more success. So one of the most important lessons that I've learned is asking good, open-ended questions and letting sellers talk. This has led to more meaningful conversations, being able to get more quality information and the true motivation of the seller.

Speaker 1: 0:42

I've tried to steer away from talking about the properties and focusing more on the seller and their situation to see what the problem they have, their goals by trying to sell the property and their real motivation, and then seeing if I could be a solution for that and help them by purchasing their property. So here's a few tricks that I use to get sellers talking. So currently I'm using the closers formula created by RJ Bates and his team at Titanium Investments. I'll put a link in below if you want to look that up, but this is what I use for the framework of my conversations with sellers With the formula we're asking about the price up front, we're confirming they want to sell, asking them what price would they like, what price are you looking to sell the property for? And getting that information within the first 30 seconds of the conversation. So after we get the price, then the follow up is tell me a little bit about what you got going on there. And this is the first way to get the seller to open up. This is asked specifically in that fashion or some degree about tell me what you got going on. Because, one, it's an open-ended question. It allows them to go in whatever direction they want and talk about whatever they want. And knowing what the seller wants to talk about is crucial because then you know what's important to them and what to focus on with the conversation. So, number two it leaves out asking what's going on with the property or tell me about the property, because their motivation is not going to be the property. Their motivation is going to be something deeper of why they want to sell the property. So we specifically leave out tell me what you. They want to sell the property. So we specifically leave out tell me what you got going on with the property or tell me a little bit about the property because you're going to get the traditional oh it's a three bed, two bath, 1200 square feet answer from the seller and typically you'll not get them to open up the way that you want to open up. If you ask them, tell me a little bit about your situation, it lets them go into the direction and you might get an answer like oh, I inherited it, there was a death in the family and now me and my brother took it on and we don't want anything to do with it. You might ask, or they might say the tenants just moved out. Whatever the situation it allows in the beginning conversations to open up and kind of peel back those layers of motivation that the seller has and what they want to talk about and then what you need to focus on for the conversation, to have a good quality conversation with them. So in the beginning so we get the price At some point I'll usually ask them how do you come up with that price?

Speaker 1: 3:58

So this is trick number two how do you come up with that price? Usually this is not after. I ask them in the beginning of the conversation what price do you want to sell for. I'll usually start with what price do you want to sell for? Tell me a little bit about what you got going on. Let them talk. At some point in the conversation I'll ask them about the price.

Speaker 1: 4:20

Usually when I'm on the phone with the sellers and having these conversations I'm also comping the property and looking up where the property is, the comps and the area. So I know what the property is worth and the area. So I know what the property is worth. So once I do that, I'll get an idea of the seller's asking price. Either it's on point or it's not. And whether it is or it isn't, we'll ask them how they come up with that price. So again, it's open-ended. It has the seller get more in depth about where they got that price and it's not just a yes or no question. Also, by knowing how they came up with the price, it will give you insight to where their head's at, who they've been talking to and what their motivation level is.

Speaker 1: 5:10

They may say oh, I talked to a realtor and they gave me this. They're saying this is what it's worth. I owe X amount and I need to pay that off, plus $30,000 to go buy another house pay all debt, whatever that may be. Or they might say, well, that's what I owe and I just want to pay it off and move on. Any answer they give is more information that you can use for the conversation. Know what they want to talk about, know what their reasons for selling is and use that in the conversation to steer it where you can really dig deep on their motivation and gather that information to navigate the conversation.

Speaker 1: 5:56

So another trick and this is more of a classic question that I'm sure a lot of people are asking already but is what has you trying to sell the property? Why are you looking to sell? Again, the theme of this has been it's open-ended, it gets them talking, kind of forces them to give an answer, not just yes or no. So that's a reason for the question. Usually this question is something I'll ask after we've already been talking, kind of like where'd you come up with that price? But after we've been talking I've been able to gather some information. I've been able to look at the comps of the property as the seller's talking. So I know a little bit about the market, what's selling, what is sold in that property for similar square footage and bed and bath for the one we're looking at. So I'll ask it later on, but I'll also be able to change the context of the question and how I'm asking it.

Speaker 1: 6:57

So, for example, if you're talking to a seller that has tenants in the property and they're paying rent, maybe they have no problem that might be tired landlord but they have tenants, they are paying and it doesn't seem like they have any real motivation. So a way I would ask is well, why are you looking to sell? Sounds like you've got a good situation going on there. So that's kind of a soft sell, so to speak, kind of question, a passive, aggressive question. So why are you going to sell it if you've got tenants paying? Then they can go into that answer. Well, I was just kind of looking around. You know they're really either not motivated If you're going to find out that they're not motivated by how they answer that question or they are super motivated. I'm moving out of town and I don't want this house, even though the tenants are paying. It's not worth it trying to manage it out of town or whatever answer they might give. This is a good question, specifically for a tenant, the way you're asking occupied property to find out if that seller really is motivated.

Speaker 1: 8:19

If you're talking to somebody that has owned the property for a long time it's vacant, they haven't had any tenants, they haven't fixed it up. Another way you can ask that is well, why do you want to sell this property? If you've held on to it this long? Then you might find out that something came up just recently that has changed their motivation to want to sell the property. Or you know, I saw an ad, I clicked on it and I'm just seeing what kind of offers I might get. Obviously that gears to less motivation. If what kind of offers I might get, obviously that gears to less motivation. If they just came up and need to move out of town or had some financial situation, or they're getting older and they don't want to have it for something to leave to you know, children or whatever and they want to get rid of it right away, then obviously that changes the motivation. So this is a great question to ask. But also you have a variety of ways to ask it, based on how that conversation has already been navigated, in order to find out the condition or the motivation of the seller, based on how you've asked it, how you can ask it with prior the conversation information that you've collected already talking to the seller. So this is a great one to ask a little deeper into the conversation. That way you can change it up how you're selling to get more motivation and get more information.

Speaker 1: 9:51

With all of these questions and kind of tricks to get them selling, obviously the theme is to get them to open up. So asking open-ended questions is crucial and the most important thing to steer the conversation to get the seller talking and get more information. You're going to have your best conversations with sellers when you talk less and they talk more. You're asking open-ended questions to get them talking and you focus more on the seller than on the property. You've got to hone in on their situation and why they're looking to sell this property, why they filled out a form, why they answered a cold call and you can determine their motivation to whether it's someone that you want to spend your time with and try to work a deal or it's someone that is not motivated and you need to get off the phone.

Speaker 1: 10:49

This has been a huge shift in the quality of my conversations and something I've been focusing on more heavily to get more signed contracts. If you focus on these tips and tricks, then you're going to have more success as well. These have really helped my focus and really narrowed down what I need to talk about or how I need to ask questions to really get them to talk more and me talk less. So if you're just beginning out, this is taking a lot more pressure off of me trying to navigate the conversation and what to say, when to say it, how to say it and really just take a couple questions open-ended questions to get the seller talking and just let them talk. So this is a great strategy for beginners, even and you're doing an advanced strategy without even knowing it as a beginner because it takes less pressure off of you having quality conversations with sellers. So let me know what you think in the comments. As always, I appreciate your tuning in. I'll see you on the next video. No-transcript.