Dale on the Daily

The Four Types of Real Estate Sellers: Who to Pursue and Who to Avoid

• Dale Kerns • Season 1 • Episode 14

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Are you burning precious time chasing sellers who never intended to work with you? It's a trap I fell into when starting my wholesaling journey, and it nearly derailed my business before it got off the ground. 

The turning point came when I discovered how to quickly categorize sellers into four distinct types – a system that transformed my approach and dramatically increased my closing rate. In this no-nonsense breakdown, I reveal exactly how to identify each seller type within minutes of conversation, which ones to pursue, and which to walk away from immediately.

Most newcomers to real estate wholesaling make the critical mistake of treating every lead as equal. But the truth? Some sellers are gold mines (what I call "unicorns" with both motivation and realistic price expectations), while others are complete dead ends that will drain your energy and clog your pipeline. I walk you through each category with real examples of what these sellers say, how they behave, and the specific approaches that work with each.

The most valuable insights come when I dive into Type 4 sellers – motivated people with unrealistic price expectations. These represent your bread-and-butter opportunities, but only if you know how to educate them effectively about market realities without making them feel lowballed. Master this conversion skill, and you'll unlock a consistent deal flow that your competitors miss.

By the end of this episode, you'll have a clear framework for qualifying leads faster, focusing your energy where it matters, and building the momentum that comes from knowing exactly when to move on. Subscribe to follow my wholesaling journey – the wins, the losses, and everything in between – as I share the strategies that are working right now in today's challenging market.

Speaker 1:

Hey, what's up everybody? Today I wanna talk about the four types of sellers, how to break them down, spot them fast and, most importantly, which ones to move on from immediately. Most beginner wholesalers spend way too much time chasing the wrong sellers and it's killing their momentum and their income. I learned this the hard way. I fell into the same trap with the sellers. But once I understood the four types of sellers, everything changed. I started to have better conversations, I got more contracts and I closed more deals. When I first started, I treated every lead like gold, like every lead needed to be a contract and they needed to be closed, and if someone answered the phone I thought I had a deal. But here's the truth Not every seller wants to sell and not every seller needs you. They don't have a problem. Therefore, you can't provide a solution. So let's dive into the four types of sellers.

Speaker 1:

The first one is they have motivation and they have the right price. Some call this the unicorn. It's obviously your ideal seller. They're motivated, they have the right price, they're in pain, they need a solution and they will sell at a discount. They say things like I'm tired of the property, I just want it gone. I just need to sell this property. I need to get out of it. I don't want to list it, I just want it quick, fast and be done with it. These are people that are dealing with real problems that we can solve. They've got death in the family, job loss, divorce, tired landlords, some financial emergency. They just need to sell and move on from the property. These are the sellers that you will most likely come across the least amount of time. You won't see these that often, but when you do, they typically can become a contract and a closed deal.

Speaker 1:

The second type of seller is they're not motivated and they have the wrong price. These are people that they're testing the waters. They don't need to sell. They're not in any type of pain. They say things like I don't need to sell unless I get my price. I'm thinking about listing with an agent. I'm not really looking to sell, but maybe for the right price I will. They're just curious of what you might pay. They're just filling out a form, answering a phone call, you know, just because, for no reason. But they really have no reason to sell and most of the time they don't even have a price or they have the wrong price.

Speaker 1:

These are not your deals, unless you're a real estate agent or you can refer them to an agent. Even if they want to talk to an agent, then these are people you need to move on from. This is a bad seller. This is a bad lead. They're not motivated. You just need to move on.

Speaker 1:

A lot of times beginners get stuck here because they think they can talk to them and convert them and you end up spending more time on this type of seller than you really should. They don't need more follow-up. They don't need you to ask more questions. They just you need to hang up the phone and move on. These aren't people you want to spend the time on. And this is where beginners get stuck a lot because they think they can convert them into a lead in a contract and a closed deal, but most likely you're not going to. You need to move on from these people. The third type is they're not motivated but they have the right price. Or sometimes they sound motivated and they have the right price, but really this type of seller typically will end up or is a scam Another wholesaler trying to sell a deal, someone that doesn't own the property, that really legally can't sell it.

Speaker 1:

Maybe the house was left to the kids when the parents died and the one kid is the executor, the other kid is not and you're talking to the one that's not. They legally can't sell the property someone that's not the owner. These are the ones you need to keep an eye on, because you could get stuck under a contract with someone like this or you could get stuck talking to someone like this for a while when in reality these are a bad seller. You need to move on from these. If it sounds too good to be true situation, then it probably is. That's these people. Too good to be true situation than it probably is. That's these people. They could sound legit, they could sound like everything's going right, but in reality they're just wasting your time. You could get it under contract and then something blow up at closing. You got some chaotic situation during inspections. It's better not even to get involved with these sellers and just move on.

Speaker 1:

So some tips for these type of sellers are make sure you're asking good questions and listening to them talk to really find out the motivation and the owner information. Any lien issues something that could blow up the deal if it sounds too good to be true. Asking good questions could help you avoid these situations. Make sure you control the call, ask good questions and, if you do come across something, make sure you're ready to walk away fast. Okay, so the fourth type of seller is they're motivated, but they have the wrong price. Okay, so the fourth type of seller is they're motivated, but they have the wrong price. This is the most common seller that you're going to come across. They're motivated, but they don't have a clear price expectation and if they do, it isn't the right price for the condition of the house. They say things like this is what I think it's worth. The properties in the area have sold for this price. I talked to an agent and that's what they said it could sell for. So these type of things are the people. They really do have motivation. They just don't have the wrong price. These are the sellers that you're going to talk to all the time, and if you can convert more of these type of sellers, you're going to make more money. They are the ones that also need to be educated. You're going to have to talk to them about comps. You're going to have to walk them through what has sold, what the condition is related to their property and really give them a clear understanding of what the market is and what the real price expectations are. You're going to have to go through the rehab numbers, the closing costs, the seller commissions. When you buy the property, there's costs associated. When you fix it and resell it, there's costs associated with that, and lumping those costs into what the actual repair value is and then backing into the number to get them to understand this is really where it's going to be. And if you're doing PPL leads or PPC leads, they're probably talking to other investors and probably have gotten prices in that range already. At that point, the person that can explain it to them, make them understand, not feel bad about it and just lowball them with an offer, is going to get those people under contract. These are the type of people that you want to talk to and that you're going to talk to most often and where most of your deals are going to come from. The better you are at handling these type of sellers and converting these types of leads, the more money you're going to make. So a couple of tips with them is let the seller talk more than you. Find their true motivation, what their real problem is, and then the solution for that problem. Walk them through the comps in the area with ARVs and, if possible, as-is comps, to show them here's a property that sold just like yours this was the price to help them understand where the real price expectations are and find their problem, find their true problem, listen to them then offer a solution to resolve that problem and if you can do that better than other people and walk them through the breakdown, you're going to convert more of these leads. So now that you know the four types of sellers, here's the real question which ones are you spending all your time on? Because if you're spending your time on the wrong sellers, then you're just wasting your time, you're not being efficient and you're not spending quality time on the right leads to really talk to them and convert them into contracts and closed deals. You're clogging your pipeline and you're just not being efficient with your time to talk to the right people. Momentum comes from speed and speed comes from knowing when to move on. So if you're finding those two bad sellers and you find them, the faster you find them in the call, the faster you can move on and you can un. The faster you find them in the call, the faster you can move on and you can unclog your pipeline, talk to sellers that really matter. So here's what can help you do that With every lead that comes in and you talk to them, you need to be able to categorize them fast. Which bucket is this seller? Are they good, are they bad? And then move on accordingly. Are they motivated, yes or no? Do they have the right price, yes or no? And throw them into that bucket accordingly. To that, spend time where the money is the motivated right price, motivated wrong price sellers. Are you where you want to be and where your deals are going to come from? That no motivation or the the motivated sellers with the wrong price? You're going to talk to them more often and the better you are converting those, the better your wholesaling business is going to be. If you think this will help you avoid wasting time on the wrong leads, comment below. Subscribe to my channel. I'm documenting my wholesaling journey the wins, the losses, the ups and downs. Hopefully it can help you shortcut your learning curve, close more deals, have better conversations and get more contracts. Thanks for tuning in. I look forward to seeing you on the next video. Check the description below for the tools that I use daily in my wholesaling business and that can help you become more efficient and close more deals.