Real estate seller leads and 8 ways to qualify them

Want more qualified seller leads?

In this article you’ll find out how to qualify leads to convert more of them into customers. Qualified leads are those potential customers that are ready to make a decision, also known as warm leads. So let’s talk more about it!

And if you already know why it’s important to qualify seller leads, jump to How to qualify real estate sellers!

Why’s it important to qualify your seller leads?

This is something that you probably know to do – but it’s always good to start from the beginning. 

You might have a seller lead that’s thinking about selling but isn’t really sure if it’s the right time. That’s not a qualified lead. This person will need some nurturing and guidance in order to become a qualified seller lead.

Qualified leads have made a decision to sell and they are sure about it. They are ready to open up about the problems they have with the property and are not ‘hiding’ anything from you. They’re just waiting for the best offer and will sell for the right price.

Focusing on qualified leads will save you time and money in the long run. You have less convincing to do, less meetings to attend, and less time spent before the listing is ready.

Now let's see how to qualify leads. And I promise, this will help.

How to qualify real estate sellers

There are several different ways to qualify leads. Here we will focus on the best strategies to qualify real estate sellers specifically. So the question is: How do you know when they’re ready to sell?

To qualify your seller leads you have to ask several questions and pay close attention to the answers the seller gives. It’s also important to give them time to answer without pressure, so they can feel relaxed and more likely to open up. These answers will help you understand how ready they are to close a deal with you and get their property on the market.

Below I’ll list the most important questions to ask and give you an understanding of why they’re important for you. Divided into five categories, the questions will be broken up by: Triage of seller leads, Motivation of seller leads, Condition of the property, Timeframe for listing, and Price of the property.

Triage of seller leads - Getting to know them

‍These questions are important for you to pre-qualify your seller. Depending on their answers to these questions, you can already know if you should spend more time to qualify them or just keep nurturing them for the future.

1- Do you currently live on the property?

It’s important to know if they’re selling their home or an investment property. This will help you understand better their motivation to sell. We’ll talk more about motivation below, but keep in mind this is one of the most important parts of the process in qualifying seller leads.

2- If yes, where are you moving to? 

Do they already know where to move to? If not, they’re probably not selling anytime soon. A person selling their home normally has a clear plan about where to go after selling. If your seller leads are still thinking about where to move after selling it means they’re not qualified leads yet. Look for sellers that already know where they’re going after selling their property.

3- For the right amount of money, when are you ready to move?

This is an important question for you to understand if seller leads are ready to list the property soon or not. You don’t want to have meetings now with someone who’s not ready to sell for six months, for example. If that’s the case, you have to keep nurturing the lead in order to turn it into a future qualified lead.

4- Are you the only decision maker?

Why ask this? Sometimes there’s more than one decision maker and you don’t want to have meetings without everyone present. For example, you have a couple selling their home but one of them is busy and can’t meet you. Having a meeting with only one of them will most likely waste some of your time. Because no decision can be made without both of them reaching a consensus. So make sure to meet with both decision makers at once to optimise your time and save resources.

Motivation of seller leads - The why

Finding out their motivation to sell is one of the most important things in order to qualify seller leads. If they’re ready to sell soon it means that they have a clear idea of why they’re selling. 

5- Why do you want to sell your property?

Here you can phrase the question in many different ways. The important thing is to find out if the person has clear reasons behind  selling the property. 

This will help you to both qualify leads and save time. If the person is unclear about why they’re selling, it means that they’re not ready to sell anytime soon. 

After the first triage this should be your main focus. You can also ask other questions along similar lines in order to better understand their motivation.

Condition of the property - Good to go or bad with mould?

One of the most important things for a listing is the condition of the property. Understanding this will help you to qualify leads now and sell the property faster later. 

6- Tell me more about the property?

By asking this question you give seller leads the opportunity to open up about their property. You can also check if they’re being open and sincere about their property and its problems. 

Further, you can ask if they’ve made any improvements to the property. If seller leads come back with clear, detailed answers in this regard, it means they’ve been thinking about the subject and are more than likely ready to sell (soon). That’s a qualified lead for you to work with!

Timeframe for listing - Now or later

It’s important to understand the timeframe for listing in order to know if it’s a qualified lead or not. By asking the question below you can figure that out for yourself rather quickly.

7- When do you need to sell this property?

You don’t want to spend much time on seller leads that aren’t ready to sell in the next 4 months. It’s good to make that clear right from the start so you know how best to communicate with them. 

If they say they need 6 months to sell, then you know that you have to keep nurturing them by sending regular messages, emails, and maybe calling every now and then. 

However, if they’re ready to sell in 4 months or less, they’re considered qualified leads – and a client you should focus on to work towards closing a deal as soon as possible! 

Price of the property - Realistic?

The question is simple: How much? Getting to know the price is important so you can check how realistic it is. Realistic sellers are more likely to be qualified leads.

8- How much would you like to sell this property for?

Here you can also ask about how much they think the property is worth. As you saw before, this is important to understand how realistic the seller is and how much they’ve been researching the subject. 

If the person is ready to sell, they’ve probably looked things up and know approximately how much the property is worth as well as how much they’d like to sell for. 

If their estimate is out of range, it means you’ll have to spend more time with this seller to come to a consensus on price. An out-of-range estimate could also show they might not be ready to sell anytime soon.

Final thoughts on how to qualify seller leads

In the end, it’s rather easy to qualify leads. You only need to ask 8 questions to find out how ready your seller leads are to sell their properties. You can always ask other questions than the ones suggested by having a look at The New Real Estate Agent's Guide to Qualifying Your Leads and its questions to qualify seller leads.

Here’s also a special mention to help you qualify your seller leads – and even before you contact them. Our Chatbot can make a first assessment for you and significantly speed up your lead qualification process. 

Our chatbot asks seller leads strategic questions to understand them better and qualify how ready to sell they are. You can even start by having our Chatbot ask the triage questions we’d talked about above.

Qualifying seller leads will always be an important part of any real estate agent’s work. This is how you’ll come to save both time and money by shortening your lead qualification and knowing which leads to focus on, and which not to. 

Make sure to give any seller lead time to answer your questions and be clear in your communication. This will help you relate to them and make them feel that you care. And you should care; that’s what makes you stand out from the competition!

Before you leave, don’t forget to read about the 5 strategies to attract more real estate buyers and 5 proven tips to help your sales team book more online meetings. These will help you in the next stage because after getting the listing, you need to sell it, right? So let’s get commission-focused and prepare for the finish line. I hope to see you back soon for more tips and tricks related to real estate and much more!