Many brokers and real estate investors use social media tools like Face book to find clients. But with online forums getting more crowded, some professionals have reverted to the most social medium of all: door-to-door prospecting
“Door-knocking” is one way to find motivated sellers, and sometimes buyers, said Brian Veatch, a Keller Williams broker based in Westminster.
It’s not necessarily the fastest route to commissions, because the target prospects are often over-leveraged borrowers with no equity in their homes. A broker can list a property in foreclosure, but it is often a tough sell.
But door-knocking is a way to help preserve home values and protect communities, particularly in the hardest-hit areas of Thornton and Northglenn, Veatch said.
“People are often very scared,” he said. When a foreclosure is filed by a Colorado county, a Notice of Election and Demand is the homeowner’s first notice. The recipient has approximately 120 days before losing the home, but many people don’t know that.
“They want to know if they’ll have to move next week,” Veatch said. He often steers sellers to the Colorado Foreclosure Hotline and educates them about options, such as a loan modification.
As a broker, his reward is often deferred. “If we manage to save someone’s home, maybe they’ll remember me when they’re buying or selling years from now.”
Carl Edmunds, a real estate investor in Loveland, spends 10 to 12 hours per week ringing bells and knocking on doors of homes in northern Colorado.
People might expect debt-distressed borrowers to have been “door-knocked to death” by the time he arrives at the home.
“It’s the opposite,” he said.
“I’m usually the first person they’ve spoken to face to face,” he said. Often there’s a mountain of direct mail and “leave-behinds” from other investors. But personal visits are rare. Often the homeowner is relieved, even happy, to see someone at the door.
Colorado foreclosure law is clear: Investors interested in purchasing a property may not pose as helpers or consultants. But a spirit of empathy is essential simply to establish a rapport with potential sellers, investors agree.
Diane Leaming visits approximately 20 homes per week in north Denver and north Aurora. As an investor working with homeowners in foreclosure, she has successfully negotiated six short sales.
“People who come to the door are often at the lowest point in their lives,” she said.
“Sometimes they try to save face and say, ‘Everything’s fine.’ But if you can get them talking, they start to admit they have a problem.”
A male-female team works best, said Leaming, who never door- knocks by herself. Safety is one concern, but a co-ed combo also seems more persuasive, she said.
An uninvited visit may anger the homeowner, said Mike Henderson, a broker with Your Castle Real Estate who prospects for short-sale candidates in the south metro area.
“Sometimes people want to vent and take out all their frustrations on me,” he said.
More commonly, the reaction is positive.
“In the best situations, I’m able to give them hope — a way to avoid foreclosure and start over,” he said.
