How does one find off-market potential sellers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the answer you’re looking for but you need to lower your criteria until your offer is competitive - the market is telling you that you’re currently priced out of your ideal criteria.

Another piece of advice that worked for us at a competitive price point (sub $1M in N Arlington in 2025) is to find a house with something that others can’t live with (“dealbreakers”), but you can live with (and ideally fix down the road so it’s not an issue when you sell).

Agree on the dealbreaker. That’s how we got a great deal in N Arlington. And we renovated before moving in to turn 3 annoying dealbreaker issues into our favorite parts of house.

Sounds expensive. And more of a PITA than most people are willing to deal with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the answer you’re looking for but you need to lower your criteria until your offer is competitive - the market is telling you that you’re currently priced out of your ideal criteria.

Another piece of advice that worked for us at a competitive price point (sub $1M in N Arlington in 2025) is to find a house with something that others can’t live with (“dealbreakers”), but you can live with (and ideally fix down the road so it’s not an issue when you sell).

Agree on the dealbreaker. That’s how we got a great deal in N Arlington. And we renovated before moving in to turn 3 annoying dealbreaker issues into our favorite parts of house.

Sounds expensive. And more of a PITA than most people are willing to deal with.

That’s the point / why it works as a strategy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I have been trying to identify potential sellers of properties that fit our criteria but it feels like a losing battle - we are already getting passed by due to all cash, no contingency offers, with some sight unseen. It's freaking ridiculous out here.

We have an agent but I don't feel like they're doing much of anything to help in these efforts. They said the sent letters to potential property owners but that's it.

No mention of networking, posting online, or anything to help further the cause.

I'm tired of sitting around and waiting because that's all we've done for homes that eventually come on the market. We need to be ahead of the market because once something goes live, we've already lost.

So.. is there something I can be doing to help our odds? I'm so frustrated..

Yes, lower your expectations. Target lower-priced properties than you have been, so that you can bid up higher than the others do. It is less likely you will get "passed by due to all cash, no contingency offers" if your offer is significantly higher.

Agreed. OP I get it, you’re going through the valley of doom where you’re realizing your money doesn’t go as far as it might sound on paper in this market and that whatever you picture mentally isn’t what you’re able to get. Once we isolated what mattered the most to us (location) and prioritized for that above other nice to have criteria we were able to make a competitive offer.

Other random advice is don’t overlook the listings with bad pictures or where the house looks especially ugly. Lots of times the house isn’t THAT ugly in person and the bad pictures are just the agent being a moron. Tour those houses if they meet your other criteria. You see this a lot when agents who aren’t in the area list homes for a friend, relative, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Inventory is tight out there. If you could identify sellers ahead of time, what would make your offer more attractive than the all cash/no contingency offer? I don’t think finding sellers early is fixing your problem.

Absolutely this. I was one of those shadow sellers at one point - my house wasn’t in any database, but I told a well known local RE agent that if the right offer comes along, I’d be willing to sell. I was amused then at the buyers who were thinking it’s some sort of a fire sale, like I was maybe ashamed to list it, and they would be getting a discount that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Find a good realtor who works in the area you want to live and has lots of connections to other agents. Seriously.

My realtor showed me several off markets and we ended up purchasing one. I have another friend who just did the same. This was in McLean and Alexandria

I think our house was pretty much sold before it listed. Our sellers agent reached out to all buyer agents friends in the area and after we went live on Friday and open house on Saturday/Sunday we received (and accepted) a very competitive offer Sunday night. But… buyers were not even local. They had gotten a sneak peek/rundown of the house earlier and had flown in just to see it in person that weekend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I have been trying to identify potential sellers of properties that fit our criteria but it feels like a losing battle - we are already getting passed by due to all cash, no contingency offers, with some sight unseen. It's freaking ridiculous out here.

We have an agent but I don't feel like they're doing much of anything to help in these efforts. They said the sent letters to potential property owners but that's it.

No mention of networking, posting online, or anything to help further the cause.

I'm tired of sitting around and waiting because that's all we've done for homes that eventually come on the market. We need to be ahead of the market because once something goes live, we've already lost.

So.. is there something I can be doing to help our odds? I'm so frustrated..

Usually, an "off-market" seller will only respond to an offer that seems like a premium to the market rate, all cash and with few conditions.

I don't understand what the approach would be to someone who isn't actively selling to give you the time of day if you are going to have contingencies and need a mortgage...unless you are offering a decent premium to the seller.

You hear about it all the time at the very high end, where some billionaire has their agent contact sellers and offer a 25%+ premium and they will write them a check tomorrow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband and I have been trying to identify potential sellers of properties that fit our criteria but it feels like a losing battle - we are already getting passed by due to all cash, no contingency offers, with some sight unseen. It's freaking ridiculous out here.

We have an agent but I don't feel like they're doing much of anything to help in these efforts. They said the sent letters to potential property owners but that's it.

No mention of networking, posting online, or anything to help further the cause.

I'm tired of sitting around and waiting because that's all we've done for homes that eventually come on the market. We need to be ahead of the market because once something goes live, we've already lost.

So.. is there something I can be doing to help our odds? I'm so frustrated..

Usually, an "off-market" seller will only respond to an offer that seems like a premium to the market rate, all cash and with few conditions.

I don't understand what the approach would be to someone who isn't actively selling to give you the time of day if you are going to have contingencies and need a mortgage...unless you are offering a decent premium to the seller.

You hear about it all the time at the very high end, where some billionaire has their agent contact sellers and offer a 25%+ premium and they will write them a check tomorrow.

Yep. If I’m accepting an offer from cold outreach it needs to be significantly higher than anything I think I could get on the open market and you’re getting zero contingencies and I’ll probably ask for a 3-4 month rent back to figure out where we’re moving AND you better be well qualified cause if it looks like you’re stretching and it might fall through, nope.

In summary - way more mental hoops to clear to get someone to sell off market vs competing in the open market.