5 Questions to Ask Before you Buy A House: Mastering the Phone

 by: Guest Author: Michael Acord, The Real  Estate Maestro

As you stroll around your neighborhood or look for property investments online, you'll find a lot of properties that have potential. An initial review will tweak your interest (maybe it's the price, the location or it's just in an area you really want to buy in), but you'll need to dig a little deeper to find out if there is a real opportunity behind this potential. The cheapest way to do this is to pick up the phone, and call the vendor (or the listing agent - but you will probably find this method works best with For Sale By Owner Listings) and ask these 5 questions before you buy that house.

The purpose of the phone call is to extract information. What kind? As much information as you can get. I tell every student the same thing that was taught to me, real estate is a puzzle. Your job is to extract the information (the puzzle pieces) and put the puzzle together. Where do you start?

It's not about lot size, bedrooms or baths; you start with what I call the 5 key questions.

   1. Price,
   2. Reason for the sale,
   3. Any major renovations needed,
   4. How long have you lived there,
   5. What is owed (mortgage balance)?

What is your Price?
"Hi. I'm calling on the home for sale (include the address as some people may have several properties listed). What is the asking price? How did you arrive at that price?" This answer will tell you the level of the seller's sophistication. If they paid for an appraisal or interviewed agents, you may have some data that you can use in figuring out your purchase price. If uncle Vince, the tire guy, gave them the price and he knows nothing about real estate then you may assume their sophistication level is low.

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