How to Tell If a Seller Is Motivated to Sell

Most buyers walk into a house looking at the kitchen, the backyard, the bedrooms. I'm looking at all of that too, but I'm also trying to figure out something completely different: how motivated is the seller? There's a big difference between a seller who says, if I get my price, I'll sell, and somebody who's already moved to another state, reduced the price three or four times, has two mortgage payments, and just had a buyer cancel on them. Those are two completely different sellers, and knowing which one you're dealing with can make a huge difference when it's time to write an offer. There are five things I pay attention to that give me a pretty good read on what's actually going on, usually before I ever get in the car to go see the house.

Days on Market, Compared to the Neighborhood

Everybody looks at days on market, but the number by itself doesn't tell you much. If a house has been listed for 30 days, is that a long time? It depends entirely on what everything else in the neighborhood is doing. If every decent home nearby is selling in 7 or 8 days and this one's been sitting for 30, that probably means something. But if everything in that market is taking 45 to 90 days to sell, 30 days means nothing. Always read it in relation to the overall market, the same way you'd size up a home that's been sitting before deciding how to offer on it.

Price History and Repeated Reductions

Did they start at a million and now they're at $950,000, or are they still exactly where they listed? And when they reduced it, was it one big cut, or three or four smaller ones? Every price reduction is the seller acknowledging the market isn't giving them what they thought the house was worth, and eventually that gets frustrating. That doesn't mean they'll take a ridiculous offer. I've dealt with sellers who'd rather let a house sit for six or seven months than take a dollar less than what they think it's worth. But days on market combined with multiple price reductions is something worth paying attention to, because it tells you the seller has already been through a process of adjusting their own expectations, even if they haven't fully accepted where the market actually is yet.

Is the House Vacant?

I don't automatically assume a vacant house means somebody needs to sell. Maybe they own it free and clear, maybe it's a rental or an inherited property, and we're probably not going to know unless we ask. If we walk through an empty house, I'm usually calling the listing agent afterward: what's the story, did the sellers already move? You'd be surprised how much you learn from a simple question. If they moved two months ago, now I'm thinking about whether they bought something else, and whether they're carrying two houses. A $5,000 mortgage payment on a home nobody's living in adds up fast once you add property taxes, potential HOA dues, and insurance on top of it. Two months of that is real money out the door every single month, and at some point, taking $10,000 less for the house starts looking a lot better to that seller than continuing to carry it.

What the Agent Remarks Actually Say

Sometimes you don't have to figure anything out, it's right there in the listing. Agent remarks are notes other agents can see that consumers typically can't, and they'll often say things like motivated seller, seller relocating, bring all offers, or seller has already purchased another home. Anytime I see that, my next thought is: why are you telling me this? There's something the seller is trying to accomplish, and that's where buyers get too focused on price. If a seller already bought another house and wants a 21-day close, maybe I don't need to beat them up $30,000 on price. Maybe I give them the clean, quick close they want and ask for $15,000 toward my buyer's closing costs, or a rate buydown instead. Or maybe they need the opposite, a few extra weeks after closing before they can move, and if my buyer doesn't need to move immediately, I can give them that. There are countless ways to structure a real estate transaction, and the point is always the same: figure out what the other person actually cares about. If I can give a seller something that matters to them and it costs my buyer little or nothing, now we might have something worth building an offer around.

Back on the Market After Escrow Fell Through

Anytime a property goes back on the market after being in escrow, I want to know what happened. There are typically two reasons. The first is something wrong with the house: did an inspection turn up foundation problems, mold, a roof or sewer issue? I'm not assuming the seller is motivated until I understand why the first buyer walked. But if it wasn't the house, if the buyer's financing fell apart or they got cold feet, put yourself in the seller's shoes. They thought it was sold, maybe already started packing, maybe have movers scheduled, and then the buyer cancels. They're frustrated, they don't want to start over, and they definitely don't want another 30 days of showings. That's a seller where certainty is worth something, and if I've got a strong buyer, that's a situation worth exploring.

What the Listing Agent Tells You Without Meaning To

This is probably where I get the most information, and buyers never see this part. I've been doing this long enough that a quick conversation with another agent usually tells me a lot. Sometimes you don't even have to ask; you'll show the property and the listing agent calls that afternoon asking what your buyers thought, then texts an hour later asking if there's interest, then calls the next morning asking if they're writing an offer. That doesn't necessarily mean the seller is desperate, maybe the agent is just following up well, or in some cases the agent is the one feeling the pressure. Either way, it's worth asking a few direct questions: what's the seller looking for, have there been other offers, is price the most important thing or are other terms in play, how quickly do they want this done? Sometimes the agent basically hands you a road map, mentioning that the seller already bought something, or that they had an offer two weeks ago they wish they'd taken. I'm not suggesting listing agents intentionally give away their client's negotiating position, but if you know what to ask and actually listen to the answers, you can learn a great deal.

What to Actually Do With This Information

Just because you think you found a motivated seller doesn't mean you come in $100,000 under asking. That's not negotiating, that's throwing something at the wall and hoping it sticks. The goal is understanding what the seller needs, what your buyer needs, and whether there's a way to put those two things together so your buyer ends up with a better deal, whether that's a better price, a closing cost credit, a rate buydown, or better terms around repairs and timing. Every deal is different, but the more information you have about the person on the other side, the better job you can do negotiating on behalf of a buyer.

Don't just look at the house. Look at what's happening around it: days on market, price reductions, whether it's vacant, whether it was previously in escrow, and what the listing agent is saying. One of those signals by itself means almost nothing. But when you stack them together, a vacant house, 60 days on market, two price reductions, back on the market, a listing agent calling twice for an offer, now there's probably a real story there, and understanding it before you write an offer can work to your advantage. None of this replaces having someone experienced walk through the process with you, since reading these signals correctly and turning them into an actual negotiating strategy is exactly the kind of judgment that comes from doing this over and over, not from a single checklist.