The Seller Financing Script That Gets “Yes” w/ Joe & Jenn DelleFave
Joe and Jen DelleFave share their seller financing strategy for buying real estate without traditional bank loans, emphasizing how to identify motivated sellers, ask the right questions, and negotiate favorable terms across four key variables: price, down payment, monthly payment, and term length.
Summary
Joe and Jen DelleFave discuss their real estate investment strategy centered on seller financing, which has allowed them to build a multimillion-dollar portfolio across 20+ states. Joe's journey began 26 years ago when he borrowed a Ron LeGrand course and learned to buy property without money or credit. After hitting a 10-property bank lending cap in 2016, he discovered seller financing as a way to scale beyond traditional lending constraints.
The core of their approach involves finding motivated sellers through Facebook groups by posting simple messages asking for properties not market-ready, generating free inbound leads. They gauge seller motivation on a 1-10 scale, focusing only on 8-10 rated sellers who demonstrate genuine need to sell quickly. Their lead generation process involves posting 3-4 times daily in relevant Facebook groups, responding to all comments to boost algorithm visibility, and filtering through direct messages with targeted questions.
Their DM screening process uses pre-programmed shortcut questions on iPhone to ask about the property, timeline, condition, desired price, and openness to terms. This allows delegation to family members and keeps conversations efficient. Only motivated sellers advance to phone calls where Joe implements his four-pillar framework: price, down payment, monthly payment, and term length.
On phone calls, Joe uses four specific questions designed to make sellers present their own offer rather than receiving low-ball proposals. He opens by mentioning no agent commissions or closing costs, asks for their minimum acceptable price, states he typically buys with no money down, asks what monthly payment they need (often covering taxes, insurance, HOA), and inquires about acceptable payoff timelines. Joe intentionally doesn't send offers, preferring to gather information and have sellers propose terms.
Their philosophy inverts traditional real estate investing logic: price is their least important negotiation variable, while down payment, monthly payment, and term length are prioritized. They've successfully bought $500K+ properties at asking price because they could offer terms, while competitors offering 50% cash offers were rejected. Joe emphasizes the deal must cashflow at minimum $250-500 monthly and that he won't sacrifice this requirement regardless of price.
They handle mortgage subject-to and wrap deals by ensuring the original lender receives timely payments and proper insurance. They work with experienced attorneys specializing in creative finance to ensure legal compliance and seller protection. Joe notes that if properly structured, these deals don't violate lending agreements because banks care about timely payments, not who makes them.
Follow-up systems are critical to their success, with CRM automation triggering outreach at weekly, monthly, or quarterly intervals based on stated seller timeline. Joe reported deals taking 1.5 years of follow-up before closing and emphasizes not giving up on leads after initial rejection. They track key performance indicators like calls per day and motivated sellers contacted weekly to forecast future deal flow, targeting 1 deal per 25-30 truly motivated sellers approached.
Red flags that kill deals include sellers attempting illegal activity, fraud, or bankruptcy evasion. Joe has encountered forged documents, unauthorized property sales, and other scams but maintains strict ethical standards. He emphasizes that reputation is more valuable than any single deal and uses experienced title companies and attorneys for thorough vetting. They've encountered situations requiring property return to sellers despite years of cashflow, choosing to exit rather than litigate.
About this episode
282: In this episode, I sit down with Joe and Jenn DelleFave to break down one of the most powerful real estate acquisition strategies available today: seller financing. (Show Notes: REtipster.com/282) Most investors understand the mechanics of owner financing, but very few know how to have the conversations that actually get sellers to say "Yes." Joe and Jenn share the exact framework they use to find motivated sellers, structure creative finance deals, negotiate terms, and acquire propertie...
Key Insights
- Joe discovered that seller financing allowed him to circumvent the 10-property lending limit banks imposed, enabling rapid scaling beyond traditional financing constraints
- They found that posting simple, visually distinct messages in large Facebook groups (44,000+ members) generates hundreds of free, inbound leads without paid advertising or cold calling
- Joe argues that most investors miss the best deals by only pursuing distressed properties for cash deals, when nice properties with motivated owners represent the largest opportunity set
- On their phone call framework, Joe intentionally avoids sending offers and instead uses questions designed to make sellers articulate their own terms, creating psychological ownership of the deal structure
- The DelleFaves identified that price is actually their least important negotiation variable, whereas most investors focus exclusively on purchase price reduction
- Joe claims that 1 out of 25-30 truly motivated sellers will ultimately close a deal, but when focused only on high-motivation sellers (8-10 ratings), conversion dramatically improves
- They structure deals with subject-to and wrap mortgages in ways that allow sellers to qualify for new loans by showing third-party payments satisfy the original debt obligation
- Joe argues that banks don't care who makes mortgage payments as long as payments arrive on time and the asset is properly insured, making these arrangements legally and practically viable
- The DelleFaves discovered that 40% of homes are owned outright (easiest to negotiate) while 60% have mortgages with locked rates, and they specifically target low-rate mortgage holders (2-3% ranges available despite current high rates)
- Joe claims that follow-up systems generate deals months or even 1.5 years after initial contact when sellers' circumstances change, making consistent outreach more valuable than high initial conversion rates
- They found that requiring tenants to handle all maintenance and repairs while collecting large non-refundable deposits ($10K-$30K) allows them to accept slightly lower cashflow on some deals while reducing operational burden
- Joe identifies that ethical standards and reputation protection are more valuable than any single deal, and has walked away from or returned properties to sellers rather than engage in litigation or moral compromise
Topics
Transcript
You want to take your land business to the next level? Join hundreds of land investors at the Land Scaling Summit, October 15 and 16 in Dallas. You'll hear what's working right now, connect with other investors, and leave with practical ideas you can put to work immediately. I'll be there too, so if you see me, be sure to come over and say hello. Head over to landscalingsummit.com and be sure to use the coupon code Seth, S-E-T-H, to get a discount on your ticket. Hey everyone, how's it going? This is Seth Williams. You're listening to the REtipster podcast. Today I'm talking with Joe and Jen Delafave. So one of the huge advantages real estate investors have, whether…
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