Make More Offers to Find a Motivated Seller

When I first started working with my investors, we had a routine. We’d put together a list of houses and go see every one of them in a day.

At each house we wrote down one thing: the number we’d actually be willing to pay. Not the list price. Our number. Then we went back and made an offer on every single one.

We didn’t get most of them. And that’s exactly why it worked.

You Can’t See Motivation in a Listing

Every listing looks about the same from the outside. Nice photos, a list price, a description. Nothing in there tells you whether the seller is moving across the country next month or would be perfectly happy to sit on it until spring.

You find that out one way: you make an offer and see what they do with it.

Most of our sellers said no. Some didn’t even counter. But every no told us something. That seller wasn’t motivated yet, and we didn’t have to waste weeks wondering. When you put out enough offers, one of them says yes, or comes back close enough that you’ve found your deal.

Why It Works Right Now

We’ve been talking about this in the market updates. There’s more inventory out there, and homes are sitting longer. My latest inventory update showed 4,670 active listings across Greater Louisville and 4.2 months of supply.

More homes for sale means sellers have more competition, and buyers have more room to negotiate. When a house has been on the market for months, that seller’s situation has usually changed. They just haven’t told anybody.

A few years ago, this strategy didn’t work for regular buyers. Everything had five offers on it by Sunday. That’s not the market we’re in anymore.

Where to Start Looking

To make this easier, I built a list of Jefferson County homes that have been on the market 90 days or more and have had the same owner for 10+ years. It updates every Friday.

Long-time owners often have a lot of equity. Some have already bought their next place. Some are dealing with a life change, like downsizing or settling an estate. Add 90 days on the market, and that’s usually where flexibility starts to show up.

That doesn’t mean every one of them will take your number. It just means it’s a good place to start asking.

How to Do It the Right Way

• Get pre-approved first. If you’re making several offers, you need to be ready to close on any one of them.
• See every house before you offer. Write down your number at the house, while the condition and the repairs are fresh in your mind.
• Base your number on something real. Recent comparable sales, the condition, and what the repairs will cost. Not just a percentage off the list price.
• Keep each offer clean and respectful. This is “offer what it’s worth to you,” not throwing out lowballs. Sellers’ agents remember who’s easy to work with.
• Only offer on houses you’d actually buy. Every offer is binding if the seller says yes.

The Tip

See several houses, write down your real number for each one, and make more than one offer. Let the sellers tell you who’s motivated.

If you’re wondering what to do when one of them counters, I wrote about that in They Countered Themselves: Knowing When NOT to Negotiate.

Just the Tip Tuesday is my weekly series breaking down real-world real estate situations, negotiation strategies, contracts, and lessons I've learned over more than a decade in the business. Every offer you make is binding if it’s accepted, so talk with your agent and lender before making offers on more than one home at a time. Market figures are from my October 25, 2026 inventory update and will change.