Posted by Joe Kaiser on May 09, 2006 at 01:07:53:
Luke, you clearly haven’t participated in my training or you’d
understand the purpose of the mail . . . and it’s probably not what you
think (I’m more interested in the mail that get’s returned undeliverable,
frankly, and that alone justifies the effort).
Yes, I send a lot of mail but I don’t depend on it to bring deals my way.
Sure, we get our share and do the very best job possible to create the
very best mailing pieces, but it’s not something I depend on.
I don’t advertise and don’t expect people to find me. I target people
with big equities and big problems, and instead of waiting for them to
call, I make contact directly.
Joe
Finding investment properties - Posted by Scott May
Posted by Scott May on May 04, 2006 at 06:47:04:
Need help in locating investment properties. What are the best ways to find properties. How should someone starting out go about it.
Scott
Here’s How I Do It - Posted by Jimmy
Posted by Jimmy on May 07, 2006 at 12:34:50:
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listings. my least favorite place, but occasionally I come across a good one.
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local neswpapers. my #1 source. more than half of my deals came from newspapers. I can read the real estate sections of 8 different papers in my area, in about 15 minutes, online. Most papers, even small ones, offer a free online version.
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my people. carpenters, roofers, managers, flooring guy, etc. all have brought me deals. they know what I want, and know they will get to do the work.
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get chummy with Housing Directors. here’s why. These are the people who run the Section 8 programs. They work with many, many, many landlords in the area. They just might know of a landlord or two who is getting old or tired of the biz. I only got one deal this way, but it was a 20-property deal.
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drive around. look for properties in distress. look for FSBO signs. do a little digging.
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Bank-owned properties. I got 2 this way. One ended up being a headache. the other was great.
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keep your ear to the ground. finding owners in distress is a good thing. but they don’t wear a sign saying so. your people on the ground need to be looking for signs. catching a person pre-foreclosure is a lot better than catching him in flreclosure.
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you can advertise with bandit signs, yellow page ads, etc. I don’t do this. But a lot of folks do. it must be working for someone, because these is a never-ending visual blight on every corner.
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the most ideal situation is finding a seller in distress where the properties are also in distress. Understand that these are two distinctly different kinds of distress. I have only found this situation once in my 6 years of biz. Just closed it last week, so I can’t brag (or lament) the deal yet.
It’s not about the house . . . - Posted by Joe Kaiser
Posted by Joe Kaiser on May 05, 2006 at 03:21:59:
Stop looking for properties. That’s the formula for paying retail and not
what most of us consider a good thing.
You’re looking for situations involving people with big real estate
equities and big real estate problems. You’re looking for people eager
to move on or are so sick of their problem property that they’re on tilt
and will do almost anything to get out of their mess.
Once you understand this, you can target arenas where these
situations take place with predictable regularity and park yourself there
so those people know about you and your abilities to pull their butts
out of the fire.
I hate advertising and all that goes with it. I think most is a waste of
money and a needless expense for anyone who’d rather use his brain
instead. Besides, I refuse to depend on some guy noticing my sign or
flyer or billboard or commericial. I refuse to wait for my phone to ring.
Aggressively target owners on tilt, and forget about the house. A house
is a house is a house . . . and it’s not about the house!
Joe
Re: Finding investment properties - Posted by dutch
Posted by dutch on May 04, 2006 at 13:32:30:
It’s called Marketing and Advertising. Cheapest entry course with lots of materials you can use is Ben Innes-Ker’s “Motivated Seller Magnet” course, runs about $200. Check it out at http://url123.com/vsc88
Then there are bandit signs. I use them, they work. Usually get a call or 2 before I get home from putting them out. Banditsigns.com or http://url123.com/mchg5
Believe it or not, newspaper classifieds, “WE BUY HOUSES” continues to work.
Once you’re making cash, branch out to billboards, tv, radio, whatever works in your area that is different from your competitors.
There are lead generation sites, SoldIn9Days.com and StopForeclosure.com which are run by InvestorPro, check out in your area at http://url123.com/m4hh9 Others include IBuyHouses.com, HouseBuyerNetwork.com and there are others. they may or may not be available in your area, as most are “exclusive”. You buy the territory.
Good luck.
Dutch
OKHomesavers
Re: Finding investment properties - Posted by danny
Posted by danny on May 04, 2006 at 13:26:49:
it’s more important to know what to do with it after you find it than it is to find it. i would say study first read lot of articals on this site and lots of books if you don’t have your answer to that question after doing tons of that then you provebly need to study somemore it does’t hurt to read things twice.
Re: Here’s How I Do It - Posted by Joe Kaiser
Posted by Joe Kaiser on May 09, 2006 at 01:24:01:
“the most ideal situation is finding a seller in distress where the
properties are also in distress . . .”
Pretty much all we do.
You missed the 3rd element of distress, though. It’s best if the seller
and the property are in distress, AND some government agency is as
well.
When they’re going nuts about it, too, all kinds of things can happen.
Good things.
Joe
You hate advertising? - Posted by Luke Hoppel
Posted by Luke Hoppel on May 08, 2006 at 08:51:14:
Joe,
You hate advertising?! What do you think you are doing when you complete a direct mail campaign? You are advertising to those people that you want to buy their house.
I’m curious how you find deals if you HATE advertising?