Finding your buyers first - Posted by Lette

Real Estate Investing
1

Posted by Dirk Roach on January 03, 1999 at 04:00:55:

Hi Lette,
I’ve seen and read your posts over the last couple of months and realize that you are not focused on Mobile Homes (like I
am). However, one of the things which I do may be a little better approach than the one you posted above.
When someone calls me on a generic ad which I keep running whether I have a Mobile for sale or not, I tell them that I’m in the
process of closing on it. The (often times fictious) people whom I’m closing on are a little iffy though. What are you looking
for? This home would probably be perfect for you. I’ll tell you what I’m really not sure about these people. Let me give you a
call back in two days, I will know by then if these people won’t fly.
That gives me a couple of days to locate a potential home for the person who called.
Of course mobiles are smaller than most conventional RE I’m sure that you could stretch out the callback time to a couple of
weeks. You should be able to pick up something by then.
Anyhow just a thought, and good luck,

Dirk Roach

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Finding your buyers first - Posted by Lette

Posted by Lette on January 02, 1999 at 15:31:11:

I’ve been told that finding properties is no problem. It’s finding the buyers where the challenge comes in. So I’ve been contemplating placing an ad to attract buyers beforehand, not just wholesalers, but first-time buyers as well - an ad something to the effect of: LOOKING TO PURCHASE YOUR OWN HOME? JUST TELL US WHAT YOU WANT AND WE’LL DO THE SEARCHING, or somehting to that effect. What I want to know is, is this legal? I want to make sure I’m not doing anything out of my boundaries as an investor. Has anyone else tried this?

Thanks.

Happy new year to all.

Paulette

3

Re: Finding your buyers first - Posted by JPiper

Posted by JPiper on January 03, 1999 at 12:01:25:

Lette:

A few comments regarding your post:

?I’ve been told that finding properties is no problem. It’s finding the buyers where the challenge comes in.?

In my opinion this comment is completely false?..it?s backwards. The challenge in this business is finding properties that you can acquire on a basis that makes sense to do a deal. Once you?ve structured the proper deal, there is virtually an unlimited market. Buyers are a dime a dozen. The last ad I ran attracted 100-150 buyers?.I lost count. The only way your comment might have ANY validity is if your area is in a severe ?buyers market?. If this is true, this is one of the few right now in the US. But even in this type of market, finding the right deals always creates multitudes of buyers. Focus on finding the right properties, not on the buyers. Finding the right properties revolves around knowing your market, and knowing what buyers will buy, under what terms, and in what time frame. To know your market takes work, research, acquainting yourself with properties that have sold. This is how you get to know the buyers?.you look at what they have bought. This tells you all you need to know about their patterns. Now you know what you need to find.

?So I’ve been contemplating placing an ad to attract buyers beforehand, not just wholesalers, but first-time buyers as well - an ad something to the effect of: LOOKING TO PURCHASE YOUR OWN HOME? JUST TELL US WHAT YOU WANT AND WE’LL DO THE SEARCHING, or somehting to that effect.?

In virtually any state this is a brokering activity, and requires a license. If you run an ad like this or anything close to it, I would expect you to be reported to the state licensing authority. We have been down this road with some of your prior posts. If you want to be a broker, go get a license. If you want to be an investor, you will need to do things like an investor.

Here?s what a deal is. It?s either a property that you have tied up at a significant discount to it?s market value. These properties have a ready market. It?s the wholesale market. You can wholesale them to other investors. Yes, you can retail them too. But typically this will require retailing to someone who has to get a loan. This is a tougher job, and requires typically that you close on the property first, hold it while you market, perhaps fix it up.

The second deal is one that you have tied up with extraordinary terms. Let?s say a lease/option deal or some form of owner financing that requires nothing or very little out of your pocket. These properties have a ready market as well?.the retail market to buyer?s with less than perfect credit.

Go find one of these types of deals and you will have buyers beating your door down.

JPiper