Re: Too much information!? - Posted by eric-fl
Posted by eric-fl on July 20, 2001 at 24:17:29:
LOL, if you think this business is “too good to be true”, then you simply haven’t started yet! I guarantee you will not think that way once you do!
It’s hard to get customers in this business, just like any other. Yes, you are supposed to be putting your efforts into marketing, but that doesn’t mean you’ll automatically have your “pick of what sellers I choose to deal with”. Marketing IS work. It’s not like you just put an ad in the paper, sit back, and wait for the $$$ to start pouring in. There’s plenty of good information here on how to market properly, I’ll not repeat it here. Suffice to say that, if you’re doing it properly, it will feel like work.
As for “I’m not supposed to drive neiborhoods looking for distressed and/or vacant property”, who the heck told you that? I think maybe you’ve read a lot of the posts here lately along the lines of “don’t call sellers, have them call you”, which I agree with. But those are usually in response to people calling FSBO’s and rentals out of the paper, looking for lease/option deals, and getting frustrated when unmotivated sellers don’t say, “yes, please come take my house!” Prospecting in distressed vacant properties is a great way to find deals! As far as putting your efforts into marketing, I’ve got news - tracking down owners of vacant, distressed properties, and letting them know that you buy houses, and that you solve problems, IS marketing! But again, send them a letter, or two, or five, and make sure they got it. But don’t call them, let them call you - in response to your marketing. See the difference? When someone is calling you, in response to your marketing, regardless of whether you found them, or they found you, you automatically know they have at least some motivation to sell their home. And the entire tone of the conversation is changed.
Finally, as far as “flipping” being the easiest way in, NO. As you can see, flipping means finding deals. Finding deals means marketing, in many forms. And marketing is work, and it’s not easy work. This isn’t one of those things that’s “too good to be true”, trust me. This is like any other endeavor, where the level of reward will directly correlate to the sum of your efforts. And that, of course, is entirely up to you.