How I got Started Marketing for Motivated Sellers

My wife and I were visiting the local home improvement store and when we returned to our car we found something on the wind shield. It was a business card that promised I could make $2,000 a week! Hell, sign me up I said.

I was off contract from my normal full-time position as an EMR Educator. I was also looking for a way to leave the travel of my consulting position behind. However, to do that I would have to find another way to earn an income. It turns out that the business card I had found on my windshield was advertising one of these guru real estate education programs where you could learn everything you needed to start flipping houses tomorrow. Boy was I excited, and being that I had a well paying consulting job, I thought hey, this just may be worth the investment. I called the number on the card the next day.

The lady answered the phone and convinced me to watch a 1 hour presentation summarizing the guru education program she was trying to sell. I watched the presentation and decided to dig deeper by asking more questions. Somewhere along the way the lady who had left the card on my windshield mentioned BiggerPockets to me. If she was hoping for a sale, she had made a mistake. I now had an arsenal of real estate investment knowledge at my disposal. I devoured every BP article, and every podcast I could for the next 4 months. However, I was experiencing the dreaded Analysis Paralysis. The common theme in the forums, articles, and podcast seemed to be that the best way to learn was to get out there and do something instead.

So that's what I did. I knew I was comfortable on the phone. In between undergrad and graduate school I worked briefly as a mortgage banker, and was completely comfortable talking to strangers on the phone. Therefore, I decided I would get my start marketing for motivated sellers. Another common theme I had learned leading up to pulling the trigger was if you find a good deal the rest is easy. I decided that my time and money would be best spent on a direct mail campaign:

1. I listened to this podcast on repeat

2. and this podcast as well

3. I asked the forum to help me develop my list to market to

4. I outsourced my mailings

5. I asked the forum for advice on taking calls.

6. I took those calls, found a deal, and through my networking efforts built a relationship with a local investor who ended up buying my deal.

My motivation behind this post is to show all of you what's possible by utilizing this amazing resource and community we have here at BP. In my next post I'll go into the details of my first deal, and show you how I managed the daunting task of estimating rehab costs, making offers, and executing purchase agreements as a complete REI newbie.