BiggerPockets

10 Dynamite Proven Techniques You Can Implement Now To Find Buyers

Monday, November 23

10 Dynamite Proven Techniques You Can Implement Right Now
That Will Almost Guarantee To Find Buyers or Investors
Even Before You Ever Have a Property To Sell.

Recently, I’ve been asked by many of the investors I am working with about how to find buyers and other investors for wholesale and short sales properties.
There are many ways I have personally searched for my buyers and in addition, have researched through other wholesale and short sale investors their most effective way of marketing for their buyers.
These are some of the most effective marketing methods I have used and my fellow investors have used to find buyers.

Real Estate Agents

Let start here since I am a Real Estate Agent as well as an Investor.  Many agents probably have buyers that are looking for these super deals but will they want to share their valuable buyers with you.  The answer is maybe.  They are definitely not going to turn over their buyers to you to purchase one of your homes.  However, they might offer to sell your home for a fee.  I said fee not commission.  If the deal is good for their buyer they will probably ask for some type of fee from you for selling your property.  This fee could range between 10% - 20% of your profit or even could be a flat 2% to 3% of the sale price.  This could cause these real estate agents to keep on coming back to you for more properties to sell.  Remember, it always has to be a win win or no deal.

Signs On The Corners

“WE BUY HOUSES”.  As your driving around I’m sure you all have seen them.  If you haven’t get a pair of good glasses because they are hard to miss.  Every time you see one write the number down and call the number on the sign.  Have a serious of questions to ask them about the type of property they are looking for.  What type of percentage of Fair Market Value they are typically paying and if there is a particular area of town they are interested in targeting to purchase these homes.
You might even wind up doing a few deals with them if they are serious investors.

Your Own Signs

Now, since we’re on the subject of signs how about your own signs.  In many municipalities right now they are hard on leaving these signs up as there have been too many investors putting up signs all over like the “We Buy Houses” signs mentioned above.  However, if you purchase yellow corrugated signs and hand write out the message on them you can leave them up on corners where there  are traffic lights or stop signs with lots of traffic preferably with no other signs available.  These signs work.  The municipality you have erected them in will probably pick them up but until they get there you might just get 3, 4 or more calls from investors to add to your data base. 
I have used this type of signage in the past to sell homes and have picked up investors for my properties.  Here’s what the sign should say:

For Sale
Investor Special
Quiet Street Needs TLC
Call Free Info Hot Line
800-000-0000 Ext 0000

Yes, you will need an 800 number to use this type of marketing but,  it is effective and it does work.

The best time to put up these signs is on Thursday late afternoon and hope they stay up through the weekend.
Or, put them up on Friday evening just before everyone is coming home from work and usually they will stay up through Saturday or Sunday.

Newspaper Ads

Now, we know that 85% to 90% of buyers are looking on line for homes.  Especially,  first time buyers.  Most of these buyers are doing their searches and do not want to be bothered by owners and or sales people until they are ready to get serious.  Serious means,  actually going inside of the properties to take a good close look at what they have been looking at on line.
However, these ad when place in the newspapers usually do appear on line on the newspapers website where many of these buyers use as one of their main sources for their search.  Investors will also be looking at these ads and if you are a good ad writer and can capture their attention in the ad you will be adding a few more name to you buyer data base.

Rental Ads

Check your local news papers or their on line website for rental ads.  These are usually landlords (investors) that have properties and are trying to rent them.  First, they may be a good source for obtaining properties to purchase .  Second, they may be looking to purchase more homes to add to their rental property inventory.

Birddogs

A birddog is someone who is paid to watch for properties that you can do deals on.  These same Birddogs can also be used to watch for investors or buyers that are looking for properties.  Properly taken care of they can and will find you buyers and people that they meet that are looking to get into real estate investing.

Dumpsters In Driveways

As your driving the neighborhoods searching for properties you will come across a home with a dumpster in front or in the driveway.  This could mean that an investor has taken over this house and is rehabbing it.  They are out to get the home in shape quickly and turn it for a profit.  That means they will be looking for another  home soon to invest in so it would be wise to stop and find out who they are, get their name, phone number and hopefully an e-mail address so you can contact them with one of your own properties.

Your Top 20 Bank Owned and Short Sale Properties

This is where you can get creative with your marketing.  All you need to do is get a list of 20 REO and Short Sale Properties from your favorite Real Estate Agent.  Your next step is to advertise this list on your website if you have one or in the local news paper.  Here’s what to say, Free list of the Top 20 Bank Owned & Short Sale Properties in the Lincoln Heights Area.  Call or go to my website. www.topinvestorxx.com.  This will get them to your site where you can have them opt in for the list and leave their name, telephone # and e-mail address.  Same goes if they call you.  Ask them for their name and address so you can send the list to them.

Craigslist.com

I love Craigslist.com.  It’s free and many buyers are going to it right now to find properties.  Again, if you get creative with your ads you will attract buyers and investors.  Craigslist is a good place to advertise your top 20 homes or use the same type of ad on Craigslist we used for the yellow signs above.  Again, the use of 800 numbers is great as it is easy for these buyers to get info without getting sold when they call.

REIA’s (Real Estate Investment Associations)

If you’re not attending your local REIA then you’re missing out on some great education and networking possibilities with other investors and buyers.  Not only are they excellent to further your knowledge about investing in real estate but the networking is endless and is a great source for advertising your properties or just looking for other investors that would be waiting for you to call them with a great property.  If your area does not have an REIA it would be to your advantage to start one as then, you would be gathering all the names of the local investors and having them at your finger tips.  Remember, these investors that attend these REIA meetings are seasoned so you need to know what you’re talking about and know what type of properties they are looking for.  Do your homework.

There are probably many other avenues to market for buyers.  Any one of these mentioned here should be able to get you started on your long road to successful real estate investing.

Remember… your trying to fill up your funnel (data base) and if you don’t have one right now you can put these buyers in Outlook, card index file or use excel to store their names and telephone numbers.  I personally use ACT by SAGA.  However, I’m sure that there are a few other data base programs out there that are less expensive.

Good Hunting.

 

 

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Discover How To Search and Locate Lowest Priced REO's & Short Sale Properties

Saturday, November 14

Let’s face it our existing real estate market is going to be around for awhile.  If you intend to be an investor in this market there are a few guide lines you need to follow in finding and prospecting for short sales.
I learned a long time ago that it's much easier to close a deal and earn the trust of a seller when the leads are referred to you or you’re introduced to the seller.
So it goes without saying your best leads are referral from a friend, family member generally someone you know including your local real estate professional, especially, if they specialize in the REO, Short Sale and Foreclosure markets.
However, these are not the only avenues in finding good investment properties for you.
Let explore some of these prospecting areas.

Personal Referrals

Absolutely one of the best ways to locate a good short sale.  Someone you know who knows another person that is having problems with their mortgage lender and can refer you directly or introduce you in person to the party having the mortgage problem.
They are in a position to stop making payments on their mortgage or have missed one or more mortgage payments. 
You are there to help them with a short sale thus saving them from a possible foreclosure.  Yes, it’s possible for these people to call the lender and to request a loan modification.  And, some of them do.  Many of these loan modifications end up back in trouble and have to be bailed out to forgo the foreclosure.
In a recent short sale that I handled both the husband and wife lost their jobs and were having trouble finding jobs.  There was only one way we could help them and that was with a short sale.
However, you are limited to the amount of referrals you are going to receive this way so if you’re in this game for the long haul you’re going to have to search other ways to find these properties.

Farming an Area or Neighborhood

Many of my real estate cohorts will probably slam me for telling you this one but it is how many of us find listings and it’s a great way for you to find sellers who are in trouble and have not searched for answers to their mortgage problems.
This form of marketing is a system you must develop in a specific geographical area usually in a neighborhood where you will be specializing in.
You will have to put together marketing materials branding yourself as the area short sales expert.
Monthly mailers and door to door contact is necessary.  You will also have to leave brochures and fliers at local business where these neighbors will see your information.
In order to do this you will have to present yourself as the one person that has the knowledge and expertise to help them through the short sale process.
You will have the buyers or investors in place.  You know how to negotiate with the banks and have all your paperwork ready to go when the seller says let’s do it.
Branding yourself this way means that you should have testimonials to show the sellers and past sales explaining how you helped sellers through these Short Sales experience.
It will take some time to penetrate this local market but when you do you will reap the rewards that you are looking for.

Property Managers

The great thing about networking with PM companies is that their clientele are obviously other Investors so they do understand the investor world. Most importantly is most PM companies don't have a solution for their clients when the clients are having trouble keeping the property and are facing foreclosure. When the PM Company can offer you and your services to these investors it provides value to not only the PM Company but also the client.

Real Estate Professionals

Searching and finding the right real estate professional can be a frustrating endeavor in itself.  Yes, there are many real estate agents in your area, or use to be, but finding the right one who specializes in REO’s and Short Sales can be a time consuming. 
You need to find a busy buyer’s agent, not one that only closes a few deals per year, but one that knows how to locate the REO’s and short sales in his or her effective market areas.
There are many ways to search these listings out of the MLS and a good real estate agent will have his home finder computers programmed to locate and send these listings to you in a timely manner.
Many REO’s and Short Sales are now being purchased by many of the first time buyers that are savvy buyers using their real estate professional to locate and show them these properties.  However, in either case after you submit an offer on these properties there will be a long wait until the bank gets to your offer and starts it’s processing.
My latest is in its 3rd month sitting on one of the bankers desk.  The positive side to this is that if you can wait, more than likely you will be able to get a real good deal on one of these properties.
How do you find these agents?  Well the first thing I would do is check out some of the local agent websites to see if they mention anything about investment property, specializing in REO or Short Sale property.
They don’t necessarily have to be the REO or Short Sale Listings Agent.  All they have to know is how to find the properties in the MLS, determine the existing property value on them and understand how the short sales process works or understand what the banks are looking for when they sell their REO’s.
Then, find out how many buyers or investors they have worked with successfully in purchasing these great properties.

Real Estate Investment Associations

You can also associate yourself with a local REIA (real estate investment association).  At these meetings you will find lots of information and investors that have properties that need to be purchased.  You’ll also find Hard Money Investors for your deals along with some excellent networking possibilities in finding REO’s and Short Sales properties.

I leave you with one parting thought and that is to find your right investor comfort zone and stick with it.  With a well planned and systematic search you will become the expert in your area for finding these great investment properties.