I have worked with virtual assistants (both abroad as well as in my local city) for two years now and my experiences have varied widely.  Unfortunately, I’ve had more negative experiences than positive, but today I want to focus on the positive.

(Note: if you want to learn from my not so good experiences, check out a previous post 4 Key Lessons I Learned From My Rotten Virtual Assistant Experience)

Today I’d like to share some tools that have been essential to work effectively with a virtual assistant primarily for my real estate investing business.

Dropbox: Dropbox is an awesome free tool which allows for online back-up, syncing, and file sharing.  My assistant and I use the file sharing feature which makes it super easy to share important documents like marketing materials, digital signature files, contracts, and more (Cost: FREE).

Google Docs:  Google Docs provides a free online word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, and form service and makes collaboration a cinch.  One of my favorite uses of Google Docs is the forms.  My assistant is able to easily enter lead data and not have to fool around with spreadsheets.  We can also use spreadsheets with project plans and she can provide status updates in real-time (Cost: FREE).

Jing: Jing has been a lifesaver for me because it allows me to quickly create videos to train my assistant on various things I need her to do.  For example, I needed her to look up specific data in the public records and record it in a spreadsheet.  It was a simple enough task, but the fact that I could do a screen capture and show her exactly how to look up the data I needed was invaluable because it answered any questions or possible confusion that she’d have about the task. Jing is free and the only limitation worth mentioning is that the video must be less than 5 minutes long (Cost: FREE).

Skype:  This one goes without saying, but Skype is fantastic.  It allows us to have quick chats, phone calls, and video calls with ease.  For a small fee you can have a Skype subscription and make calls to telephones from Skype and have voicemail, so my assistant is able to handle phone calls as often as I need her to with no concerns about long distance charges or using up cell phone minutes.  By the way, if you need to record your Skype conversation, there are free tools like MP3 Skype Recorder. (Cost: Free for basic use, $2.99/month for unlimited U.S. and Canada)

Stamps.com:  If your assistant is handling direct mail campaigns for you, it may be worth investing in a Stamps.com account so that your assistant can save his or her time (and your money) by printing postage stamps online.  You’ll also receive discounts on postage and have online tracking of your postage spending for your business (Cost: $15.99 for small business/single user account).

TimeTrade.com:  I stumbled upon this tool when I was setting up an appointment with another business owner I met at an event.  It’s an online appointment scheduler with automatic reminder and Outlook & Google Calendar integration.  You can simply provide people with your own personal URL so that they can set an appointment based on your calendar availability.  This actually means that you can handle appointments without an assistant, but the truth of the matter is that some people don’t want (or won’t) use this tool to confirm appointments with you, so your assistant may have to schedule some of them.  If you’re setting up a lot of appointments with Realtors, sellers, buyers, or pretty much anyone else, you can use a tool like TimeTrade and it will save you quite a bit of time (Cost: one-time charge of $29.95).

These are just a handful of tools that have been very helpful for our businesses and in working with virtual assistants. I’d love to hear about tools that some of you have used that have been major time, money, or grief savers!

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Six Helpful Tools Your Virtual Assistant Can Use For Your Real Estate Business

Since I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like free advertising, I wanted to encourage all of my fellow real estate entrepreneurs and professionals to take advantage of Google Places.

Google Places provides businesses with an online profile that can appear in Google search results for your type of business as well as Google Maps. For example, if you do a search for “Austin commercial real estate companies”, this is what you’ll see.

Try different searches and see how businesses show up on a pretty little map on the top. Searches such as:

“sell a house fast in (any city name) ”
“buy (any city name) real estate”
“buy (any city name) investment properties”
“(any city name) realtors”

You get the point. I bet you can think of some phrases that would be very relevant for your specific real estate business. Phrases that when people type them in, you’d want your business to show up in those local listings at the top of the search.

So with Google Places you’ll be able to add the following basic business information:

• Name of business, address, phone #
• Company website
  
• Service areas and hours of operation (optional)

That’s all good, but here’s where it can be even more interesting:

• Videos
  You can have up to 5 and they must be on YouTube…sky is the limit here. You have an opportunity to provide some quick content-rich videos that will bring people to your website, blog, or squeeze page. Warning: according to Google it can take up to 6 weeks for videos to appear in your listing…not sure why it could possibly take that long.

• Photos
  You can have up to 10…you don’t have to just do boring pics of your office space or company logo. Logo is fine, but take advantage of the other pics to provide useful information, marketing materials, etc.

• Coupons
  Pretty cool feature. As real estate entrepreneurs we can have coupons too! Here we have an opportunity to provide coupons for referrals, coupons to get any creative “extras” you can provide as an incentive to buyers and motivated sellers.

An advanced feature in Google Places is tags.  By adding tags you can highlight your listing. It will actually show a little yellow sticky tag next to your listing on the map and you’ll get yet another chance to highlight those things about your business that you want potential clients (buyers, motivated seller, private investors) to see.  This costs $25/month but is a completely optional feature and they do provide a 30-day trial so you can give it a run.

As you can see, Google has provided yet another free tool for business owners which I think is pretty cool.  You may ask, how can I ensure that mine shows up at the top of the list?  I don’t have the answer to that question, but if anyone has some insight, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

Now go get your Google Places listing done!

P.S.

As an aside…you did realize that Google Voice is now publicly available to everyone right? Personally, I didn’t know this at all until a few months ago so I figured I’d share in case others were in the dark. Google has several tools that are helpful to us as real estate investors. Here are some links to previous BiggerPockets blog posts you may want to check out:

Track your real estate marketing with Google Voice

Use Google Maps to Save Time

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Google Places: A Free Way to Promote Your Real Estate Business

Maybe this seems like a silly topic to write about, but a couple missed opportunities over the past week made me realize that this is an important topic for new and experienced investor alike and can actually lead to more deals!

As real estate investors, we always want to keep an eye out for deals and just like the Boy Scouts of America motto we want to “Be Prepared”!   So with that, here are 6 essential items that I believe every investor should keep in their vehicle:

Pad & Paper:  This seems like a Captain Obvious statement, but you definitely want to have an easily accessible pen and pad of paper in your car at all times.  While you’re driving you’re going to see “For Sale By Owner” signs, “For Rent” signs, and “We Buy Houses” signs and you’re going to need something to write that down with.  I’ve had to resort to writing on small scraps of papers and gum wrappers…whatever is nearby, however now I’m a bit more organized and keep a small notepad that is precisely for this purpose. The problem with writing on whatever is within reach is that its very easy to lose it!

(Note: Pen & notepad just costs a couple dollars, but a more expensive higher tech option would be to keep a voice recorder nearby so you don’t have to fumble around with a pen & paper.)

Auto Mileage Log: We all need every tax deduction we can get whether we’re a part-time investor with a full-time job or a full-time entrepreneur.  Keep track of those miles you’re driving! Every single mile that you’re driving to look at homes, meet with sellers, etc. should be recorded for tax purposes.  It can be a pain, but do this and you’ll thank me later.

Business Cards:  Have you ever looked in your wallet or business card case at an opportune moment just to realize that you don’t have any left?  I have. More than once.  If you keep some business cards (or small flyers…whatever you use for your business) in your car as a back up, you won’t be left having to write your information on a napkin with someone you meet. Plus, there are so many strategic places where you can just leave your business card. I could do an entire article on this topic, but I do want to mention one really cool technique a friend of mine who is a photographer does.  Every time she goes out to eat she leaves her business card with the tip for the waiter/waitress.  She takes the time to write a nice note on the back of the business card as well.  I think its brilliant.  One day I’ll remember to do it myself!

Contracts: You never ever know when you’ll have an opportunity to lock up a deal immediately when talking to a motivated seller — whether its a planned meeting or an impromptu one.  Keep an option contract and purchase & sale contract handy!

Digital camera or Flip Cam:  Perhaps this one isn’t a must, but it can be incredibly helpful.  I like to take a photo of the front of a house to jog my memory about it later when I know that its one that I’ll be finding and contacting a seller on. You can also take photos of signs rather than writing the information down with pen and paper.  A standard digital camera can work great, but in case you’re unfamiliar with the Flip Cam its a really nifty video camera.  Simple one-button record and all you do is plug it right into your USB on your computer to save it or upload it to YouTube. Pretty sweet and there’s even a HD version which will cost  ~$200.

GPS:  If you’re really short on funds,  a GPS doesn’t need to be on the priority list, but if you can swing it (my Garmin Nuvi cost less than $125), do so!  Having a GPS has been a major time saver for me when going to meet with sellers and check out properties.  The other cool thing about having a GPS is when I’m driving around and see a vacant home or one is serious disrepair, I can grab the house number but then get the street number from my GPS without having to drive down the street to find the sign.  Again, not a huge deal but definitely a time saver.

Depending on the size and contents of your glove compartment, you can use that as a storage place for all of your essentials. I purchased a small plastic box that can fit underneath the seat when its not needed.  Hope these tips are helpful for you! If you have any other ideas for investor car essentials, let’s hear them in the comments below!

Photo: OfficeDepot.com, TheFlip.com

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Six Essential Items Every Real Estate Investor Should Keep in the Car

Economic stress seems to be an apt description of today’s environment. Unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies seem to have hit every nook and cranny in these United States. Put another way, I don’t care where you live, your jurisdiction has its share of these problems.

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had instant access to a website that measured the financial strain not only in your area but across the USA? I think it would.

Well, the Associated Press has built a tool that compiles answers to such questions as:

Where is the recession hitting hardest?
Where are conditions improving?

Handy information to have, right?

If you go to the AP Economic Stress Index you will be at THE site. Mind you, this site isn’t meant to tell you how to solve your personal real estate dilemma(s). It is meant to give you an idea of what is happening where.

Do with it what you will.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

The Associated Press Economic Stress Index Tool

You find a perfect property to purchase. All the numbers are right. You have everything in place yet you have this sinking feeling that this might not be a great area to invest in. If only there was a way you could get the history of the crimes that have been committed in the area.

Well, the only way that you were able to find out this information in the past was to go to the local police department and ask for local crime stats. To this day I do not know of anyone who has ever gone to the police department to research the criminal activity in an area for a giving period of time. It’s just a hassle to go get this info.

I came across a couple of  websites sometime ago:

• CrimeMapping.com – (Read Our BiggerPockets Review of CrimeMapping)
• CrimeReports.com

They’re great websites that lets you see everything that has been going in a particular area within a certain time period. If you know how to use Google maps then you can use these sites and they’re free. Some individual departments have their crime reporting on their own websites like the LAPD but it’s nice to have all the info right at your fingertips in one location.

Find out what’s been going on in your block while you sleep or see what has been going on in your entire city.

Go on there and see if your city is reporting. If not you just have to wait and just lock your door, lol.

Good luck in all you do America. I welcome your comments.

Note From the Editor: You can also petition your local departments to participate on such sites for the benefit of the community . . . something to think about.

Photo: Sarah Baker

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How to Research Local Crime Statistics for FREE Before you Purchase that Property

One of the most important actions you need to take when marketing your real estate business on the internet is to create a powerful list of low competition, highly searched for keywords. There are hundreds of different tools that you can use to find those keywords, both free and paid; at times, it can become overwhelming having so many options. In today’s article, I am going to share with you a free tool that you need to use in order to find those powerful keywords, and here’s the best part, it uses Google’s database.

Where do you find this keyword Tool?

Finding this keyword tool is very easy.  Why?  Because it is provided by Google.  Just head over to Google.com and type in: “Google keyword tool.”  I can guarantee you that this keyword tool will appear in the first place on the first page.  Hmm, I wonder why?

Here’s a direct link to the tool:  https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

Step 1: Input your main keyword into the field provided.  Let’s say that you are targeting a phrase: “sell house.”  Input that phrase into the field.  Then, check the “Use synonyms” box, fill out the captcha field and hit the “Get keyword ideas” button.

Step 2: Google will now give you a list of about 200 keywords that are related to your main keyword.  Once you are there, you will have to do the following: In the top right corner right above the keywords results area, there is an option called: “Match Type.”  Click on that option and select “Phrase.”  Now, all of your keywords will have “quotes” around the keywords.

What that means is that the number of search results Google gives you are the results for the actual phrases people searched.  For instance, for a phrase “sell my own house,” Google will show you the number of times people search that exact phrase, “sell my own house.”  They didn’t search for “sell my house” or any other combination of that keyword.  They searched for that specific phrase.

Why would you want to do that?  Well, you want to use the phrase match to drill down on a more accurate number of searches for that keyword.

Step 3: Go through the list and hit the “Add Phrase” link to add keywords to your selected bucket of keywords.  All you do now is just hit the “Add phrase” link and you’ll add all of the different keywords you want to use for your business.

Now you have a list of keywords that you can utilize in your real estate business.  But how competitive are those keywords?  There is a simple and quick strategy you can use to see what kind of competition the keyword phrase has on Google.

Step 4: Here’s what you do.  Just copy the phrase, with quotes, and head over to google.com.  Now paste that phrase into the search box and the number of results you are going to receive will give you an idea of how competitive that phrase is on Google.  Obviously, the smaller the number of search results, the better.

I hope this short article helped you out. There are more advanced strategies for finding the keywords but I won’t go into it;  I like to keep it simple.   If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll answer them for you.  Until next time,

Peter Kolat

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How to Find Real Estate Keywords That Will Help You Rank High In Search Engines

Last week, a few new investing partners and I took a drive around our neighborhood looking at potential short sale properties that were listed by local agents.  Within a few hours of viewing the properties we had made an offer on two properties. I put together the packages including an offer, addenda, hardship letters, financial information, and several spreadsheets showing the difference between retail value, repair value, and the lender’s likely credit bid at the foreclosure auction. The first was dismissed out of hand, but the second offer was accepted by the seller’s agent, and then the seller just a few minutes later; from there, it was on its way over to the bank for approval, where the waiting game began.

I took a moment to reflect on the process of putting together the offers, and wished the banks were as efficient in the process as I was.  I took a few more moments and registered the processes that went into making those offers.  I searched the properties online, took a short ride to visit them, got some digital pictures, downloaded them to my computer, placed them into my offer document templates, and then worked a few spreadsheets, all from the comfort of my nice, neat, desk.  Everything was scanned and uploaded to virtual server and then emailed to the agent for approval.  The entire process, outside of walking the actual properties, took just a few hours from start to finish and was contained to a five foot radius circle around my desk.

What i realized was that the combination of smart technology and good organization allowed me to operate very efficiently.  With just a few pieces of simple equipment I was able to secure a deal that will likely net a profit over ten times the cost of all that equipment, and that is just in one day’s work.

If you’re an entrepreneurial investor looking for your first deal I suggest you take a step back for a moment and ask yourself if you have the tools you need to succeed. 

Reading books, networking, and taking real estate education courses are all nice, but your career starts in your very own home, with a little space you carve out of the corner of your kitchen or your dining room. By making your space neat and organized, and filling it with the right gear you will setup yourself up for success, rather than failure.

Here are a few tips for setting up your home office, even if you’re operating on a shoestring budget.

Organization is the key

Because space is usually limited, organization is paramount when planning and furnishing your home office, especially if your work area is a small corner of the family room or a desk which also doubles as the dining room table.  Studies show that neat desks encourage creative thought and lead to more productive behavior so keep your work space neat and clean if possible.

If you have an entire room dedicated to your home office make sure your furniture and equipment are placed in an efficient manner.  If you’re the kind of person who likes to print their emails before you read them you’ll want the printer within arms reach.  No sense it having to get up and walk across the room every time you want to grab a document.  If you like to file everything and then refer back to them several times a day then you’ll also want to keep your file cabinet close.  Consider getting a desk that incorporates room for your gear, a printer stand, and a file cabinet all in one piece.  Most office supply stores carry this type of furniture.  For those on a tighter budget, consider going second hand.  There’s always a good post on Craigslist.org or E-Bay for these types of items.

A decent desk and chair combo at most office supply stores start at around $150.  The garage sale specials can run even less, while the plush designer sets can push into the thousands of dollars. A good file cabinet with a lock will run you another $50.

Total Furniture Costs = $200

Get the Gear

There is really only one piece of technology you need to get started; and that’s a computer.   Think of a computer not as a sunk cost, but as an investment in the future success of your business.  In today’s world they are a requirement and you should beg or borrow the money needed to buy one.  Fortunately there are many options for you when it comes to computers.  You’ve got your Macs, your PC’s, and soon, the Android computer, which should be an interesting addition to the mix.  In my humble opinion, a Mac is still the best buy.  Pound for pound they’re more expensive than their PC counterparts, but they’re also more user friendly and much more versatile.  There is a good deal of competition among the cheaper PC’s, but in the long run you’ll find it more cost effective to buy a good computer, which will probably come with some free peripherals like printers, scanners and fax machines.  I’ve always been a fan of the Dell machines and have had their support techs on the phone and out to my house to replace a laptop keyboard in under 24 hours.  Not bad for a weekend service call.  Plan on spending $500 for an entry level PC and $1,000 for an entry level Mac.  Only time will tell where the Android comes in on price, but early signs are pointing toward a sub-$500 launch in early 2010.

If you plan to stay “green” and only read emails and documents online call me up and I’ll write an article about you.  Otherwise, you’ll need a printer.  Printers themselves are cheap; it’s the toner that will hit you in the wallet.  I prefer a single function color laser printer that can be networked across multiple computers.  Other multi-function printers are good if you must have scanner, copier, or fax capabilities for your business.  Most laser printers will set you back $150 or less, with toner costing the same, and needing replacement every 6 months.  At present my printing costs run less than $0.02 per page when I print in draft mode at a low DPI setting.  When I need professional quality printing, it costs closer to $0.04 per page.  That’s a lot cheaper than running to Staples and paying $0.49 for a color copy or $0.25 for black and white.

With the right computer system, things like office phones and fax machines have become a thing of the past.  Now, with cloud computing you can have a virtual pbx style phone machine integrated right into your computer and make and receive phone calls with a simple USB headset/microphone combo.  The voice quality is just as good, if not better, than using a land line, and voice messages can be sent to your mobile phone or your email inbox.  Google Voice allows you to have free phone number which can forward to an existing phone line, like a home phone or mobile phone, and will also transcribe any voice messages you get for free.  You can also create documents on your favorite word processor and fax to machines across the world.  Received faxes come directly to your email inbox in pdf form and can also be sent to your mobile for viewing on the road.

Cloud computing eliminates the need for bloated software programs, reduces the chances of viruses, and allows you to access your contact information from virtually anywhere you can get internet access.  For more information on cloud computing read this article.

While the modern cell phone is not necessarily a business requirement, it will certainly help your productivity.  It will also help you get work done when you’re away from the office.  I remember my first cell phone and the battery pack that came with it.  They could barely fit in the glove compartment of my car.  The salesman told me once I started using it I would feel naked without it.  Truer words were never spoken.  I scarcely leave home without it, and if I do, I get that sinking feeling like I’ve forgotten something important.

Current cell phone offerings include Windows-based PC phones, Palm Pilots, Blackberrys, iPhones, several Android platforms, and non-pda phones as well.  I carry an Android-based phone with GPS navigation which can link to my calendar, pull down addresses for my next meeting, and guide me right to their doorstep.  A PDA type cell phone will set you back anywhere from $50 – $250, and will probably require you sign up for a one or two year contract, which will then run you about $50 per month, depending on your data plan, if any, and minute usage.  If you live in an area where T-Mobile coverage is particularly strong, they offer an unlimited minutes plan for $49 per line.  Otherwise, avoid T-Mobile like the plague, there are better service providers out there with superior coverage and voice quality.

Total Gear Costs = $900 – $1,300

Do the Math

Computer, cell phone, desk, chair, file cabinet, all-in-one printer totaling between $1,100 – $1,500, with a yearly maintenance cost of $100-$200 (not including cell phone plan).  Not bad for all the furniture, fixtures, and equipment you’ll need to start turning a profit the day you open your doors!

Photo: jnyemb

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Furnishing Your Home Office on a Shoestring Budget

As a real estate investor, you are a marketer first.  Your success hinges on your ability to effectively market your business.  Regardless of your specialty, you may use some of the well-known, effective marketing methods.  These methods include, but are not limited to; bandit signs, newspaper classifieds, yellow pages, billboards, business cards, radio, television.  The effectiveness of these methods vary per market, per design, per marketing-message, etcetera.  You need to analyze and conclude what works best for you.

To be a smart marketer and a sound entrepreneur you must track every effort you make for analysis.  As they say in Martial Arts, “Don’t do something for nothing” meaning, if you’re going to throw a kick, kick to break a rib, if you’re going to throw a punch, punch to knock-out.  So if you’re going to spend money marketing, don’t just close your eyes and funnel the money into various methods and throw a Hail Mary pass.  Sure you may get some leads, but you will have no idea where they came from.  You won’t know what’s working best or what’s working the least.  You need to track your marketing efforts.  I’m going to focus on how you can track these efforts for a minimal cost with Google Voice.

Google Voice is a telecommunications service by Google that launched in March of 2009.  This free service allows the selection of a single U.S. phone number with your area code of choice.  Incoming calls to the number may be configured to ring any number of your phones simultaneously.  You can set custom call forwarding schedules, allow different callers to hear different voicemail messages, transcribe voicemails, and the list goes on.  There are enough Google Voice features to warrant a dedicated blog post.  Today, I’m just going touch on how you can use Google Voice to inexpensively track your marketing campaigns.

Using Google Voice to Track Your Marketing Campaigns

1. I suggest that you get one Google Voice phone number for each marketing method.  Get one unique number for your bandit signs, one for newspaper ads, etcetera.  Create a separate Google account for each number that you need.

2. Sign-up for free Google Voice invites.  The wait varies on the invitations, my first invite took about 2 months, my second invite took about 3 weeks.  Each invite for Google Voice allots you with one phone number.  For my additional phone numbers I went to eBay about purchased my invites, no waiting period.  They are going for about $6 a pop there.  This is a very reasonable cost.  Time is money so you have got to love eBay!

3. Once you have your invites you will be able to proceed with your Google Voice account configuration and phone number selection.  Make sure to login with a unique Google account prior to proceeding with the ‘invite’ link and configuring your account.

4. While configuring your account, you may make various customizations to suit your preferences.  You may choose to forward the number to a main number of yours (or to a Virtual Assistant), or you may choose to keep it strictly virtual and just have the callers leave voicemails.

With dedicated phone numbers and Google Accounts for your various marketing campaigns, you will be able to track specifically who called upon what.  You will easily be able to see what is working better than others.  You may then make an educated decision to reallocate your marketing budget.

Personally, I set up five numbers* so that they all forward to my Vonage number (VoIP is another great technological tool).  I disabled the “Call Screening” and “Call Presentation”.  I also set it so that the Caller ID doesn’t display the callers’ number rather it displays the Google Voice number.  The Google Voice numbers are programmed in my phone for what they are attributed to.  So for instance, when someone calls on my classified ad, the Caller ID says, “Classified Ad”.  This prevents me from being blindsided by an ad response, when I’m expecting a call from my accountant.  I forward all of my Google Voice phone numbers to my Vonage office line which also rings my mobile phone.  I do this so that I can use the Vonage Dashboard to monitor all of my calls and not have to specifically login to each Google Account to track different calls.  They all show up in an activity feed and are identified by their number.

* Google currently only allows two Google Voice numbers to share the same forwarded number.  Since I have 5 numbers, the first two are forwarded directly to my Vonage office line.  The second two are forwarded to a Vonage virtual number that is forwarded to my Vonage office line, this goes for the 5^th number as well.

This is just one of the many ways you can use Google Voice.  The more you embrace the advances in technology, the smarter your decisions become and the more efficient you will work.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Track Your Real Estate Marketing with Google Voice

Many real estate investors have a website.  But if you don’t have a website, get one for yourself as soon as possible.  Why?  Because the website can help you not only in branding your company, but it will also help you generate more leads for your business.

If you already have a real estate website, let me ask you few questions:

Do you know where your visitors are coming from?

Do you know the source of your biggest lead generation website (you know, the site that sends you the most traffic)?

Do you know your best keywords that bring the most traffic to your website?

what page on your website is most popular in regards to the traffic it brings you?

Do you know how long people stay on your site?

If not, then why not?

Now, you might be thinking:  Why do I need to know all of this?  I’m just a real estate investor and I’m in a business of buying and selling real estate.

How Understanding Your Keyword Data Can Build Your Real Estate Business

Let’s say that you know which keyword brings you good traffic from Google. You head over to Google and type in the keyword phrase, hit the search button and notice that your website is ranked in the 8th position on the first page.  That’s good, but not good enough.

You decide to head over to Google’s Free Keyword Tool and find out that the keyword gets about 700 searches a month on but you only get about 80 clicks.  Now that you are armed with this powerful information, you can go back to the web page that was ranked in #8 position and start optimizing it to get higher rankings.  You optimize the keyword phrase in the title, tags, description and the page’s content itself.  Then you do some backlinking from some authority sites such as BiggerPockets.

Within few days to couple of weeks, you notice that your site has moved up in the rankings to #3 spot.  So you do some more SEO.  Before you know it, your website is ranked #1 for that term and now you get about 200 clicks per month.  How do you like that?

What if you did that to 5 of your keywords and end up getting 1000-1500 more clicks per month.  What do you think about that?  I think you could get few deals out of those 1500 clicks, don’t you?

Now that you see the power of this data, you might be asking yourself:  How do I get this data?  How much will it cost me?  How much work will it take to get it?

I’ll tell you right now.  This piece of software is easy to use, it takes about 10 minutes to install and get this, it is 100% FREE!  Interested?  I hope so.  Now, I realize that you may already know about this software but if you don’t, you’re in for a treat.  This free software is called Google Analytics and can be found on, you guessed it, Google.  You need to have a gmail account to get it but that’s it.

Once you login, Google will give you instructions to install few pieces of javascript tracking code on your site and you should be all set.  All you need to do from now on is track your progress and watch your statistics.

So there you have it.  Think about what I just shared with you.  This info does not require you to go out and try to do all kinds of internet marketing to get more traffic.  This information allows you to use and improve what you ALREADY have at your disposal.

That’s all I have for today.  Let me know if you have any questions by commenting below and I’ll answer them for you.

To Your Success,

Peter Kolat

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

How To Get More Traffic To Your Real Estate Website Without Marketing

I have the worksheet I use of a ‘quick and dirty’ hard money purchase analysis and I thought I’d share it with you…download here! First if you don’t know much about worksheets, don’t worry; you simply input a few numbers at the top, and the worksheet automatically calculates the fields without your assistance. You just get to read the output.

Why I Use Hard Money: My Theory

Let me explain why I call this my “Hard Money Buying” worksheet. First, I hate putting my own money in purchases, since I’m already putting in my valuable time I feel adding my money to boot is too much to ask. With hard money or what some call private investor funds (rich guys that have more money than time) I seek to borrow not only the acquisition funds but the rehab funds and all the carrying costs including interest payments for 6 months. This is more than enough time to bring the property back to market either as a rental or a sale opportunity.

The Hard Money Worksheet

There’s a screen shot below…and then I’ll give a tour of what’s on it.

First, the gray fields are the only fields that you use to input data. Everything else is auto populated off of those data fields. The “yellow highlights” are there so your private lender gets an eye-full of the good news! As I get “more serious” about a property, I’d do more “complex” calculations, but this worksheet is the basis for my private lender to make his decision from…after all if they won’t lend, I’m not buying.

For example of how I use this worksheet, the screen shot shows my Acquisition Cost at 61.54% and 65.24% after 6 months…if my lenders cutoff is 65%…I’m asking for an exception to the rule. They may say “OK” or they may not. I may have to fax “this deal” to a number of private or hard money lenders to see which one accepts my exception.

Private funds in my experience want about a 12% nominal rate and worse case, 5 points…so the worksheet reflects this. The worksheet reflects the 6 months of turnaround time and tracks the carrying costs over that time. Private funds usually won’t lend if they are letting you in with “none of your own money” at a LTV of greater than 65%. The worksheet gives me two looks at LTV…one before 6 months of holding costs…and one after. This gives me the options with my private money loan request.

Next you’ll see the output for when I sell, the worksheet spits out gross profits for sales prices of 80% of appraised value growing in 5% steps up to 100%. So I can see what my profit potential is if I “hold out” for a higher sales price…or cut the home for a quick sale.

Now depending on the deal, I want to see a monthly cash flow projection as well. So there are inputs for annual property tax and hazard insurance estimates, as well as a 10% estimate for “management expenses”. Feel free to add any addition expenses the cost of a property manager, advertising, vacancy, and collection losses, etc. over the 10% I impugned in the “Est. Insurance” field until you feel you’ve adequately represented the “outflow” and then estimate your potential rent keying that in in the appropriate field as well.

For debt service, it is assumed a 90% loan at 8% amortized over 30 years on the 100% Sales Price figure. If these terms are too generous for you, feel free to calculate the final cash flow by hand using your own figure for monthly debt service…if they feel right…you’re in luck because the worksheet cranks out a lovely “Est. Cash Flow for you!

There are some fields that are nice to show private investors like “cost per square foot” and “rent per square foot”…but they are more for “them” than for you.

NOTE: This worksheet is equally useful for a “fix and flip” scenario using 100% hard money…or a monthly cash flow analysis to help you make long term hold decisions.

Have fun…and happy investing!

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Hard Money Buying Worksheet

This week I’d like to be both practical and a little futuristic. On Bloodhound Blog, my blog, Bonzai, and several other blogs lately, there has been talk about changes in the real estate field, and one of those changes, the team approach, is a topic I’d like to relate to investing — not just “team” as in professionals you use for guidance or as vendors to make individual deals, but a partnership “team”, a small, local investment company. I was going to write about Economic Conversion, but I’ll save that. Investment groups are nothing new, just as real estate teams are nothing new, but how these teams/groups function in a biz 2.0 world will, no doubt, be changing quickly.

It’s difficult for one person with a notebook to keep up with all the information inundating us in the information age. The concept of a local diverse, super investment team using some of the practices of Business 2.0 is an appealing idea. How such a team could be arranged is open to many possibilities, but allow me to build one possibility. Let’s say you’ve decided to become an investor, or you are an experienced investor, and you’ve realized it would be much more effective and efficient if you formed a partnership team. You’ve been a leader all your life and you’re skilled at bringing people together to achieve a common purpose, so you thought you’d use these skills to create an investment team. Your idea is to build the team on four strengths: Internet/information mangagement, financial expertise, real estate expertise and local government expertise.

Internet/information management:
With constant innovations taking place in online information search all the time, the investor who’s being fed the most focused, contextual information has an advantage. Having that expertise on an investment team, someone skilled in web 2.0 concepts, allows the players to consider a steady stream of useful information that can be analyzed on a daily basis. Many local governments are putting up websites with updated changes you can feed into by email alerts. Although small cities may not be on the edge of information yet, all this is rapidly changing. Also, by hooking up the investment team with web 2.0 tools, you’ll be able to make information management efficient: blogging to encourage interaction in the communtity; online meetings for the team, quick information display and contact management through something like Open Office, Web Officeor Zoho (check them out carefully — each has strengths and weaknesses) to be accessed anywhere; mapping technology for visual inspiration — being connected will be light years ahead of those investors who aren’t and will bring the following categories together in powerful, useful ways.

Financial Expertise:
Having someone knowledgable about financial management and loan products with their finger on the industry’s pulse will be a powerful addition to the team. New products are coming out all the time — being quick to take advantage of the innovatons, knowing the trends of loan products and having connections to lenders will place the team in a good financial position to maximize profits and design each investment with the most efficient and profitable financing.

Real Estate Expertise:
This could be a commercial agent or a real estate attorney, anyone with real estate expertise that has comprehensive knowledge of the local RE market, access to market information and connections to all the local RE players. People who spend all their time in the RE business hear things and know things that the general public would not be aware of, plus they have a feel for the trends and red flags to consider. Someone experienced and connected to the local RE community will be a valuable addition. You might also want to consider someone who has experience with building and knows about the product itself — building and buildings — at least enough to be helpful in identifying maintenance, repair and renovation costs.

Local Government Expertise:
It would probably be helpful to have someone on the team who knows local government, who has experience dealing with zoning and planning, knows all the players and how to navigate the system. Insider knowledge would be helpful in effectively analyzing information by understanding the mindset of the local players for future development in different areas of town – what concerns for development are a top priority? Are there plans to promote growth on the east side? Are there plans underway to provide incentives for downtown investment and re-building?

Building a strong local investment team like this has pros and cons. The pros are a co-ordinated team approach that if managed correctly could be synergistically more powerful and efficient than an individual effort. If pulled off, it could be attractive to private lenders who want to put up money but not get bogged down in nuts and bolts. It would be attractive to banks, giving them confidence that the well rounded approach would be effective in producing results. It would be effective in making good investment decisions, and being the first to recognize opportunities for investment. It would be good for the gathering, managing and analyzing of information and helping with the due diligence process, having four areas of expertise investigating the viability of a project. It would give each team member more confidence, drawing from the strength of each other, bouncing ideas around, communicating and receiving feedback. It would add financial strength so that larger, more profitable projects could be handled.

The cons, or possible problems, are settling disagreements among team players over strategies and investment choices, creating equitable partnership arrangements, deciding where responsibilities lie with each team member, ending partnerships if it’s not working for a member — there can be many problems with any team or partnership arrangement, so it would pay to take the necessary time to work all these out and to choose carefully. However, I believe all the problems can be worked out if there is an easy exit plan for dissatisfied members. I believe the pros outweigh the cons, but not if it’s poorly planned — four minds can be worse that one if teamwork is not executed to its full potential.

If teamwork IS executed to its full potential, I think an investment team could achieve extraordinary results, especially if all the modern tools of information management are used to provide speed, co-operation, comprehensive knowledge and efficiency.

Note from the editor: Read more about assembling your real estate investing team and be sure to look at some of the great suggestions in the comments.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Investment Team – A Real Investment Team

If you’re selling your home by owner, you’re probably very familiar with all the reasons for doing so: no commissions, more control, less stress. Obviously the real bottom line is simple: more money for you.

So let’s just assume that when you’re selling by owner, it means that you want to make/save as much money as possible. Following that line of thought, you might not see any reason for using a FSBO company, one of those help-you-sell types that you can purchase marketing through. You might be perfectly content to stick a sign in the front yard and wait.

Well, in today’s buyers’ market, wait you will.

Here’s my solution: use a FSBO company.

You may be thinking, doesn’t this contradict the whole point of selling on your own? If I use a company, shouldn’t I just use a realtor? Well, no. FSBO companies counteract the primary problem of selling by yourself: they bring you buyers and create professional advertising.

If you decide tomorrow to sell your house and you buy a red and white sign at the hardware store and put it in the yard, only the people who drive by your home will know it’s for sale. This is a start, and it’s good, but you want to cast your net a little wider. You want to reach as many people as possible so you can find THE buyer—the one who’s going to pay you what your home is worth, in the shortest amount of time.

FSBO companies usually offer advertisements with their websites, magazines or other marketing tools. They build their business around reaching consumers and bringing them to your property. This is very, very important.

Plus, you’re still saving thousands of dollars: compared to a 6% commission, a one-time fee for advertising/buyer-gathering is always a better deal! Personally, I’ve been very satisfied with Buy Owner, after using several other companies. BO is the only company that left me with no complaints. Do some research and determine which company’s best for you. (Ask me about any one of them! Odds are, I know about it, if I haven’t used it myself!)

Selling a property is important—so important, in fact, that you want to do it right. Consider a FSBO company. You’ll be glad you did.

This Article is Copyright © 2004-2011 BiggerPockets, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Using a Homes For Sale By Owner (FSBO) Company