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Posted about 6 years ago

5 Easy Ways To Find Real Estate Deals​

5 Easy Ways To Find Real Estate Deals

1.Driving for Dollars

This is just as it sounds. You drive around looking for distressed or abandoned properties. Before you leave the house, have a plan. Know what subdivisions you will be going to. The best time to drive is late morning, early afternoon during the weekday. If you can, drive around during trash pickup day. If a house doesn’t have a trash can in front of their house, it could be vacant. Other things to look for: tall grass, boarded up or broken windows, piled up newspapers, mailbox over flowing, etc..

Write down all your leads and go home and research the property. Locate your counties Central Appraisal District (CAD). Look for homes with high equity and if they don’t fit your criteria, cross them off the list.

Finally, when you have your final list, send them a marketing piece in the form of a postcard or letter. During your research you will learn if the property is owner occupied or an absentee owner. If you’re mailing an absentee owner, make sure you send the marketing piece to the owners’ current address. Also, be consistent, send a mail piece once a month over a period of several months.

Pros: If you’re working with a budget this is a great method. You’ll save on marketing dollars. Also, there could be less competition for the leads. Most investors get their leads from the same online list company, such as list source.

Cons: Very time consuming. You could spend all morning driving for just a handful of leads.

2.MLS

MLS stands for Multiple Listing Service. www.Realtor.com is an example of a MLS. One thing to look for is expired listings. If a property hasn’t sold in a while, the owner may be willing to sell at a discount. Another strategy is to make an offer immediately when a property hits the MLS. If you make the first offer and act quickly, this could help you get a yes before anyone else has seen the property.

Pros: Free way to look for deals.

Cons: A lot of competition. You have to have thick skin making low offers to sellers who are looking for full retail price. You have to find a realtor who is willing to work with you.

3.Online Ads/Craigslist

Look for Landlords who are looking to rent out their rental property. You can usually find these ads on free classifieds sites such as Craigslist or Backpages. Many landlords will post an ad online looking to rent out their home. Landlords could be sick and tired of dealing with tenants, and the hassle may not be worth it to them. Call them up and see if they’re willing to sell.

Pros: Free

Cons: Looking through ads and calling on landlords who are willing to sell at a discounted price could be very time consuming.

4.Direct Mail

This is one of the most widely used strategy in the REI world. Direct mail consists of getting a list of motivated sellers. (These lists can be found online by list brokers). Once you have a list of motivated sellers, you now need to “introduce yourself”

The power of direct mail is found in two main strategies:

1.More is better (spend a little more money and increase the number of sellers in your mailing list)

2.Stay the course (it takes multiple drops to create and effective campaign)

If you don’t want to be flooded with calls from “Tire Kickers”, you must set up a phone system that screens the calls. A couple ways to do this is to hire a 3rd party company that takes the calls for you. Another option is to set up a voice mail system that gives the caller instructions, such as “if you’re interested in selling your home, fill out the form at ….”

Once you have outsourced your direct mail and set up a phone system to screen the calls, you have an automated system for finding deals.

To learn more on direct mail visit my blog on direct mail Here.

Pros: Sellers will be calling you. You can automate this marketing channel.

Cons: It can be competitive so make sure you “stand out in the crowd”

5.Pay Per Click.

This form of marketing will usually yield the best leads, although from my experience with working with investors, not as many leads as direct mail.

This form of marketing requires a website or landing page. In my opinion, every business needs a website. The basic gist of Pay Per Click advertising is you set up an online ad and you get charged every time someone clicks on your ad.

Retargeting- PPC allows you to retarget those potential customers who got away. It allows you to keep putting your message in front of them. People generally need to see your message multiple times before deciding to contact you.

Pros:

Get seen immediately- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) usually takes some time to be seen on the first page of google. It could take a year or longer to be seen. With PPC you can get seen once your ad goes live.

Cons:

Bidding Wars- This can occur when several companies are fighting for the top spot. This can really drive up the cost per click.

People tend to ignore sponsored ads- A recent Google survey showed that 85% of people ignore sponsored ads.

Every click cost you money- Every time someone clicks on your ad it cost you money



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