Hi all! This is my first time posting (other than the obligatory intro post) and I'm just wondering, is it worth it? I have been studying and listening to the podcasts for a long time and finally convinced my husband and our two best friends (our partners) to jump into real estate. The problem is that we don't have much extra money for marketing, and such. I didn't have money to buy a list, so I went to the Central Appraisal District and got my own. It took me HOURS and HOURS to sort through all the properties. I don't have money to buy and mail a ridiculous amount of postcards, so I bought stationary and I'm handwriting letters. (I know this isn't scalable but once I get a deal, I can allocate more toward marketing.) The problem is, once I whittled down the list of tax delinquencies, I'm down to less than 200 that fit my model. Is this worth it? Am I wasting my time with so few properties? I don't want to put a list, postcards, and mailings on a credit card, but I will if I have to. What would you do? Thanks!

Account Closed as you are finding out despite what the Gurus say, it does take money to do real estate. Is it possible to start with nothing, yes. Are you likely to succeed by starting with nothing, no. The people who do succeed are the ones who persist, and continue to learn and grow. So is it worth you time? If you persist until you succeed, yes. If you learn something from the experience you can apply later, yes. If you give up before you get anywhere, no.

Account Closed Hard to tell if it worth your time or not. What do you think your time is worth? what else would you have done with the time you have invested in this en devour? If it works and you get a deal and you make some money then I'm sure you will think it was worth it. If you don't will the things you learned be worth the time you invested? I think only you can answer these questions. When you don't have much money then you need to make up for it with hustle and knowledge. If you have a bunch of money you can make up for a lack of hustle and knowledge but it will cost you.

200 is perfect. You never know who is willing to sell. I would advocate getting every buyer (LLC) in that CAD list as well so you aren't heavy sellers without any buyers. It's always worth it to learn something new. And it just depends if it will pay off or not. The way to win at this game is being persist. Good luck!

So, @Ned Carey and I usually agree on things. This time is no different. I think most people would agree that I've succeeded, at least to some extent. But, it has taken 15 years of eating a lot of shit... Is it worth it? Yes. Is it common? No.

Account Closed Welcome to Biggerpockets!200 is a good number to mail to but not the best. You need to make sure to touch those 200 records for at least 5 or 6 times with a gap of 3 weeks in between. If I were you, I would not spend time handwriting 200 letters. Instead, I would cold call them and keep on calling them every day unless they ask me to remove them from my list. Moreover, speaking from experience, handwritten letters and handwritten fonts delivers the same results.

You don't find quality by looking for a needle in a haystack. You have to find a stack of needles. You do that by learning how to analyze markets first to find that stack of needles. In other words, you need to analyze markets based on finding one(s) where the market profile matches the criteria defining your financial needs.

@Colleen Cupp Welcome to BP Colleen! I am in the Dallas area so I can tell you first hand its super competitive. There are a lot of big wholesale companies and investor groups that spend 10s of thousands on direct mail. So 200 postcards is probably not going to get you very far unfortunately. The best thing to do honestly is to find a niche. Something a little off the beaten path that wont have a ton of competition. For example, mine is vacant houses. I spend the majority of my time and marketing and money on finding houses that are vacant. Do some driving for dollars, find vacant and distressed property and call those owners and ask about selling. Skiptrace your list of 200 and call those people and ask about selling. When you meet with your husband and your business partners/best friends you guys should discuss marketing and a marketing budget. If everyone is able to contribute a little then you have something to work with. If your plan is to BRRRR then you have to have some cash reserves right? Also if there are 4 of you then you can do driving for dollars X 4! Unfortunately there are a lot of folks (usually with a hidden agenda) who will tell you that it doesnt take any money to get into wholesaling. Those people are lying. One of the most popular questions on this forum is ‘how can I get started wholesaling with no job, no credit and no money?’ The answer is you cant. As others have suggested you can do some door knocking. Talk to people in your own neighborhood and ask if they know anyone who is interested in selling. Go to estate sales, usually someone died and eventually the property is going to be sold right? There are some super creative low cost ideas out there. Feel free to reach out anytime! Im in DFW as well!

Account Closed Welcome to BP! First, I am happy you were able to get your husband and your friends to be interested, as that can be a struggle on its own, so kudos to you. Now, to keep them interested long enough to make some money, you want to get some momentum quickly. Is your method a little time-consuming? Yes, I think so, especially in our world of technology and online marketing. Of course, as you know you can do this much better and not break the bank. Handwriting letters? Being there, done that, got the tee-shirt and GOT NO deals from it because you need volume to really make a dent and stand out from the other wholesalers and real estate agents hitting a particular area. You can get companies such as Open Letter Marketing and others to do this for you. Also, I think I read somewhere that you need to send mailers at least 5 times to really get mind space, so frequency is very crucial. Marketing isn't a ONE and DONE approach, it has to be ongoing to have an impact. I guess that's why McDonald's still advertise to us even though we already know that they are down the road. Second, try to find some seed capital to get you started from a marketing perspective, even if it isn't a ton of money. There are other vanilla strategies such as Buy and Hold rentals (small multifamily) that you can also get started when you combine forces with your friends. Think about it... Good luck.

@Ben Leybovich if I’m being totally honest: fear. But I’ve gotta get over it quick because I’ve mailed out my first 20 letters and plan on writing 20 more tomorrow. No turning back now! 😆

@Ben Leybovich but you wrote 20 Ways to Buy an Investment Property for $2000 or Less, so you must think it’s possible, amiright? 😉 I’m willing to work hard. I’m willing to learn. I’ve just got to get started. 😃

Is this worth my time???

Account Closed

OP

Flipper/Rehabber · Rowlett, TX · Member since 2019 · 49 posts · 31 votes

7y

@David Dachtera I absolutely LOVE this idea. Especially the addressing party. I think I’m going to have to try it. I some family that would probably be interested if they were just exposed to the idea. Thank you!!

Is this worth my time???

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