My Lead Generation Process - Single and Multi-Families

[Hassan Imran]

Hey everyone, I’m writing this to share - and hopefully inspire - some people on the same path.

I started investing in mid-2016 looking for deals I could refi 100% of my capital from, and enjoy at least $100/mo., in cash flow (per door) in solid blue-collar neighborhoods. My main focus is, and has been, to build a rental portfolio of 50 units before the end of 2020. Recently, in order to further attain this goal, I’ve been spending a lot of my time developing my own approach to deal sourcing in Q4 2018.

I want to point out to those people looking for their first deal that lead generation has, and always will be, all about consistency. I’ve been making cold calls for over 2 years now, and still stay in touch with the owners I called during the first few months of starting. Recently – I finally got a $1M portfolio under contract after keeping up with a retiring owner whom I had called back in 2016. With that being said, as you get further into investing, these tasks will become outsourced and more deals with come via network (as I've heard).

Let me break down my approach;

Cold Calls.

I'm a firm believer that the entire realm of real estate is a people business. Getting people on the phone is the most efficient way to build a repour, at scale, with owners. As I've become busy with the operations side, I continue to devote time to lead generation and hiring others to work on the SFR acquisition side.

Follow up: Hand written letters.

People, especially the oldies, LOVE hand written letters. Keep this in mind as a great follow up tool after the initial calls. I typically don’t take a ‘hard sale’ approach, and also let them know I’m interested in staying in touch if things change or they know anyone else. For multifamily properties especially, it’s all about the relationship with the owners.

I know many people are huge on Brokers, but why not have a multi-prong approach? In my observations, calling multifamily owners is actually way easier than SFR owners. You can have a much more intellectual conversation and learn a lot along the way.

The best ways to build a list for multifamily:

• Licensed agents
  • You can pull a list of multifamily/retail/etc. properties with an agent that has access to the MLS.
• Listability/List source
  • You can request the list by the county you’re tackling.
• Co-Star
  • Do what you must to get in front of commercial brokers and develop a relationship. In my case, I bought a broker a laptop to get started (he informally mentioned he needed a new one, and I got one sent over).

One thing to note is that the direct contact approach WILL NOT WORK for multifamily properties over 70 units. In my opinion, it gets pretty hard to get in touch with the decision maker (or several decision makers). You’ll need broker relationships for this.

Added Benefits:

This is a long-haul game, but the benefit is not only in the deals. If you’re making cold calls, you have direct access to the bigger investors in your area. I’ve leveraged these relationships to grab coffee, get advice on deals and raise capital.

The 83-year-old owner I’m purchasing the $1M portfolio from has taught me more about life than I would have ever expected. Through some shared wisdom, I learned how he approached life, investing and things in-between. The benefits to directly building relationships with owners is not only in the deals, you’ll also learn a crap ton!

Thanks for reading. If you’re around the Metro-Detroit area or not, feel free to reach out and connect. I always love talking shop.