Do investors really hate being cold called?
Real Estate Agent · Orange County · Member since 2025 · 7 posts · 7 votes
Do investors really hate being cold called?
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Greg ScottPro Member
Rental Property Investor · SE Michigan · Member since 2014 · 4k+ posts · 6k+ votesMy phone rings 10+ times per day with garbage calls, some asking to buy properties I haven't owned in well over a decade.
Texting me spam is an immediate addition to my blocked numbers list and spammers often receive a colorful emoji as a reply before they are blocked. Texting is too intrusive. I block callers regularly and have more phone numbers in my blocked list than my contacts
My email fills up with spam created by AI agents that found my LinkedIn profile and used a database to grab my email. (I de-contented my LinkedIn profile as a result.) I've had proposals to do my bookkeeping, generate more leads, buy my business, buy my properties, loan me money, etc. etc. It gets annoying.
Best thing that works for me is make it easy for me to find you when I'm looking.
91 Replies
- Real Estate Agent · Greater Milwaukee Area · Member since 2025 · 54 posts · 27 votes1y
I can't tell the number of times I have heard, "I'll talk to you because you're an actual person." I cold call the local market I serve. It shows me the major players, inventory that is available before it hits the market, builds relationships and offers context on the local market.
By going into the cold call as having a conversation about real estate it will change the dynamics big time. If you are bringing value to the area they are in, you can collaborate, not just sell.
- 1yDrew SygitBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
If you provide great value, then clients would actually be calling you!
Logical Property Management4.9459 Reviews- Member since 2024 · 153 posts · 67 votes1y
Quote from @Drew Sygit:
If you provide great value, then clients would actually be calling you!
That is not the only or best approach in case if you are investor looking to buy homes. It can work for a contractor, who does great job at fair price. Word of mouth spreads and keeps him busy throughout the year. I know Gen. Contractor who never advertises because he gets more requests for projects than he can handle. I know a realtor whose entire marketing campaign is going to local stores, shopping centers, talking to strangers and giving out his business cards. He is one of the top RE agents in the area, almost all of his clients reach out to him because they saw him face to face. But if you want to buy, let's say, a distressed property in 10 zip codes, you will miss awful a lot of opportunities if you don't do some serious marketing, including cold calling. One cut doesn't fit all sizes. What works for one type of the business may deliver poor results in another.
- 1yDrew SygitBusiness MemberProperty Manager · Royal Oak, MI · Member since 2012 · 12k+ posts · 9k+ votes
Quote from @Eric N.:
Quote from @Drew Sygit:
If you provide great value, then clients would actually be calling you!
That is not the only or best approach in case if you are investor looking to buy homes. It can work for a contractor, who does great job at fair price. Word of mouth spreads and keeps him busy throughout the year. I know Gen. Contractor who never advertises because he gets more requests for projects than he can handle. I know a realtor whose entire marketing campaign is going to local stores, shopping centers, talking to strangers and giving out his business cards. He is one of the top RE agents in the area, almost all of his clients reach out to him because they saw him face to face. But if you want to buy, let's say, a distressed property in 10 zip codes, you will miss awful a lot of opportunities if you don't do some serious marketing, including cold calling. One cut doesn't fit all sizes. What works for one type of the business may deliver poor results in another.
The poster of this Topic is a real estate agent, so I answered in that context.
Regarding cold calling in general, it may have it's place in sales, mostly because it's cheap, but it's pretty low on the success ratings.
It's also so "well-liked" that it's illegal in several cities in our area!
Logical Property Management4.9459 Reviews - Member since 2024 · 153 posts · 67 votes1y
Quote from @Drew Sygit:
Quote from @Eric N.:
Quote from @Drew Sygit:
If you provide great value, then clients would actually be calling you!
That is not the only or best approach in case if you are investor looking to buy homes. It can work for a contractor, who does great job at fair price. Word of mouth spreads and keeps him busy throughout the year. I know Gen. Contractor who never advertises because he gets more requests for projects than he can handle. I know a realtor whose entire marketing campaign is going to local stores, shopping centers, talking to strangers and giving out his business cards. He is one of the top RE agents in the area, almost all of his clients reach out to him because they saw him face to face. But if you want to buy, let's say, a distressed property in 10 zip codes, you will miss awful a lot of opportunities if you don't do some serious marketing, including cold calling. One cut doesn't fit all sizes. What works for one type of the business may deliver poor results in another.
The poster of this Topic is a real estate agent, so I answered in that context.
Regarding cold calling in general, it may have it's place in sales, mostly because it's cheap, but it's pretty low on the success ratings.
It's also so "well-liked" that it's illegal in several cities in our area!
For agent it definitely makes sense to cold call entities that own commercial properties, especially if the property is in any sort of distress, has code violations and etc. If commercial property owner wants to unload their portfolio, I am sure they won't be thinking of investors, but they may well consider selling through the agent (unless the property is a total mess and won't retail on MLS). So, it just makes it more likely that RE agents would cold call property owners.
As to success rating, the main things that affect KPI are data (skiptracing) and the dialer you use. With best of the list you will get nowhere if you have crappy data. If you do have a good data and a dialer with good connection rate, you would get 1-3 leads per day dialing 4 hours, or 20-60 leads a month. Statistically, one in 55 close and go through. You can do the math. Compare the cost to PPC or PPL at $350-$450 per lead (which will turn out to be garbage if you spend only $3000-$4000 a month), or to DM ($7000 per cycle on 10,000 prospect list, which you have to hit 5 times to get results). SEO takes years to establish, costs a lot if you hire a competent specialists and you won't know if it works or not until after you wait a year and through large amount of money into it. SMS is mostly dead because of TCPA rules. If you have a suggestion for better marketing channel, more efficient and competitive cost wise please enlighten this board.
- 1yDon KonipolBusiness MemberInvestor · The Woodlands TX / Avon, CT · Member since 2009 · 6k+ posts · 10k+ votes
Quote from @S Arely Cavazos Serratos:
We provide a great value to investors but sometimes they don't seem open to new opportunities. What approach works best on you?
Some posters say cold calling works, so since they’re doing it I gotta believe it does.
Doesn’t matter though. I don’t want to cold call anyone, and I don’t want anyone cold calling me.- Real Estate Broker · Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2011 · 5k+ posts · 6k+ votes1y
Quote from @Don Konipol:
Quote from @S Arely Cavazos Serratos:
We provide a great value to investors but sometimes they don't seem open to new opportunities. What approach works best on you?
Some posters say cold calling works, so since they’re doing it I gotta believe it does.
Doesn’t matter though. I don’t want to cold call anyone, and I don’t want anyone cold calling me.Cold Calling works, but there is caveats to it working.
The key is summed up in a simple phrase, be a call worth someone sticking with.
So the whole standard format of how to cold call, throw that sh#t out the window.
Gotta be impactful, tactful, articulate, and have a value proposition that hooks in seconds.
99% don't do this.
- Wholesaler · Portsmouth NH · Member since 2019 · 209 posts · 96 votes1y
Investors don’t inherently hate cold calls, especially when they’re about a solid deal. What they dislike is irrelevant pitches.
If you know their criteria, recent transactions and preferred markets, a cold call becomes an opportunity, not an interruption. Lead with a one-sentence hook ("I've got a 5-unit value-add in your area that hits your 12% IRR target") and follow up by asking if they'd like the full deal package.
When calls are targeted and respectful of their time, investors pick up.
- Member since 2024 · 153 posts · 67 votes1yUnderstanding 10,000 Prospects Is an Unrealistic Task
Quote from @Izaiah Barba:
Investors don’t inherently hate cold calls, especially when they’re about a solid deal. What they dislike is irrelevant pitches.
If you know their criteria, recent transactions and preferred markets, a cold call becomes an opportunity, not an interruption. Lead with a one-sentence hook ("I've got a 5-unit value-add in your area that hits your 12% IRR target") and follow up by asking if they'd like the full deal package.
When calls are targeted and respectful of their time, investors pick up.
Let’s be real:If you’ve got a list of 10,000 prospects, how do you actually know each one’s investment criteria, recent transactions, and preferred markets?
You don’t — because getting that level of detail takes real time.
Someone has to:
Pull the data
Analyze it
Create a profile for every individual firm
AI isn’t the solution either. It still makes glaring errors, misses key context, and completely falls apart when you're trying to get accurate, focused, nitty-gritty insights.
So here’s the question:
Who’s actually spending 100,000 minutes — that’s nearly 70 full days — to vet 10,000 prospects… for the chance at landing one or two real deals?
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