What my business is missing: Marketing for motivated sellers
Late last year, it dawned on me--after about a year of wrestling with what steps come next for me--that the right thing for me to do, you could perhaps call it a calling, was to take my investing from a side hustle, to a true career, a company. This would challenge me and force me to grow and to tap a deep reservoir of potential.
I'll spare you the details of that quest of inner discovery. The bottom line is, I began to ask, "What does a professional investor do differently than a side investor? What does my investing look like as a business, as a company, rather than as a hobby or side hustle?"
I wrote out an org chart of my development firm, what it needs to look like in the next few years, what the business model is, who my first second and third hires are, and what succeeding at this will allow me to do in terms of generosity and impact toward the world around me.
One piece that I admittedly have been avoiding, is dialing in my marketing. It is essentially the marketing of a wholesaler, except I don't have to flip it. I am the wholesaler and the cash buyer all in one.
I'd love to ask the experienced investors and wholesalers out there:
What have you had the most success with when marketing for distressed properties?
I'm most interested in exploring what I can do with letters, to start. I may be open to Facebook ads, down the line, and possibly billboards as well, when it is warranted.
My first big benchmark goal is to contract 3 properties per month to either renovate, scrape and build, or hold as a rental. I've been able to find roughly 1/month without investing time or money into my own marketing, but there is a definitely ceiling if I'm relying solely on the MLS and wholesalers.
I'm hoping that with a three-pronged approach, with 3 streams of leads coming into my business, I can find 36 deals in a year.
So 3 primary questions around marketing through mailers come to mind:
1. Content: What are your favorite pieces? What gets the most traction, what generates the most face-to-face opportunity?
2. Lists: What lists provide the best bang for your buck? (Worth mentioning, I'm in the Nashville area. Highly saturated metro area with investors everywhere.)
3. List source: Do you have a favorite site or service that you use to get your lists from? I'm not necessarily concerned with the cheapest, as much as I'm concerned with the most effective.
I appreciate everyone's help!
When I began this process about 6 months ago, I made one most important decision. The decision that, "I am doing this."
And my language changed:
I'm building a real estate investment firm that will create the opportunities in properties, as well as the funds, to put together a rental portfolio that will eventually generate over $100k/month in rental income. (I'm at $2k/month right now, so... almost there? Ha!) With that money, I will fund international adoptions for families every single month. Money is simply a tool, and it can be used to impact the world if there is a vision.
I appreciate your help as I move toward my vision!