The best place to find the REAL motivated sellers?
Bessemer, AL · Member since 2014 · 581 posts · 32 votes
The best place to find the REAL motivated sellers?
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Specialist · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2013 · 227 posts · 158 votes
9y@Tony Marcelle So from your post you are looking to hit a homerun quickly. I could be wrong though. Lol
But I will tell you this, unlike what you see on TV, real estate investing takes time, patience, persistence and hard work. Most of the people who find the type of Sellers you're looking for usually send out hundreds of postcards every month, and out of those hundreds you may only get 1 or 2 deals that are true motivated Sellers. It really depends on how good your list is and the area you are targeting your list.
But it only takes one deal to pay for your investment in time and effort but it does take time and effort before you see any results and sometimes it takes persistent time and effort for months before seeing any results.
My recommendation, if I were just starting out is I would start going to some real estate clubs, investing meetups, ect. find out what a few investors are looking for and go out and find those type of properties. Here's a tip, when you find the type of property they are looking for GIVE it to them. Don't ask for a fee or anything. Just ask if you can watch what they do because you want to learn.
There are several reasons why this is effective and I don't have time to write everything about why this works really well. But watch them do the deal, get to know them, let them get to know you and the next deal that comes down that you find then ask for a little off the bottom and if you can watch again.
Start bringing investors good deals and don't ask for a lot.
And always ask for money off the bottom not off the top.
Start slow, start small and let the snowball effect work for you. This is the way toward long term wealth. I hope this will help you get started.
I wish you the best.
Good luck
Stephen
23 Replies
- Lender · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 11 votes9y
From listening to the podcasts, Direct mail seems to be a pretty successful method. Might check into foreclosure and auction sites as well. I'm still new to the game myself so I'd be happy to learn with you as this post begins to gain some responses.
- Specialist · San Francisco, CA · Member since 2013 · 227 posts · 158 votes9y
@Tony Marcelle So from your post you are looking to hit a homerun quickly. I could be wrong though. Lol
But I will tell you this, unlike what you see on TV, real estate investing takes time, patience, persistence and hard work. Most of the people who find the type of Sellers you're looking for usually send out hundreds of postcards every month, and out of those hundreds you may only get 1 or 2 deals that are true motivated Sellers. It really depends on how good your list is and the area you are targeting your list.
But it only takes one deal to pay for your investment in time and effort but it does take time and effort before you see any results and sometimes it takes persistent time and effort for months before seeing any results.
My recommendation, if I were just starting out is I would start going to some real estate clubs, investing meetups, ect. find out what a few investors are looking for and go out and find those type of properties. Here's a tip, when you find the type of property they are looking for GIVE it to them. Don't ask for a fee or anything. Just ask if you can watch what they do because you want to learn.
There are several reasons why this is effective and I don't have time to write everything about why this works really well. But watch them do the deal, get to know them, let them get to know you and the next deal that comes down that you find then ask for a little off the bottom and if you can watch again.
Start bringing investors good deals and don't ask for a lot.
And always ask for money off the bottom not off the top.
Start slow, start small and let the snowball effect work for you. This is the way toward long term wealth. I hope this will help you get started.
I wish you the best.
Good luck
Stephen
Are you trying to flip or wholesale?
You have to market consistently because only a small % of marketing will convert to deals.
If you don't want to do the marketing, you'll have to find some great agents and wholesalers who can bring you the deals.
- Bessemer, AL · Member since 2014 · 581 posts · 32 votes9y
@Nathan Shepard Who specifically are the right targets for direct mail? Are they absentee owners, pre-foreclosures, probates, tax liens etc? I just need an idea who exactly to target with direct mail. So far, I have been targeting only absentee owners and delinquent tax lien home owners. I don't want to bid on auction homes along with all the other investors.
@Steven Stokes I wouldn't say I am looking to hit a home run quickly because I have been patient for quite some time doing this with no results. I don't send out hundreds of post cards every month, but I can relate when I was sending out a large amount of letters a month to vacant home owners. I got a small number of responses to those several MONTHS later. Some even contacted me over a year later after I gave up and moved on to other leads. A year later to get a response back?? Really?? I been searching everywhere for meetups in my area. I cannot find any available on the days I am able to attend. The same goes for real estate clubs.
@Pratik P. I am trying to flip contracts. I am able to wholesale too, but I am trying to start with flipping.
- Contractor · Indianapolis, IN · Member since 2016 · 267 posts · 144 votes9y
If there was a list of "REAL motivated selllers" every wholesaler on the planet would be so over marketing it that it would be the worst possible list to have. There is no such list.
The reason people use the forclosure lists, absentee owners list, FSBO list, and on and on is not because they are are gaurenteed hit but because they are a more likely hit. If you just mailed every person on the block you would fail nearly every time and run out of money before you ever got a call back.
Ask not what list you can buy, ask who you are looking for. Once you decide that, get creative on how and where you find those kinds of people. Where are they most likely to be? What do they look like? The more perfectly you understand them the better results you will have.
In the end, you may end up deciding a list is exactly what you need and which list you need. But that's ok because you will learn to craft your business in a way that succeeds with that niche.
- Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes9y
The audience of eviction court. Talk about motivated seller leads!
I certainly would've entertained a sales discussion at mine. I was just wore out.
Thinking back, my best deals were timely unlawful detainer action mailers, forfeitures (seller-financed foreclosures) and property tax delinquents. Tired older landlords that have been self-managing forever are great for seller-carries as well.
Put in the time to research folks in pain. If you can buy some random list, so can everybody else. Be different!
- 9yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
@Steve Vaughan with the unlawful detainer lists.. help me with this one.. of course I have done them.. but are they published as in public record in the newspaper ( I am thinking not) so is it you walking into the court house and looking at the court dockets ??? is that how you find them?
and if this is super secret information just e mail me .... not that I am personally going to do anything with it of course but I am curious.. and like to stay up on what the real pro's do !!! not the marketing guru's
@Tony Marcelle not to be to blunt here but you seem to have objections to most things IE you can't make any meetings because they are not convenient .. this does not work someone calls me a year later lead must be sheet..
I grew up working hand out and mail out leads.. you simply cannot judge them either when they write in or call in.. this is a belly to belly business. and those who judge leads before sitting in front of the Mark is going to fail every single time.. this is a very very tough business.. and Bessemer and B ham were your at... is HIGHLY competitive and has been for years.. there are deals there I fund probably 5 to 7 a month in that city and have for over 15 years.. its never ending inventory there.. but its competitive as Hell you are competing against my boys and girls there.. they do it for a living you have too many barriers to really compete other than falling into a deal like a pumpkin falling off a truck. you may need to rethink a tad.. make sacrifices... All the things you don't want or like are were the deals are...
- Real Estate Investor · Encinitas, CA · Member since 2016 · 3k+ posts · 3k+ votes9yTony Marcelle For what it's worth any lead generation campaign would kill to have people contact them months a year later. It means your collateral, whatever you sent, was memorable enough to keep. It should also underscore why it's a campaign and why timing does matter. Why do you think all of those ads follow you around online? Your marketing campaign is basically that targeted marketing but with snail mail, cold-calls, etc. If following you around online with ads didn't work, why would companies spend billions of dollars doing it a year? Rethink your time horizon.
- Investor · Lebanon, OH · Member since 2016 · 144 posts · 87 votes9yJay Hinrichs In my city you can find unlawful detainers online by digging through the court dockets. Evictions are only handled on certain days which makes it a little easier to find them. It's a great source (for everything already mentioned) and for the fact that it's a pain in the a** to get to. Which of course means most people are to lazy to target it. Michelle
- 9yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
@Michelle B. I have only been a landlord kicking dead beat tenants out.. and I hire a service to do it.. I would personally never go... but I assume many do this them selves.
But now that I think about it here in Orygun I think evictions are handled all in one day each week that type of thing and in eviction specific courts.
seems like a target rich environment and if it is like I am thinking heck hang out at eviction court a few days a month.. that don't cost nuttin and pick up leads from burnt out landlord syndrome folks.
our areas are not as renter dominated in the SFR realm most evictions probably I would say 90% or so will be from apartments.. so could be a good way to snag a tired multi family owner.. And or at least you would have the name of the landlord to chase down if they are like me and hire a service to do it for them.. or their PM does it for them.
one must remember in an area like Bessemer and much of the mid west deep south huge swaths of inventory are owned by out of state folks so they won't be showing up it will be a service or their PM representing them.. or a Lawyer who takes on this kind of work.
- Investor · Lebanon, OH · Member since 2016 · 144 posts · 87 votes9yJay Hinrichs I agree! Could be a great opportunity. In Ohio you can only represent yourself if your property isn't in an LLC. So most landlords, even if small, still have Atty representation. Even still, we all knows it's pretty damn easy to figure out who owns the property.
- 9yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
@Michelle B. I like it ... I see putting energy into that would be fruitfull.. but these happen mid week during the day.. many won't be able to take time off of work to do it...
so what is one to do.. OH maybe hire a house wife who is looking for extra income and show her what to do ??? maybe a collage kid .. or I guess in todays day and age a House Husband as well.
- Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes9y
Originally posted by @Jay Hinrichs:
@Steve Vaughan with the unlawful detainer lists.. help me with this one.. of course I have done them.. but are they published as in public record in the newspaper ( I am thinking not) so is it you walking into the court house and looking at the court dockets ??? is that how you find them?
and if this is super secret information just e mail me .... not that I am personally going to do anything with it of course but I am curious.. and like to stay up on what the real pro's do !!! not the marketing guru's
@Tony Marcelle not to be to blunt here but you seem to have objections to most things IE you can't make any meetings because they are not convenient .. this does not work someone calls me a year later lead must be sheet..
I grew up working hand out and mail out leads.. you simply cannot judge them either when they write in or call in.. this is a belly to belly business. and those who judge leads before sitting in front of the Mark is going to fail every single time.. this is a very very tough business.. and Bessemer and B ham were your at... is HIGHLY competitive and has been for years.. there are deals there I fund probably 5 to 7 a month in that city and have for over 15 years.. its never ending inventory there.. but its competitive as Hell you are competing against my boys and girls there.. they do it for a living you have too many barriers to really compete other than falling into a deal like a pumpkin falling off a truck. you may need to rethink a tad.. make sacrifices... All the things you don't want or like are were the deals are...
Unlawful detainer actions aren't listed in the newspaper, but business bankruptcy's are here in the local business journal. That's another high response group.
In the county recorded docs online, we used to be able to search by doc/action name, same with dissolutions (divorce) but now would have to go to the courthouse and do some digging. The higher barrier results in a great list that hasn't been marketed to most times.
I don't do it much anymore, but used to know all the courthouse clerk gals there in Chelan county. Brought them donuts from time to time and had a great relationship. Now one is in treasury dept and overlooked a whoopsie I did last year without making me go back to the seller and get another notarized sig. Just takes getting out there and meeting the folks that make your county hum!
- 9yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
@Steve Vaughan NW is special place when it comes to county folks helping you.
when I created my timber data base from OR CA border to Tacoma.. we got great receptions at the court houses very friendly
so I am thinking I am going to go after timber in Sonoma county.. CA.. I walk in like a big shot tell the counter lady I want to look at the aerial photogs.. etc etc at first she brings a few out.. then ask why I want them and I blurt out well to buy land to log... TILT she runs back out comes a senior person grabs the big books up and says we don't help with this.. your on your own.. and of course this is pre google earth.. I could go buy the telemetry images but its pretty expensive.. we did few deals out in the Russian River drainage but CA is extremely anti logging. so back to Orygun and WA with my tail tucked between my legs..
My Dad s real estate attorney told me when I was about 11 or 12.. SON you want to make money in Real estate you LEARN the court house and you learn it well.
and that advice served me well.. in my early years when title plants were not on line and the title companies had their plant in their office I would go in with Donuts to Bob Bounty and watch him do search's and a few 49er tickets did not hurt either LOL.... so by the time I was 19 ish one year of real estate under my belt I could do a title search in the big books just like an abstractor/ title examiner title officer .. I would spend a few hours a week there..
My specialty at that time ( and remember I am a land guy) was chasing shadow plats.. IE subdivisions that were created in the turn of the century up to the 1930's but because they were under one ownership the assessor had merged them to one tax parcel.. under that tax parcel I found many subdivisions 10 to 100 lots.. we would then buy it like it was a bare 5 acre.. I would then take my shadow plat to the tile company I would buy title insurance on each individual lot and then the assessor would pick up the new legal descriptions and for about 200 a lot I had a full blown subdivision.. this is what my dad did as well for 20 some years.. its fun no competition and big money if done right.
now in PDX we call them lot confirmations and its public knowledge
There was some huge money made south of Monterey Carmel area (Big Sur) were LA dudes used the same theory and would buy say a 400 acre ocean side track of land that could only have one home and end up with 8 legal lots under it.. selling each lot and this is back in the 80s for 500 to 1 million each.. HUGE money made in that. but I digress... LOL
- Investor · Riverside, CA · Member since 2011 · 2k+ posts · 3k+ votes9y
Let's apply this to another industry;
What would you say is the best place to find a super gusher oil well? I am talking about an oil well that will produce thousands of barrels of oil a day.
Answer: You need to drill a lot of holes, or you need to pick one hole and drill extremely deep. It is much less expensive to drill deeper than it is to pack up and move to another field and start drilling all over again.
- 9yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
@Aaron Mazzrillo or as one of my partners does ONLY buy and control the rights.. own no machinery or when I did timber we owned NOT one piece of equipment. the ultimate in wholesaling
- Lender · Kansas City, MO · Member since 2017 · 33 posts · 11 votes9y
@Tony Marcelle, I personally don't have much experience in the direct mail myself. Just what I have heard from the BP Podcasts. I couldn't tell you out of the examples listed who would be the best candidate. I don't blame you from wanting to stay away from auction wars. Best thing I'd recommend is to find some of the podcasts that focus extensively on direct mail and sift through the show notes which can be found at BiggerPockets.com/show(insert show number here).
Best of luck,
Nathan
- Bessemer, AL · Member since 2014 · 581 posts · 32 votes9y
@Nathan Shepard I may need to check out those podcasts. I couldn't see myself going to an auction with an army of other investors bidding on the same property. I want to be the first to grab houses no one knows about and make a deal out of it.
@Account Closed It is not what you think Jay. I am not trying to come off as having objections. I still have a day job that makes it difficult to attend meetups and real estate clubs. You are right about the competition down here in Bessemer and Birmingham is very high. I have peaked through the county recorders website and found your name a several properties you bought around this way. I know the area I live in right now is surrounded by vacant homes and for rent homes, but they are in very poor parts of Bessemer. I agree deals are places investors don't want no part of. I found that out a while back.
- Wholesaler · San Jose, CA · Member since 2016 · 12 posts · 4 votes9y
It is planting seeds. As you mentioned even getting calls months or years later.
Personally, I do letters & I gear each letter toward that certain niche. But the trick is to keep the letters/marketing going, otherwise your pipeline will have gaps between pay days.
- 9yJay HinrichsBusiness MemberReal Estate Consultant · Summerlin, NV · Member since 2014 · 45k+ posts · 66k+ votes
@Tony Marcelle well then when you land that screaming deal and want to flip you know were I am and then you know as well that I am a for real buyer .. and you don't have to waste time on others that will just try to flip your deal daisy chain style.
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