Methods im using to find investor/buyers an results

Methods im using to find investor/buyers an results

Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes

To begin with. I've decided to build my investor/buyer list first, then get their criteria and focus on finding specifically what my buyers want. Even tho i've began the below marketing methods I have no idea how to actually set up a deal or follow thru with the individuals that respond. I figure its better to get started with the little knowledge I've learned here than to keep putting it off. Any advice would be great, I need to find an inexpensive ebook or course on the step by step process of finding deals. Anyway here's my list. :cool:

#1, craigslist.org ad [LINK REMOVED] (this is a real home that i've come across and a potential deal. My uncle owns it and he's willing to let it go for 75,000 and i've listed it for 90k just to see if i'd get any bites, I also specifically asked for cash buyers in the ad so i'd assume the responses will be from investors) I placed this ad on february 12th, todays february 13th and so far Ive received 13 responses, I'll update after 7 days.

#2, Local NewsPaper ad. The ad I placed in the paper is similar to the craigslist ad above. I got the sat. and sun. ad for $55. At the present its sat. night and Ive gotten 7 phone calls about the Ad.

#3, I tried section8.com which i learned about here but it web address wouldnt work. I did a bit of research and tried [LINK REMOVED] and that gave me a site where i was able to find landlords and contact them. I attempted this but in my area there were only 2 houses listed. Is there another official site for section 8 that im missing? The plan of course is to contact the landlors and see if their interested in purchasing more properties similar to those they allready have.

#4, Use realtor and find cash buyers, I contacted a realtor, told him i was interested in finding the properties that sold for cash in the last 30 days. My reason was that Id like to find out where the investors are buying. My actual goal is to drive by the properties, get the investors # from the for rent sign or contractors and contact him/her and learn his criteria and add him to my buyers list. I've started this, I live in a small town so my 30 day list only included 4 properties. the agent then went back 90 days which produced 39 properties, much better. He also did the same for the next city but for 30 days back, this city is larger and produced 38 properties. I have yet to actually drive by any of the properties tho. cash trouble. I'll update how well this works after i actually go.

#5, call all the i buy house signs i come across, I got this idea from this site, instead i decided to do a google search for north carolina i buy houses and that brought up lots of companies. I havent done this yet but I plan on making a list then calling them and getting their criteria and adding them to my list.

#6 Place bandit signs stating, rental house for sale and investor special 3 bed 2 bath, I got this idea off this site as well. havent done this one yet either. I plan to go to home depot and buy the signs and just write the info and then go place them. I know there are companies that can do professoinal printings but my goal is to spend the least amount of money to build my buyers list. After I put some signs out ill update and let you know how they do.

#7 Free list of 30 foreclosed/distressed homes ad in paper and craigslist. I got this idea from this site as well. Basically place the ad, investors see it, call in and leave their contact info. I call them back and ask for their criteria, get their email info and send out the list. I could also set up a website and make it so they have to input their criteria for buying a property and their email addy, then they submit and the list is automatically sent to their email address. My realtor gave me access to the mls and i've been snooping around on there, I can easily just do a search for foreclosure or short sale and get a list of properties to give out.

#8, Lastly [LINK REMOVED]m, This site looks pretty promising. The original site for this software is [LINK REMOVED] and it costs 2k but if you order from reicashbuyers.com you get the same product for $997. I plan on buying this software as it gives you the address and name of cash buyers in any area you choose to search in. There's of course a system that comes with the software that shows you how to contact these investors and what to say to get them calling you. I'll wait till i've done my first deal before I purchase this tho.

Well thats my list. Any comments or advice let me know, I'll update as I see the progress. The reason im listing my steps is to give myself a sense of accountability. For whatever reason its been hard for me to get started even when I have the plans clearly laid out. There's allways an excuse, I'm hoping being accountable to a group of my peers will give me enough motivation to push forward.
I plan on using [LINK REMOVED] websites. Best deal in my opinion. and I'll be using [LINK REMOVED] m for all of my funding needs, they seem to be the best bet in my opinion. check their site and you'll see the difference. Well thats all folks, leave me your comments good or bad.

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Real Estate Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2010 · 122 posts · 126 votes
16y

Larry, don't take their failures as an indicator of your area. I can't even recall all the investors that I have come across over the years that are no longer in business. They had the same opportunites that I have had, yet they failed and I didn't. The area had nothing to do with it. Your area had nothing to do with their failure, either. For whatever reasons, they failed, and probably would have failed in any area. Losers fail, winners succeed. Be a winner and capitalize on the fact that there's less competition than there could have been.

If it turns out that there aren't many investors in your area, make it work to your benefit. If you are one of the only investors advertising, GREAT! You've got the ability to capture a great deal of the market. The fewer buyers there are, the better the deals you'll be able to get. Supply and demand, and you are the demand - there may be a crap load of available houses, but if you are one of the only buyers, you win. When you can negotiate from a position of strength, you will either get the deal at your price or move on to the next one.

If you need to wholesale deals, find buyers - they are everywhere. They might not advertise, but there are landlords in every city and town. Get a deal under contract and put a "For Sale - Fixer Upper - As Is" sign in the yard. Buyers will come out of nowhere in a frenzy like cockroaches when the lights come on. Now use supply and demand in your favor again, this time you have the low supply and all the buyers are the high demand.

If and when you are in a position to close on the deals and either fix and flip or rent them, you still win. Always look at the positives, my friend...

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  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Wow, todays monday the 15th of february and I've gotten a great response to the first 2 methods above. The craigslist ad has brought in a total of 23 leads. The newspaper ad has brought in 21 leads so far. So 44 total.

    Ive listened to some of the vm's and i've got several individuals claiming to be cash buyers and others claiming they work for cash buyers. Im gonna hold off on the other methods of finding buyers till i get thru these. Its clear to me that if you have a good enough deal buyers wont be hard to find by a long shot. Thats very promising to me.

    Will update again after I start calling people back

  • Real Estate Investor · Audubon, PA · Member since 2009 · 13k+ posts · 8k+ votes
    16y
    Originally posted by Larry Lee:
    ...
    #4, Use realtor and find cash buyers, I contacted a realtor, told him i was interested in finding the properties that sold for cash in the last 30 days. My reason was that Id like to find out where the investors are buying. My actual goal is to drive by the properties, get the investors # from the for rent sign or contractors and contact him/her and learn his criteria and add him to my buyers list. I've started this, I live in a small town so my 30 day list only included 4 properties. the agent then went back 90 days which produced 39 properties, much better. He also did the same for the next city but for 30 days back, this city is larger and produced 38 properties. I have yet to actually drive by any of the properties tho. cash trouble. I'll update how well this works after i actually go.

    ...


    Check whether the tax assessor or the recorder of deeds has a website where you can lookup addresses to discover the owner's name. Your realtor has supplied you with addresses; you don't have to drive to the house to get the owner's name.
  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Thanks, that will make the process alot easier. I'll give em a call. Tomorrow ill begin step 2. setting up a spread sheet with everyones name, number, email and what their looking for. Is that basically all I need from each person to complete my buyers list or is there something else I need to be asking for? Once I finish that, step 3 for me will be figuring out actually how to go about finding these properties and moreso how to actually get them under contract and with what contracts. Ill do a bit of snooping on here. I'm sure ill find the anwers somewhere. If anyone can point me in the right direction i'd be grateful

  • Real Estate Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2010 · 122 posts · 126 votes
    16y

    The main thing you need to do is get their email addresses and set up an account with constant contact or a similar company that allows you to send an email to a large group of people. When you have a deal, send an email to your list and if it's a good deal, they will call you. Use your time wisely... spend the majority of your time finding good deals. If the deals you email your list are good, the buyers will contact you. You can better maintain control of the negotiation if the buyer calls you as opposed to the other way around.

    Think about it- if someone called you and said "I've got a deal that I think fits your criteria", you would think that either you are the only prospective buyer they have or that it isn't much of a deal at all. On the other hand, if they get your email about a "hot deal", and they really are a serious buyer, they will be hounding you to get the deal.

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Thanks, I've set up an account with getresponse to manage my buyers list. Its 18 dollars a month for up to 500 contacts. Are there any good free sites that offer the same service?

  • Real Estate Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2010 · 122 posts · 126 votes
    16y

    Not that I'm aware of. Most of them are pretty equal in cost and features.

    Once you're getting some deals closed and money is coming in, you may want to consider setting up a website for your deals. Then you can input a link to your site on your email that's broadcast to your entire buyer's list. You can have as much info as you want on your site about each deal and use your emails to generate the "buzz" about your properties.

    You want to be known as the guy with the "deals", so think how powerful it will be for you to have your own site with deal after deal after deal posted on there. When your investors click on the link in their email and they arrive at the "Mecca" of deals in your area, you've now increased your effectiveness many times over. Word will spread, believe me.

    Check out the site listed in my profile to see what I mean. We get hundreds of investors checking our site for new deals every month. I typically post a new deal every couple of days, so my investors know to check it regularly. Most of my deals are sold within a couple of days from the time I post them on the site.

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Great advice, Ill set up a website once I get my first deal completed and get some money in my pocket. I'm sure your buyers list is massive at this point, If you dont mind me asking what percentage of your deals would you say end up unsold at the expiry of the contract? do you have an exit strategy for these deals so you make atleast some profit, such as passing the deal onto another wholesaler for a finders fee or something. Its just hard for me to rationalize letting a deal pass after putting time and energy into it without making anything on it so it would be helpful to see your solution

  • Real Estate Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2010 · 122 posts · 126 votes
    16y

    Every once in a while we have one that doesn't sell. When that happens, I will call the seller and explain the situation and any feedback I've gotten about the property. The seller can either lower the price enough so one of my buyers will take it or they decide not to sell it at this time. I've had a few of these sellers come back to me a few months later after trying to sell it themselves and are then more flexible on the price. As long as you don't do or say anything to upset the seller, you can at least leave on good terms.

    Case in point, one of the deals I just did fell through because the house didn't appraise for what my buyer thought it would. He couldn't pay what we had agreed upon and I was at the end of my option period. The price he could pay was the same as my option price, so I let the seller know the situation and allowed her to deal directly with my buyer. This way, I still gave her the ability to get the house sold and get rid of her problem, the buyer got the house (and will likely buy another from me at some time), and I didn't have anything to do with either side from that point on. Granted, I didn't make any money on the deal, but I didn't have any liability for not getting it done, either. No profit, but no loss, either... and I can sleep at night because I feel that I did the right thing in this situation.

  • Developer · Member since 2009 · 45 posts · 4 votes
    16y

    Great thread!

    Best of luck to you, keep us posted as to your progress! (And success...)

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Thanks, ill be sure to keep posting my progress as I go thru each step. Jaremy, thanks for the example, that clears it up for me.

  • Real Estate Investor · Cincinnati, OH · Member since 2009 · 93 posts · 26 votes
    16y

    Larry,

    I commend you for taking action on what you're learning. Good job!

    Here are other ways to find buyers:
    1. LinkedIn - join real estate groups and network with the members
    2. Meetup - search the real estate investment groups in your area and network
    3. Check Rentals.com and other sites where rental houses are being posted. Then call or email the landlords if they're still looking to buy houses.
    4. You can also get a list of people who have bought houses in the past 6 months whose mailing addresses are different than the property adresses (which means they are landlords)

    Hope these help! Let me know how else I can be of service. Let's connect here or send me an email (see my signature below)

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Thanks trace, great advice. I'll give these methods a try and see what results I get. There are more methods out there than I thought for finding buyers and so far i'm having good results with what I've learned on this site. Hopefully finding the sellers will be just as straight forward.

  • Real Estate Investor · CA · Member since 2010 · 12 posts · 19 votes
    16y

    Great resources everyone! If you're comfortable with technology, it's possible to laser target your prospects these days.

    For example, Facebook advertising offers great demographics and geo-targeting.

    Also, media buys have evolved and ad rates are dropping fast in some cases. You can use CPV and contextual media buys to place your offer right in front of the ideal prospect moments before they click on a competitor's offer.

    There's also the CPM mail drop method where you rent a compiled list of prospects.

    But you will have to test and test to improve your ROI.

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    I made it a point to call all of the cash for homes companies in my area. I found 10 in total and called all of them. I was surprised that the majority of them were no longer in business and their websites and bandit signs were just left behind. I actually only talked to a rep from 1 company. Not sure if I should take this as a good sign as thats less competition for me and I can put my own signs up over theirs to find sellers or as a bad sign in that if they tried and failed maybe that says something about my area. Guess ill have to wait and see.

  • Real Estate Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2010 · 122 posts · 126 votes
    16y

    Larry, don't take their failures as an indicator of your area. I can't even recall all the investors that I have come across over the years that are no longer in business. They had the same opportunites that I have had, yet they failed and I didn't. The area had nothing to do with it. Your area had nothing to do with their failure, either. For whatever reasons, they failed, and probably would have failed in any area. Losers fail, winners succeed. Be a winner and capitalize on the fact that there's less competition than there could have been.

    If it turns out that there aren't many investors in your area, make it work to your benefit. If you are one of the only investors advertising, GREAT! You've got the ability to capture a great deal of the market. The fewer buyers there are, the better the deals you'll be able to get. Supply and demand, and you are the demand - there may be a crap load of available houses, but if you are one of the only buyers, you win. When you can negotiate from a position of strength, you will either get the deal at your price or move on to the next one.

    If you need to wholesale deals, find buyers - they are everywhere. They might not advertise, but there are landlords in every city and town. Get a deal under contract and put a "For Sale - Fixer Upper - As Is" sign in the yard. Buyers will come out of nowhere in a frenzy like cockroaches when the lights come on. Now use supply and demand in your favor again, this time you have the low supply and all the buyers are the high demand.

    If and when you are in a position to close on the deals and either fix and flip or rent them, you still win. Always look at the positives, my friend...

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Thanks, thats a great way to look at the situation. Makes me wanna get set up and running all the sooner. Jaremy can you send me a colleague request. I went to your page but I didnt see the option to add you.

  • Real Estate Investor · Houston, TX · Member since 2010 · 122 posts · 126 votes
    16y

    Larry, I'm still new to the site and don't have a clue how to send a colleague request. Has the method changed recently? I could swear I sent a couple of requests but now I don't see how to do it.

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Maybe its just a temporary error. I dont see add colleague buttons on anyone I've checked so far for the past 2 days. Hopefully admin will have it fixed soon

  • Real Estate Investor · Winchester, VA · Member since 2009 · 18 posts · 4 votes
    16y

    the way things are set up now, you have to click on the 'follow' button and then it will give you the option to add.

    i do think the 'add' button was more convenient. lets hope it is brought back...

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Thought Id give a quick update. So far the newspaper ad and craigslist ad have brought in about the same number of leads, around 25 a piece. I finally got call backs from 2 of the 10 we buy houses companies, tho it took about a week to hear from either of them.

    As of yet I still havent gotten contact info for the cash buyers list my realtor gave. I'll try to get on that this week. Next i plan on buying some blank bandit signs and hand writing, House for sale, $35,000 cash, Appraised value of $80,000 Must sell ASAP call 111 111 1111. I'll be handwriting because I hear it gets a better response than printed ones.

    Ill try 50 of them for starters, will be paying my cousin $30 to place them around my city on friday night after the county workers get off for the weekend. We'll see how it goes.... will update after responses come in

  • Real Estate Investor · Phoenix, AZ · Member since 2008 · 12 posts · 0 votes
    16y

    I'm trying the Realtor side for my buyer's list. I would like to phone up these people. What's the best way to find out their numbers once I have their address?

  • Real Estate Investor · Sanford, FL · Member since 2010 · 1 post · 1 vote
    16y

    Larry,

    Thanks for the detailed approach to looking for buyers. I am doing the same now - buyers list first, then go after properties.

    Have people found a difference between having buyers call vs. optin to an email form? I'd perfer the email form over phone contact, at least initially.

    I'm a big user of Aweber and have some great converting squeeze pages for other niches. Now trying to do it with real estate.

    Thanks for all the input on these forums so far.

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Greg,

    Yes im glad I built a buyers list first regardless of how small, I just went out to view my first property and we settled on a pretty good price, I've got lots of pictures so im gonna set up a web page and email it to my list an see if any ones interested.

    I'm in the process of setting up several squeeze pages as well, im using get response to manage my lists. Havent played with it much yet so im assuming I can manually add the email list I allready have. Let me know what works best for you when you start building your buyers list...... I'll update how the squeeze pages work for me after I start seeing results.

  • Real Estate Investor · Chicago, IL · Member since 2009 · 91 posts · 22 votes
    16y

    Just wondering, when you come across a great deal and you shoot an email out to all of your investors, how do you handle their offers? Do you take all the offers and wait a few days then get back in touch with the ones who would buy it for the most money? Or do you try to close as fast as possible and sell it to the first investor who makes a good offer even if you think a better offer might come up later?

  • Real Estate Investor · high point, NC · Member since 2010 · 59 posts · 11 votes
    16y

    Hey e. jacobs,
    I'm a complete newby an since no one answered your question i figured i'd give my opinion. Personally I plan on moving any deal I get under contract as fast as possible, My minimum right now is 5k so once someone makes an offer that atleast pays me 5k im assigning it ASAP. Again thats from someone thats never done a deal but at the moment I cant afford to wait for the highest offer. Investors with the ability to buy with cash have alot of options an it only takes a moment to get a call saying thanks but no thanks, i've found something I like better. My opinion, strike while the irons hot, while you have their interest. Who knows my opinion may change after I actually complete a couple deals.

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