Is driving for dollars, knocking on doors and posting letters on doors the most efficient and cost effective way to generate good leads?
Well that’s one opinion. I think driving for dollars does two things for you. It enables you to identify potential purchases and then make contact by door knocking. Getting in front of a face works much better than mailers that end up in the trash. Sure you will get some doors slammed in your face, but that is the nature of door to door sales. Secondly, and equally as important, driving for dollars and walking the streets gives you insight and personal knowledge of the areas and your market. Knowing which streets to avoid and which to invest in are key and boots on the ground is the best for that.
As to what is the most cost effective means for lead gen - well, internet ads on Facebook, your website, etc are the most cost effective but you need people to find those listings so getting them to the top of the search engines is vital too.
You know those RING doorbells? You're more likely to end-up being on the RING App as "suspicious guy knocking on doors, driving by houses." Why not target your efforts to people who might actually need what you offer...try posting your services on Thumbtack. You'll get leads from people needing those services. Go meet investors who are flipping houses in your market, talk to contractors...in other words, target your efforts. Working hard isn't the same as working successfully. Invest your time where you'll get the biggest return - and leave the "wandering aimlessly" (that's what driving for dollars really is ) behind.
Well that’s one opinion. I think driving for dollars does two things for you. It enables you to identify potential purchases and then make contact by door knocking. Getting in front of a face works much better than mailers that end up in the trash. Sure you will get some doors slammed in your face, but that is the nature of door to door sales. Secondly, and equally as important, driving for dollars and walking the streets gives you insight and personal knowledge of the areas and your market. Knowing which streets to avoid and which to invest in are key and boots on the ground is the best for that.
As to what is the most cost effective means for lead gen - well, internet ads on Facebook, your website, etc are the most cost effective but you need people to find those listings so getting them to the top of the search engines is vital too.
The RING app comment is so true lol.
The RING app comment is so true lol.
Or looking at it from the positive side, when nobody is home, at least the homeowner can put a face with the business card or flyer you left on their door making it NOT a “suspicious character” at all!
@Patricia Steiner I would have never thought to use Thumbtack. I will explore that. It could be that driving for dollars is the exception and not the rule, but it seems that many people have had success, hence the creation of things like the deal machine app. Some wholesalers are paying people to drive around to find properties that need TLC, which seems to result in good leads. I do not say all of this to doubt you necessarily. It just seems to be effective for many.
Would you say that seeing a property that looks distressed from the exterior is not a good lead potentially?
As one contributor mentioned "that's one opinion..." and that all you're receiving here are our opinions and recommendations. You need to blaze your own trail. And, doing so means doing things differently, finding a better way, using technology, and the good old standby - networking. Driving around is not the best use of time nor does it produce a consistent result. But it's easy to sell...get in your car and go find it. If it was such a profitable venue, why are wholesalers engaging folks to do it rather than go themselves? Simple. It isn't one of those ROI efforts. And, if this is your full-time job, will you drive around 8 to 10 hours every single day? My recommendation: do it all and gauge your success. You don't need me or anyone else to tell you what to do or how to do it but you do need to DO.
@Patricia Steiner You are correct. Taking action is key.
Let me give some background. I did a BRRRR recently on a property that went over budget a bit so the "Repeat" part of the BRRRR will have to wait a bit. I decided to start looking into wholesaling as a way to build some additional capital and also find my own deals to use to partner with some local investors.
I’m trying to figure out a good starting place, hence my original question. Taking action is not what I’m struggling with at the moment. In the interest of time, I would just prefer not to throw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see what sticks.
Has Thumbtack generates business for you?
Hello @Bobby Valcin ! Driving for dollars can be beneficial if you "happen" to be in a neighborhood and see a property that looks to be abandoned or vacant. Otherwise, you may be wasting your time because although some properties look like they need TLC, they are owner or tenant occupied. You are on a search for motivated sellers so you'll want to pay for a direct mail campaign and post some advertisements about "Buying Houses." Some people buy those car magnets that say "I Buy Houses." You can also leave some flyers on the ad stands in the grocery stores. You would be surprised how many people check those out. Also, be careful door knocking if you continue doing that. You definitely don't want anyone to mistake you for an intruder/trespasser. Good Luck To You! :)
Is driving for dollars, knocking on doors and posting letters on doors the most efficient and cost effective way to generate good leads?
Let's play a game.
I am going to give you a list of facts, and then we will find a conclusion based on the lists of fact?
Yes? Yaaay will be su much fun. We will have a HOOT!
OkOKOKOk here we go
OMG OMG OMG
ok
OMG
OKOK
OMG
So..
90+% of investors do free methods like D4D, Door knocking bandit signs etc. etc.
90+% of investors fail misserably.
OK those are the 2 facts.
Lets try to form a conclusion.
Well if the majority of investors do the free methods, and the majority of investors fail...
then.. hmmmm... think think think..
I GOT IT!!!!!
That MUST mean that the free methods do NOT work!!
BINGO!!
Now...
lets dig deeper into this shall we?
You see this dude there got a lead from D4D
and that Gal there got one from a bandit sign,
and OMG OMG OMG that old timer there with stinky breath got a lead from door knocking
and 15 more people got a lead from D4D, Bandit signs and such...
So you conclude.. hell... it DOES work.. right?
Wrong!
People do not know how to interpret data. (Take it from a Mathematics degreed, NASA scientist).
You can not take a small sample from a larger environment with a specific set of characteristics and group them into one audience and then conclude that BECAUSE of the characteristics you have seleceted you then project that characteristic over the entire group.
Duh.. that obviously doeant make sense.
Let me translate this into English.
You have a bunch of apples. some red, some green some yellow.
You take all the red ones away and place them into one group. Then you are only going to look at that group and then say.. "OK... all apples are red". well duh.. of you select and separate all the red apples based on the fact they are red, OF COURSE you will only have red apples. And to conclude then that all apples are red is just lunacy.
Still don't get it?
OK OK FINE.. let me spil my intelligence over even more.
You CAN NOT look at these 15 people that got a lead due to those rediculous methods and then conclude he it works.
What you should do is look at EACH individual and ask them
"OK you got a lead doing door knocking". OK so.. how long did it take you?
4 months
How many doors did you knock? 500
how many deals have you made?
1
Get it?
To her individually those results are horrible. that is just LUCK.
This is the thought of all these people...
See... you think "Hey I don't need 15 deals, I just want 1 deal and then I will do a better strategy.
"I am going to try a method.. that does NOT get me paid.... TO GET PAID, so that I THEN will do a method that WILL get me paid."
Get it? Makes no sense doesn't it.
Look do you see Nike do bandit signs? NO
Do they do DMM? NO
If that worked believe me they have money they can PAY people to do it for them
Nike does PPC, FB ads.
Those methods are GUARANTEED to work (as long as you have the right budget, and target the right audience).
Look if the free methods worked... EVERYONE WOULD BE RICH AND SUCCESSFUL!!!
Why would anyone pay for marketing if the free methods worked fine!
Want guaranteed success??
Stop fooling around man and BE an investor.
Do you want to keep struggling? Or do you want to make money?
If you want to make money.. well guess what.
You need to spend money to make money.
And that is a fact!
@Jerryll Noorden Thanks for chiming in. It sounds like what you are basically saying is I should be making leads come to me (marketing) , and not speculating on ‘leads’ that may not be actual leads.
I think I got it. As a matter of facts, all of the posts here are making me reorient my thinking a bit. I started looking into some marketing options over the last couple of days.
I appreciate all of your time and feedback.
Driving for dollars is probably a pretty cost effective way to get leads, as you aren't spending all that much on gas. Part of what Mr. Noorden is saying is that this is coming with a large time cost for you. This might or might not be workable in your specific situation, but in terms of time, it is likely highly inefficient, but you also can learn a great deal about the neighborhood you are searching in. So if you have lots of time an no money, this could be a feasible option, but if time is more limited, then another method is going to be better for you.
Instead of looking for yards with high grass, Piece of $&@7 houses and folks who are late in their taxes ...you need to be looking for motivated sellers ! Motivated sellers are the master key to leads that actually pan out to sales .
How do you know they are Actually motivated ?? You will know because they will be calling you ,not you calling them !the posture You are in makes a big difference in the deal . Creeping around the neighborhood is only going to burn up gas and get the cops called on you for being a weirdo
@Jerryll Noorden Thanks for chiming in. It sounds like what you are basically saying is I should be making leads come to me (marketing) , and not speculating on ‘leads’ that may not be actual leads.
I think I got it. As a matter of facts, all of the posts here are making me reorient my thinking a bit. I started looking into some marketing options over the last couple of days.
I appreciate all of your time and feedback.
Most people get pissed of when I flat out tell them their systems suck (when it is not opinion and I have proof it sucks). ONLY a few say "Hey this douche makes sense. I don't like him but he has a point. He has data and the numbers that show this.". Those people are the thinkers. They stand on their own 2 feet. They absorb info, and PROCESS it and then make an educated decision.
You my man will make it big. Not many out there like you.
Think EVERYTHING through. Even the stuff I say. In the end, i is YOU that need to be convinced. If you blindly listen to others, it is YOUR fault if you fault. NOT their fault!
So good on you brother!
Driving for dollars is probably a pretty cost effective way to get leads, as you aren't spending all that much on gas. Part of what Mr. Noorden is saying is that this is coming with a large time cost for you. This might or might not be workable in your specific situation, but in terms of time, it is likely highly inefficient, but you also can learn a great deal about the neighborhood you are searching in. So if you have lots of time an no money, this could be a feasible option, but if time is more limited, then another method is going to be better for you.
If you call me "MR" Noorden one more time I will disown you.
It's Monkey dude, Monkey man, Stinky butt, or MSOOTKAUG!
Ohh ohh , MonkeyButt is OK too!
@Jerryll Noorden Thanks for chiming in. It sounds like what you are basically saying is I should be making leads come to me (marketing) , and not speculating on ‘leads’ that may not be actual leads.
I think I got it. As a matter of facts, all of the posts here are making me reorient my thinking a bit. I started looking into some marketing options over the last couple of days.
I appreciate all of your time and feedback.
Most people get pissed of when I flat out tell them their systems suck (when it is not opinion and I have proof it sucks). ONLY a few say "Hey this douche makes sense. I don't like him but he has a point. He has data and the numbers that show this.". Those people are the thinkers. They stand on their own 2 feet. They absorb info, and PROCESS it and then make an educated decision.
You my man will make it big. Not many out there like you.
Think EVERYTHING through. Even the stuff I say. In the end, i is YOU that need to be convinced. If you blindly listen to others, it is YOUR fault if you fault. NOT their fault!
So good on you brother!
I like your excentricity, Jerryll. Thanks for the encouragement.
Sounds intriguing, especially the part about spending time on pricing and sending offers. I will be in touch.
@Jerryll Noorden Thanks for chiming in. It sounds like what you are basically saying is I should be making leads come to me (marketing) , and not speculating on ‘leads’ that may not be actual leads.
I think I got it. As a matter of facts, all of the posts here are making me reorient my thinking a bit. I started looking into some marketing options over the last couple of days.
I appreciate all of your time and feedback.
Most people get pissed of when I flat out tell them their systems suck (when it is not opinion and I have proof it sucks). ONLY a few say "Hey this douche makes sense. I don't like him but he has a point. He has data and the numbers that show this.". Those people are the thinkers. They stand on their own 2 feet. They absorb info, and PROCESS it and then make an educated decision.
You my man will make it big. Not many out there like you.
Think EVERYTHING through. Even the stuff I say. In the end, i is YOU that need to be convinced. If you blindly listen to others, it is YOUR fault if you fault. NOT their fault!
So good on you brother!
I like your excentricity, Jerryll. Thanks for the encouragement.
Dude, I am nuts! You should see me eat crablegs. one leg in each hand grabbing it like you would a hammer, and I am chewing on the third holding it up with ma toes!
@Bobby Valcin you can spend your time, or you can spend your money.
Large investors spend $30,000 per month on bulk mail. It's easy do to when you have the money.
Beginner investors often drive for dollars and door knock. It's easier to do when you don't have the money but you do have time.
Time is a huge advantage because large investors are operating at such a high volume, they do not follow up on time-consuming activities like skip tracing a piece of returned mail. If you go the extra mile, you will find gems that nobody else will.
The RING app comment is so true lol.
Or looking at it from the positive side, when nobody is home, at least the homeowner can put a face with the business card or flyer you left on their door making it NOT a “suspicious character” at all!
Right, you could put the flyer up in front of the camera and do an elevator speech. Cool idea.
Is driving for dollars, knocking on doors and posting letters on doors the most efficient and cost effective way to generate good leads? Let's play a game. I am going to give you a list of facts, and then we will find a conclusion based on the lists of fact?
Yes? Yaaay will be su much fun. We will have a HOOT! OkOKOKOk here we go
Is driving for dollars, knocking on doors and posting letters on doors the most efficient and cost effective way to generate good leads? Let's play a game. I am going to give you a list of facts, and then we will find a conclusion based on the lists of fact?
Yes? Yaaay will be su much fun. We will have a HOOT! OkOKOKOk here we go
Till not very long ago I was very against facebook anything. "Who goes to facebook to find a solution to their house selling issues right?"
Well see it this way. Facebook is not a place where people go to to solve an issue. Facebook is a HUGE data base.
Facebook knows more about you, then you know about yourself.
Facebook can clone a digital copy of you and that digital copy is better at being you than you are. FB knows what you like, what you don't like, when you are pissed who you like who you hate what you love, your fav food. FB knows your personality and FB dsees through your predending.. that is what I mean whe I say FB knows you better than you know yourself. This is literally true.
So Although no one goes to FB to sell a house.... FB KNOWS the best people who may want to sell a house. So there is where FB is simply the best for for targeted audience, as long as you know how to use the FB algorithm right.
That said... joining groups is all fun and dandy, but the most reliable way to get your property sold is to place an add and target hungry investors/flippers/buy and hold that are desperately looking for their next property.
But yes if you have a few targeted FG groups in mind, it can't hurt!
@Bobby Valcin you can spend your time, or you can spend your money.
Large investors spend $30,000 per month on bulk mail. It's easy do to when you have the money.
Beginner investors often drive for dollars and door knock. It's easier to do when you don't have the money but you do have time.
Time is a huge advantage because large investors are operating at such a high volume, they do not follow up on time-consuming activities like skip tracing a piece of returned mail. If you go the extra mile, you will find gems that nobody else will.
David, you are absolutely right. The more I look into wholesaling the more I realize that much of it is striking a balance between automating and legwork.
@Bobby Valcin you can spend your time, or you can spend your money.
Large investors spend $30,000 per month on bulk mail. It's easy do to when you have the money.
Beginner investors often drive for dollars and door knock. It's easier to do when you don't have the money but you do have time.
Time is a huge advantage because large investors are operating at such a high volume, they do not follow up on time-consuming activities like skip tracing a piece of returned mail. If you go the extra mile, you will find gems that nobody else will.
You know, everyone says that. This is SO wrong.
here is why.
It is not either spend you time or spend your money.
The flaw is that when you say that you make it sound like it is "Guaranteed", that it is pretty certain that you WILL get leads if you either spend money, or you spend you time getting them
So consider this.
90%+ of investors fail!
90%+ of investors use the free strategies
So the conclusion is obviously that these strategies do NOT work. Period.
The correct saying should be
You can either spend money and you will guaranteed get leads (doing the right strategies the right way), or spend time and you MAY (very very MAY) get a lead.
Doing the free strategies is very likely NOT to get you lead. Believe me many many people come to me, telling me how long and hard they tried but they failed and they regret not getting in touch with me sooner!
@Patricia Steiner You are correct. Taking action is key.
Let me give some background. I did a BRRRR recently on a property that went over budget a bit so the "Repeat" part of the BRRRR will have to wait a bit. I decided to start looking into wholesaling as a way to build some additional capital and also find my own deals to use to partner with some local investors.
I’m trying to figure out a good starting place, hence my original question. Taking action is not what I’m struggling with at the moment. In the interest of time, I would just prefer not to throw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see what sticks.
Has Thumbtack generates business for you?
I feel that. I want to generate capital for future investments as well. Raising money is hard for me because I haven't found a good deal and have no experience to offer investors. I recently started my LLC and come January I am going to be buying lists of distressed investors, apartment owners, pre-foreclosures etc... I can get a list of 1000 in my area for like $90.00. Then I'll be doing a direct mailing campaign. I think it's a cool way to target your efforts. The best way is to network as much as possible because that will lead to you getting deals from every direction. Also, I always hear about partnering with somebody who can find deals really well, or talking to other investors that will pass on deals they cannot afford.
@Patricia Steiner You are correct. Taking action is key.
Let me give some background. I did a BRRRR recently on a property that went over budget a bit so the "Repeat" part of the BRRRR will have to wait a bit. I decided to start looking into wholesaling as a way to build some additional capital and also find my own deals to use to partner with some local investors.
I’m trying to figure out a good starting place, hence my original question. Taking action is not what I’m struggling with at the moment. In the interest of time, I would just prefer not to throw a bunch of stuff against the wall to see what sticks.
Has Thumbtack generates business for you?
I feel that. I want to generate capital for future investments as well. Raising money is hard for me because I haven't found a good deal and have no experience to offer investors. I recently started my LLC and come January I am going to be buying lists of distressed investors, apartment owners, pre-foreclosures etc... I can get a list of 1000 in my area for like $90.00. Then I'll be doing a direct mailing campaign. I think it's a cool way to target your efforts. The best way is to network as much as possible because that will lead to you getting deals from every direction. Also, I always hear about partnering with somebody who can find deals really well, or talking to other investors that will pass on deals they cannot afford.
A way to get capital is how I did it. Not sure if it is the best, but it worked for me.
I started wholesaling because I had no money to buy a house. I hated wholesaling and still do.. But.. I was really good at it, because I took emotion out of it (I barely use emotion for anything), and was very cold strategic robotic, all by the numbers.
I took a JV route. I asked BP if I got a good deal would anyone be interested to partnet with me and they pay everything and we split the profits. I did get someone but that didn't work out for me. I lost a lot of money.
So I do not suggest you do that.
But this is what I did after losing all that money.
I wholesaled 2 more deals, till I had enough capital to go the private money route.
So let me show you how I made $101,000.- in 4.5 months. And anyone can do this immediately right now, as long as you have access to some private money or hard money. (be informed of all the risks though). But there is no reason anyone can't do this now.
Flipped 2 houses.
One house gave us $36,000.- (a LOT went wrong and a ton of headaches so we didn't get a lot from this one. This stuff happens and you need to get used to it).
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11-Devonwood-Dr-Waterbury-CT-06708/58012898_zpid/
Then
Immediately after that one was done we started this one:
This one gave us $66,000.-
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/96-Stoddard-Ave-Newington-CT-06111/174083155_zpid/?mmlb=g,14
It really is not complicated to make money. The theory is quite simple. You just need to take risks, step up, just do it!
We got multiple offers a few hours after listing it, and all offers were above asking price.
So we just received the money a few days ago.
Now we do several flips at the same time. So imagine, if you do 3 to 4 flips at the same time, your paycheck could easily be $100,000.- to $200,000.- a month.
You just need to do one flip. learn from your mistakes. adapt and define your systems. Do a second flip. Again adjust, and do a third flip.
Now you have plenty of capital to start doing B&H, wholesaling the right way, or continue flipping.
BUT... now things become actually fun. When you are struggling, in the beginning it is a lot of stress, but once money comes in... OMG it is so much fun!!
FINEPRINT:
The way my flips bring me so much money is because I buy them right. You make money when you buy.
We get the best leads because of a #1 ranking website that is fine tuned for conversion. We use our own developed strategies not just to rank #1 but to have people obsessed with choosing us to sell to.
THIS is the ONE and ONLY reason we are crushing it.