Driving 4 Dollars NEWBIES ON A BUDGET

Driving 4 Dollars NEWBIES ON A BUDGET

In this article I want to tell you guys about my method for driving for dollars, and how I’m able to get 200 fresh leads every weekend just by riding around my town.

First, what is driving for dollars and what makes it so valuable? Driving for dollars is the phrase used to describe the act of driving around neighborhoods and collecting the addresses of all the distressed properties within an area. The reason why this strategy or activity is so valuable is because for most people starting out in real estate investing they are on a budget. Some people call this turd hunting. For now we’ll stick to driving for dollars. D4d for short.

Ok well that sounds easy enough. But my gosh!! How are you able to get 200+ addresses in only 2 days?!

The answer is simple. Efficiency and strategic planning. Sure you can go out and lackadaisically ride around looking for houses while listening to some tunes, roll the windows, drink some coffee and enjoy your Saturday morning, but let’s be real. You’re probably just wasting your time, and you’re not gonna gather enough leads to make it worth the effort (or lack thereof), thereby using your time inefficiently.

So if you want to learn the proper way to do this… continue below.

The Plan:

The map.

Okay so every badass plan involves a map of some sort, and this plan is no different. You need a map. Specifically you need a street map of the city that you’re going to d4d in. These types of maps are commonly found in gas stations or the local bookstore. Take the map home/office and pin it up on the wall.

X marks the spot

Ok so now that you have your local street map, you have to figure out where the hidden treasure is located. The easiest way to do this is to check Zillow. Have Zillow show all the recently SOLD homes for your city within the last 3-6 months. You want to d4d in areas where the prices are different. For instance look for neighborhoods where a house sold for 50k and the one next door sold for 120k. This is a sign that the area is being revitalized, and the treasure should be a plenty.

The other map.

Before you run out the door to go for the gold. You need your other map. You need to print out a map of the neighborhood that you’re going to d4d in, because trust me, when your head is rotating like it’s on a swivel looking for all this treasure, you will get lost, and ride down streets you have already been down at least 10x. So while you’re driving be sure to mark off streets as you go down them. Remember you need to be efficient to get 200+ leads.

Voice Recorder

Ok so now that you’ve finally made it out of the house and are ready to do the damn thing, you need a way to capture these addresses. There are a few ways to do this and I’ll tell you why I dislike each one, except for the one I use.

1. Handwritten- This is the method that I first used when starting out, and it is a reliable fail safe method to use, but it has disadvantages. When I was using this method I never could master the art of writing the address down while continuing to drive. (Sorry to all the people I nearly ran over on their morning jog 😬) Moving on. The reason I actually stopped using this method was the fact that I always ended up with a terrible migraine from looking up, down, writing the address, looking up, looking left, looking right. In conclusion, reliable method, but inefficient.
2. Apps- I tried a couple of the mobile apps where you can take a picture of the property, and have it add the property to your list/folder and even send the owner a postcard automatically. I dislike these apps because whenever I took a picture of the property, it would always say that I was in front of 139 main st, when in actuality I was in front of 123 main st. Inefficient.
   
3. Voice Recorder-This is  I use a blue tooth earpiece and my iPhone. Whenever I ride by a distressed property I simply press record and say the address. I keep driving and never slow down.

Now that you’ve hit every street on your map, it’s time to head back to base camp. Once you get back there are only 2 steps left.

1st go to your big map on the wall and highlight the area that you just covered so that you don't end up going to that area again by mistake in the future. (Major key alert)

2nd Open an excel file, press play on your recording, and then transcribe every address on to your excile file. The end.

Once you've gotten your addresses transcribed you can either have them skiptraced to be cold called or you can send them direct mail. The choice is yours. 

That's my strategy for driving for dollars. The only thing left for me to tell you is to fill up the tank, and hit the streets!!