D.D.I.Y. (Don't Do It Yourself) - Outsourcing for your Real Estate Business

If you're like me and working a full time gig while building your real estate business, it is critically important to figure out how to leverage others and maximize the limited time that you have. Quite honestly, this is important regardless of your available time because that's the point right?  You're doing real estate investing in order to free up time for personal interests, time with family, traveling, community work, or whatever else is most important to you.

I know you may be thinking that you can't afford to pay anyone to help you with your business, but quite frankly you can't afford NOT to. It's true that some outsourcing may be cost prohibitive for you, but there are some simple, low cost things that you can do to get started on this Don't Do It Yourself (D.D.I.Y.) plan.

(1) Hire a virtual assistant (VA) to help with your internet marketing strategy to build a buyer's list.

Your virtual assistant can post classified ads, submit your articles to numerous websites, and depending on skill level can even write the articles or create videos for you!

So how do you find a VA?  Try websites like elance.com, guru.com, and do a Google search on "Real estate marketing assistant" or "Real estate virtual assistant." I'd strongly suggest hiring an assistant who has experience with internet marketing and/or real estate marketing.  When your assistant understands the context of what you're doing, it really helps reduce the learning curve and there's an appreciation for what you're doing. A virtual assistant can also do things like look up recent buyer names and contact information in public records or other research that is simple but time consuming.

If your VA isn't a writer, you can use a service like need-an-article.com. For a few bucks, you'll have some articles written up for you on the topic of your choice within 48-72 hours.

(2) Pay a responsible high schooler or college student $1/sign to place your bandit signs

Yes, bandit signs are highly effective to find buyers as well as sellers. I can tell you from personal experience that they can be both a hassle and a time killer to put out yourself.  But go ahead and try it yourself first...I'll let you be the judge!  The last thing you want is to have a bunch of bandit signs gathering dust in your garage for weeks because you dread putting them out every weekend.

(3) Use click2mail.com!

Unless you're doing handwritten letters, use click2mail.com. I can't recommend this highly enough. You do the work once to set up your template and marketing materials, but then you're good to go. My direct mail campaign is a breeze and takes less than 10 minutes now - thanks to my friends at Click2Mail.

(4) Hire a responsible person with good handwriting skills to handle handwritten mail campaigns

It's widely believed that you need to do something special in order to get people to open your letters. A common suggestion is have either handwritten letters and envelopes or at a minimum handwritten envelopes.  If you're going to do this, by all means, hire someone! A retired person, high schooler or college student, or stay at home mom looking for some extra money...as long as the person is diligent and has good handwriting skills, you're all set.

There are plenty of people who are looking for additional income - find them (by word of mouth or even Craiglist) and hire them!

By the way, you can also use technology to help with these handwritten yellow letters -- BiggerPockets.com technology editor and fellow blogger Justin McClelland had a great article and videos on how to do this.

(5) Hire contractors to handle rehabs

If you're a rehabber who has some handyman (or handywoman!) skills...you know, a D.I.Y. person, that's great. However, if you're looking to build a real estate investing business, you need to be a D.D.I.Y. person, focus on finding deals and hire contractors to do the rehabs. Yes, it will cost more - so make sure your offers are low enough and take these costs into consideration.

These are just 5 ways that you can begin leveraging others for your business right away.  These are not all relevant to everyone...depends on your real estate investing focus and strategy.  But whatever your strategy is...don't delay in freeing up your time. Focus, focus, focus on your most profitable activities and pay to get the rest done.

Trust me. You can (and should) do it! If you have more ideas of how to leverage others (outsource, whatever you want to call it) for your real estate investing, please share with everyone in the comments section.

Happy investing!