All Forum Posts by: Dev Horn

Love 'em or hate 'em, bandit signs WORK.

I agree with Will Barnard in principle (as I'm pretty sure he is smarter than I), but will disagree a bit in practice. There are many people now that are way more comfortable dealing with computers (filling out a form) and waiting for a call than they are will making the call themselves. Some people want to look at your website to see if you look legit before they call you. And they will Google the name of your company, your name, etc. The website is AN OPTION for the seller, and it's an important one to have. So, you always want your phone # and your website address on your marketing.

That said, I think you should focus more on SERVICE than BRANDING. Trust me, you don't have the $$$$ it takes to build a true brand. Focus on what you can do to solve people's problems (while making a profit). And focus more on getting deals than building a fancy site to recruit buyers. Money guys and investors are not going to come sign up to get on your "list" until you've built a reputation for bringing (at least some of) them good deals. Go get DEALS (sellers), then start building your buyers list by networking and bringing good opportunities to the table.

As technical people sometimes we put too much emphasis on building some cool system when, as Will said, this is really more about relationships. Put 80% of your time into that, and 20% into your tech/web stuff.

Hey Matthew Watkins - welcome aboard! You and your wife bring good backgrounds to this game. I also recommend J Scott's books - should be required reading!

"Never tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon." ~ Unknown

Sharon Vornholt - that's so interesting that you said that. I've been collecting all kinds of postcards from my mailbox for a few weeks now - just to see what other industries & companies are doing. I was looking at this PILE of postcards today and they just seemed to blend together. Almost all had very high production values. Most had a blend of photography and graphics (I've been pondering the use of photos), but it just struck me that nothing stood out, nothing was memorable. I appreciate your observation that "Plainer postcards work better." - Thank you!

I also appreciate Joy Gendusa's insights on direct mail... but I don't like the prices at Postcardmania.com. Approx. double the cost of imageMEDIA.

If anyone wants to "pay someone $1000-5000" for copy writing on a post card, I'm your MAN! :-P

I agree - the community is what BP is all about! BTW, anyone wanna buy a property in Dallas - only $20K, perfect condition, just 10% of ARV, and it'll rent for $2K/month? Oh crap, it just burned down - never mind!

HomeVestors is a solid organization. A franchise is not for everyone, but for the right people, they provide a good system.

And - I guess I may be disagreeing with some but I'm gonna say - to some degree, it takes money to make money. If you have no money for deals and no money for marketing, you are going to struggle in this business.

I sense a tennis match developing here! I thought J Scott might have you there but you handled it and got it back over the net. Will he follow up with a strong backhand volley or just let the ball bounce of the court?

Could you post the address of the property?

Good article, Rob P.! This is almost identical to the ordinances (and challenges of enforcing them) in most other counties.

We suggest that, when you use them, you should do as most builders and Realtors do - putting them out on Friday night and collecting them on Sunday nights. If you just leave them out there, it really is littering.