All Forum Posts by: Dev Horn

 Bingo - Mark is right.  I'm not aware of any of those shotgun methods that work.  There's just no targeting, and marketing is most efficient when you TARGET - e.g. absentee owners with equity.

I would NOT spend $5K on ValPak (or EDDM).

It's probably just me, but sometimes the more words people use, the less I hear them.

It's hard to add much to what @Gerardo Dominguez and @Russell Brazil said above.  Great posts, you guys!

Wholesaling IS marketing.  It's about going directly to home sellers with your message and buying directly from them, off-market. My RE agent partner is very valuable to me, but I find her more listings than she can find me deals - simply because of how the RE market works.

Our top three ways to find motivated sellers are:

1) Direct mail - to absentees, etc.
2) AdWords (Google Search)
3) Billboards & other outdoor signage

Wish you the best!

~dev

These leads cost too much to generate, and unless you have a large marketing budget, you will not be overwhelmed with leads.  Just TAKE THE CALLS.  So you spend 3 minutes talking to someone who's not qualified - use that opportunity to ask them if they know someone else interested in selling, etc.  We did a video a while back based upon a bunch of live calls that we audited - we found what Brian said, these people are calling to talk to a person, not a machine, and they will often abandon the call when presented with a machine.

If you have to use voicemail, use it sparingly and call people right back.  If you don't respond to an incoming lead within MINUTES, that will be a DEAD LEAD in 2 hours because one of us that is hungry will answer the call, make an offer, and get it under contract while their call to you sits in voicemail somewhere.

I always tell people, when you get to where you're spending more than $3,000 per month on marketing, then you might look at automating or outsourcing some of the process while still maintaining high human touch.  If you're not spending thousands per month, you're probably solving a problem you don't yet have.

Wish you the best!

"We ought not to look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors." ~ George Washington

Their paid advertising (display ads) SUCK for our business.  People CLICK on your ads out of curiosity (while reading a post about their sister's new CAT).  After clicking on your ad and going to your landing page, they abandon because they have no real interest or motivation to convert.   FB display is TERRIBLE for our business.

Posting on FB is fine and sure you can benefit from that but posting "I will buy your house for cash" on FB is no better than going outside right now and screaming it in the parking lot.  A few people will see that and no one will care.

Social media - paid or free use of it - is not the place to concentrate your efforts if your problem is LEADS.  For leads, your need things like AdWords (Google Search), where people are actually searching for this solution.

NO.  Social media is in NO WAY a replacement for paid media, such as AdWords, direct mail, or signs/billboards.

Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter advertising are not good buys for us, because people that click on ads in social media do NOT convert, so the ROI is terrible.

Can it help your business, help you make connections and share information?  Sure.  But that's what social media does.  It does not generate motivated seller leads.

@Hattie Dizmond is a great contributor to the BP community!

And @Jerry Puckett is a great choice as well!

P.S. I agree with @Jon Holdman - there is a way to do this business without lying to people, and if you do misrepresent that you are Mr. Moneybags, the sellers soon realize that you are bringing over multiple cash buyers to see the place.  That's awkward if you haven't been up-front with the homeowners.

When I intend to wholesale, I explain that I am 100% on the hook but that my intent is to fund the purchase via one of our partner companies, hence the need to assign the deal prior to closing.  Far from avoiding it, I point this out (my ability and intent to assign).  If they trust that you can perform, they don't care how the deal gets funded.  The key is, you need to perform.

And when you are honest, you don't have to remember or cover for any lies or misrepresentations, and there are no "surprises".  =)

The title company does, yes. You will have an assignment agreement that specifies your "marketing/assignment fee" and that will be on the HUD settlement statement and you & the seller will be paid from the proceeds at closing

Your Purchase Agreement has an inspection clause, giving you an out once you get into the property and discover that it needs a lot more.  Then we'd simply explain what we found and adjust our offer.

On the repair estimate - as an alternative, you could make your repair cost a variable applied to the number of square feet in the house - e.g. $10 x #Sq.Feet

Some people will freak out when you send them a prepared contract to purchase their home.  You get some interesting calls.  =)  But you'll get some serious inquiries from people who really need to move fast.