All Forum Posts by: Dev Horn

Phil is a good guy, offers a legit program.  I don't know a lot about his programs (pricing, terms, etc.), but I will say:

1) If you have succeeded after reading online forums and articles, congratulations!  You are among the very few that succeed that way, so you must have a high degree of drive and dedication, and 

2) People do have a higher chance of success with a coach or mentor that works with them over a period of time (1 year) and has weekly meetings.  I really think it is the personal attention & role-playing and weekly ACCOUNTABILITY & MOTIVATION that make coaching a much better option than the weekend guru seminars that charge even more than the coaches do.

COLD HARD TRUTH WARNING >>> This is a business with a 90%+ FAILURE RATE over the first year.  Most people that come in here with dreams of easy money in real estate soon learn it ain't so easy so they fly off to the next business opportunity that looks like "easy money".  Less than 1 in 10 actually develop a real, repeatable process to buy and sell residential real estate at a profit. 

So, I'm a huge fan of coaching.  MOST PEOPLE need SOMEONE to keep them accountable, someone to MOTIVATE them to do the hard work it takes to build a real estate business.

If you don't need that help with accountability & motivation, that's awesome.  You probably don't need a coach or mentor.

But if you are like most people, a coach - whether it's Phil or Brian or Michael or (fill in the blank with a good one) - can be the REAL secret to success in this business...

(P.S. The model I prefer is to pay a flat rate for a 1-year REi coaching program, with NO 50/50 split of the profits.  If you look into coaching, see if you can find a coach that offers that type of arrangement.  There are good coaches with comprehensive programs that cost you less than $10K total for a 1-year program.)

DISCLAIMER: WeBuyHouses.com does not currently offer or promote a coaching program, but we may be offering coaching in the near future...

I agree with John and Thomas above.  And YES, the market is saturated with Re investors if you consider all the newbies.  But the reality is, only about 10% of all those who call themselves investors are actually doing advertising to find deals, and in this market, if you aren't using paid media, you are not in the main flow of the deals.  Yes, you can find a lead on Craigslist or wherever but that's really where you will battle with the other new guys - in any "free" media.

John was also right that most offers (from investors) that are too high are usually never going to see the light of day - in other words, those deals often fall thru when the wholesaler realizes that no cash buyer is interested at their price.  More than 50% of the time I get outbid, the deal comes back around because the buyer couldn't close.

Even tho you're new to this, you can still be smart in the way you play the game.  Make sure you have (or get) a very deep understanding of real estate AND finance.  And if you don't have a marketing budget, do the free and cheap marketing but as soon as you score a deal, reinvest as much as you can into marketing.  LEADS are your lifeblood - there are no DEALS without LEADS.  As soon as  you shut off the marketing, your leads will trickle to a stop and you'll be done...

Last, in regard to San Antonio... in 2014, we got more inquiries about licensing WeBuyHouses.com in Bexar county than in any other county in the entire U.S. We already had a guy there, but we could have sold that market another 10X last year. So, in my opinion, San Antonio (Bexar) may be the HOTTEST REI MARKET IN THE UNITED STATES.

That said - most sellers seek multiple offers.  Even if they are already reaching out to us or another big player in that market, they may respond to your offer as well and you can get your fair share of the action.  It's probably not going to be via "free" marketing, but you can start to get your offer out there if you are creative with what you have.

Good luck in San Antonio!

"The man who stops advertising to save money is like the man who stops the clock to save time." ~ Thomas Jefferson

99% of attendees at local Real Estate Investor meetings are "bird dogs".  They probably have one up in Glen Allen; if not, surely in Richmond....  take a bunch of business cards and hand 'em out!

What business are you in - real estate or the direct mail business?  If you are in real estate, spending your time on direct mail may feel like progress, but it's really a diversion from what you should be doing.  Certainly, handwriting letters is not a good use of your time.  Plus it's like a strategy from 1985.  These days we produce highly customized direct mail pieces on $500,000+ Xerox Gen3 printers!

Outsource direct mail to a reputable vendor like @Jerry Puckett, YellowLetters.com, or GoBigPrinting.com.

That's up to our licensees in the field - the consensus is YES you should mail to them AND call them.  It's a challenge to find the phone numbers, which many people are finding just using Google.

As Michael points out, it's not worth trying to set up bulk mailing yourself.  Just use a service like YellowLetters.com or GoBigPrinting.com.  When you send direct mail out, you choose the postage type that meets your needs and budget.  The difference is really PRICE and LEVEL OF SERVICE provided by the post office.

First class mail gets delivered ASAP by the post office, generally in a few days.

Standard Bulk rate gets delivered when the post office feels like it =) generally in about 10 - 14 days.

The other difference is the "stamp" or printed bulk permit in the stamp area.  On letters, we use first class stamps sometimes, but you can also mail with a bulk stamp to get the bulk rate but still have the look of a stamp.  The cheapest option is to use the direct mail houses INDICIA which is their bulk permit info in the stamp area.

We mail all our postcards with Standard Bulk Pre-Sort to get the best price on postage.  As a rule, it makes no sense to send a postcard via First Class.

Perhaps. But, for us normal mortals. the only way we're going to buy a nice house at 60% is the owner is in serious financial distress - i.e., a super hurry. Otherwise, WHY? The real estate market is very efficient. Here in D/FW (and it sounds like, in Eau Claire, WI) the market is super tight. DOM is under 30 days on any aggressively priced house on the MLS. A seller with a nice house who is not in a hurry would be foolish to sell to an investor at 60%. There are fools born every day, but most of them will not be calling in response to "I buy houses" postcards, etc. =)

It's tight in many markets these days. You must be looking "off-market" for deals as those on the MLS probably go fast and often above asking price.

Remember that we don't get houses at a deep discount because the market sucks, we get the big discount because the HOUSE sucks. Meaning, it needs moderate to significant repairs, and the seller has no interest in investing in the house in order to sell it - and that is likely their fate if they try to sell on the MLS (retail). In addition, in our perfect deal, the seller is in a hurry often due to some impending financial thing - taxes, job loss, etc.

No one with a nice house who is not in a hurry is going to sell you a house at a 30% discount in Eau Claire.  Like Shaun above, we like direct mail (and AdWords) for finding those who need what you are offering - fast, cash, as-is.

"A coach is someone who tells you what you don't want to hear, who makes you see what you don't want to see so you can be who you've always known you can be." ~ Tom Landry

You should figure out where you are printing this and ask them for guidelines for address and postage block, so you don't create a design and then find out at time to print that you didn't allow space for those things per postal regulations.

I agree with @Jeremy T. that you need to present the problem, how it could get worse if not addressed (agitation), and what solution you provide to solve that problem and save the day.   You solution has 3 elements: speed, cash, and as-is (no need for repairs).  As others are making a similar offer, you want to touch on something unique about you or your solution.  That's the anatomy of a good mailer.

"We Buy Houses" sounds like a company (i.e., ours ;-).   You're going for a personal connection with the pic of you and your dog Roxie - "I Buy Houses" would work better for you, and use "I" in the phrases as well.  That can give you the personal touch of a letter with the professionalism, cost, & quick impact of a postcard.