All Forum Posts by: Dev Horn

Now that looks like a PARTY!  I must have missed our invitation!  =P

Congrats to Brandon, Josh, J Scott, the moderators and everyone that makes BP such a unique and valuable tool & experience for real estate investors!

Here's to 10 MORE!

Paint FOR SALE - INVESTOR SPECIAL! across the front of it in red spray paint!

Seriously, I'd have a huge sign made for the yard, etc. just to let people know it's being sold.  Often the neighbors will know someone who is interested and neighbors have an incentive to see the property brought back to retail condition. 

I do not think that "wholesaling" alone, in 2014, is a sustainable BUSINESS.  The marketing costs are high, so you need to be able to make $ off more leads than the 1 in 20 or 1 in 30 that turn out to be a "wholesale" deal.

I put wholesaling in quotes to emphasize, that's just a word we use in REI - it doesn't mean anything to sellers or real estate agents or title companies, etc. Personally, I think it's a very limiting term. It says "all I'm going to do is flip paper". And I'm saying, in most markets where we compete, it's hard to make a living just flipping paper.

The successful model I see is more of a consultative model (real estate solution provider / problem solver) with multiple exit strategies (assignment, rehab w/ hard money, list it, lease option it, etc.).  People that create a model like that are able to monetize about 1 in 6 leads.

And "wholesaling" is really nothing more than the MARKETING PORTION of the REI process - finding motivated sellers, and that starts with LEADS. Leads are your raw material in this business and if you have only one way to mine that material (flipping paper) you will struggle to make positive ROI on your marketing budget. That's what I'm seeing in 2014. I am no guru. But I am down here on the street fighting for leads in multiple markets throughout the U.S. DON'T LIMIT THE WAY YOU DEFINE YOUR BUSINESS.

You might want to consider a coach - someone like @Brian Gibbons or @Michael Quarles to help you get thru the "start-up" phase.  I really think a great coach/mentor is a huge success factor in this business.

I would say, proceed with confidence, even tho there are unanswered questions.  With your background in marketing and consulting, you should do WELL.  Think about yourself not as a "wholesaler" but more like a "consultant".  This is about solving problems.  As you build your knowledge and your network, your confidence will grow.  Very early on as you talk with sellers you'll realize you really do know more about real estate than they do.  Help them think thru their alternatives.  If they need cash fast, then get it under contract and then shop the deal.  If they decide to list it, refer them to the agent(s) on YOUR team.  Maybe you make no $ on that referral but it solves a seller problem and earns you good karma with your partners.  My point is - relax, don't feel like every question needs an answer - you can go out and start doing this RIGHT NOW.  If you mess one up, no big deal, part of the learning process.  And if you find a great deal and can't find a buyer, call me!  I bet I know someone that would be interested.  =)

Other than direct mail, we do:

1) Pay-per-click (Google Adwords, search marketing)

2) Add your business to "Google My Business" - this makes you show up ON THE MAPS.
https://www.google.com/business/

3) Outdoor - electronic billboards are more affordable for RE investors

4) Door hangers and Post-It Notes

5) Car wraps - way more effective than simple car magnets

6) Sponsoring events where we get a booth with banner, etc.

7) In markets where allowed - Bandit Signs

8) Flyers on cars in parking lots...

The level of advertising and activity could indicate that it's a GOOD MARKET for REI.

I agree with the others - look for areas where others are not advertising.  Some still have very good results from newspaper ads.  You can also do PPC (Google AdWords) search ads (that go to your Landing Page) and get your share of that traffic - your $ is just as good as anyone else's online.

Also, I find that a lot of people TALK about direct mail (to absentees, etc.) but not that many people actually DO IT.  So think about direct mail.  I like it because you can consistently touch people that you KNOW have equity, which is a MUST in order for them to sell at a discount.

So, forget the competition.  You have the same ability to reach out to people.  Go win your piece of that market!

“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” ~ Satchel Paige

When you've gone thru the TABS and set the desired FILTERS in each one (as you saw above, I only use 3 of the tabs for a simple absentee list), you end up with the resulting data shown on the left side.

 You can vary the filters to get more or less records in your list.  When you get what you want, go to the lower right of the screen to PURCHASE LIST.

Listsource has kind of a clunky interface - you basically start on the first TAB (Geography) and proceed thru the tabs to set your list FILTERS.  Here's a simple process to pull a list of absentee owned SFRs with at least 40% equity within a specified value range:

Welcome @Kyle Welsh - Let me know if we can help you with your marketing strategy! We have some free REI marketing videos here that could help you to develop a solid plan.

That Hampton Roads/Norfolk/Va Beach area has been a good market for us in the past. North Carolina may be an even better market for REI at the moment - we've seen a LOT of activity down there in recent month. Not sure if you're done with NC, but you may want to look in both places for opportunities.

Dallas is competitive (Forbes says my Arlington TX market is the top investor market in the U.S.) , but the actual property prices are still very reasonable.  Everyone out here is hungry for deals, tho!!

Listsource is one of my top research tools - you're smart to use it that way.  It can give you a LOT of insight.  For example, you can look at ZIP CODES and get the total # of SFRs and compare that to the # owned by absentees.  Put that data into a spreadsheet and compute the % of absentees in each area - this will help you to see areas where investors buy houses.  Here's an example of what I'm talking about:

You can see that 77573, 77584, and 77598 each have more than 30% absentee-owned properties.  Those are prime investor areas where you will find more rental units.  77062 is less than 20% absentee-owned, so it's probably not as attractive to investors.  This data can be pulled from Listsource at no cost.  I think it's a great tool (and we like to buy & use their data, too!)