All Forum Posts by: Jeff Coga

Justin

It's 2 train of thoughts here...

#1 - I'm doing recon work - I don't like to blindly send snail mail if the seller isn't willing to sell, went to foreclosure, decided to keep it etc
#2 - If the agent double ends it you'll still get a deal and you don't have to go "sell" to the homeowner (I'm lazy... I work in my PJ's and I refuse to talk to sellers now)
#3 - Most agents who can't sell a property = 1 legged agents, meaning they are good at getting listing but sucks at marketing, and/or they don't know what they are doing.

I leverage realtors as part of my "acquisition team". If they respond back with information about the seller I take down the info. THEN I send direct mail :)

All about leverage, economy of scale, and I need an army of realtors who will bring me deals... I'm not necessarily looking for "that deal." I'm emailing them about...

And most realtors I know... want to get on our side of table so I teach them as well. Meaning - I give them all of my tools, marketing campaign etc... and have them fund it, I manage it and it becomes a win-win-win.

Justin, I'm sure you know this biz is a grind... so I rather do what I enjoy... which is teaching and strategic business development (it gets to a point where it become boring really) and help folks make money and in return I hope they give me an opprunity to take down the big whale.

Jeff

Price is price... we've flipped and assigned 2 contracts in beverlyhills for $50K+ and i've done deals in Watts, Compton for $25k+... leave enough meat for the actual rehabber. Meaning know what your risk tolerance level of your end buyer investor.

Do this...

Go to MLS - look at last 3 months expired. Do a keyword research in your "Sweet spot" and scrape listing agent emails, first name, listing date, and price.

Use a email amangement program like Icontact or mail chimp... why those two? most email manager will not allow you to take an outside email and uplaod it without confermation.

Then send email as such

Subject: Fw: Hey (name of listing agent), about your listing on (property address)

Hey (first name),

I saw that your listing you got on (date), expired a few weeks ago. I wanted to make an offer on this property and have you represent us. (we buy fix and flip properties)

Would the seller take less than (listing price).

Hope to hear from you...

send that you'll pull a deal out. ask me how i know that.

J.

Yo yo yo

So I figured I'm in a writing mood today and
having a Sapporro helps (If you know what
that is, give me a thumbs up! HA)

Ok.... So what's this thing about webinars?

This has been my #1 strategy for the last
2 years. This strategy alone has allowed
me to mulitply my efforts so I can be
sitting here and having a Sapporro in my
wife beater and basketball shorts.

Moving on...

So why is the webinar so powerful?

It's a tool to allow you to get in front
of so many people and you can literally
do it anywhere.

OK? So Jeff... what the heck do you
do with the webinar?

Before I explain to you "why" I do it.
Let me tell you where HOW it helps
my business first, so let me give
you come context of where I'm coming
from... so you don't think it's some
punk *** kid just talking **** drinking
a beer LOL

Ok...

We move a lot of properties here in
Los Angeles and if it's a deal we've
probablly have looked at it...

Now... because of our marketing
we get a lot of calls from "new investors".

Nothing wrong with new investors because
I've been there... BUT sometimes
the question we get my acquisition guys
where just slammed...

Questions like
- What is wholesaling?
- How does this deal work?
- What is assigining
- What document do you need from me?
- I'm a wholesaler I have a buyer, whats next?
- Etc etc

It got to a point that my guys
got so pissed off with these "wet behind
the ear investors" as they called them...
(Funny **** was some of them had only 1 year
of experience but closed over a dozen deal,
and yeah I got some cocky guys on my team)

Moving on...

Because of that... I created a webinar.

A webinar that I now loop... so all
Q & A gets taken care of before my guys
get on the phone.

Now... my guys say "have you seen the webinar".

This has saved us probably 100's of man
hours...

The webinar isn't the best, nor is it
a "professional". It was a simply test
I did and I recorded the live one... and
since then been looping it...

Here's an example:

How I explain the wholesale biz...
[LINK REMOVED]

How I explain the importance of pulling
permits (my birdogs and acquisition guys all know this is#1 key)
[LINK REMOVED]

I have a bunch more... but you can
see what I mean...

I don't sell anything but just teach
folks the biz. And most of the time they
bring me deals because they know I will
get them PAID. This has saved my team
hundereds of man hour and allows me
to duplicate my sell. Literally I put this
webinar together in an hour and winged it
but I've been looping it for months now..

This and a few other strategies (maybe next time
I'll tell ya) has allowed me to create an
email list of over 45k w/ segementation of
11k LOCAL Los Angeles buyers, agents, wholesalers (all active).

Anyways...

If people are interseted in how to set
this all up... go here. [LINK REMOVED]

I'm currently working on a funnel for short sales
here in Los Angeles. Depending on how many people
are interseted I may tell you the #'s...

**** it... 1000 post cards, CTR was 9.12% = 91 clicks
Opt'in was only 3 (I didn't create the webinar)
I wanted to see first if people would even go
to a webinar... but with a 9.12CTR yes it will
work. (If you didn't catch all this and what
it means... it's all good).

:)

JC

PS
Investing will ALWAYS be a job if you think it's investing. I RUN an investment company - this shift alone will allow you to work less, make more, and not do the "boom and bust" cycles of most investors... having big months and then working like a hamster to find the next deal.

I would of been a little more strategic... Just don't tell people the algorithm and leave it aesthetically the same... see if people even notice the difference or voice an opinion... then create this forum... and tell people well you didn't say anything... it's been like this for the last 3 months LOL (drinking a beer while I type this)

Kevin Kaczmarek - I've studied him, john carlton, jay abraham, and many more... I'm huge on studying copy writing. I think if you can write a complying copy without the BS and just be you... then you might piss off some folks but at the end of the day you'll get more folks that jive with you = happier customer aka motivated sellers... worst felling for a buyer and seller is to have remorse. - drinking a tall one while i type. lol

All contracts are assignable unless other it says no.

Even if they say "no you can't assign it" you can still wholesale it...

Example...
Get the property under contract...
Market it.. find end buyer...
Then make addendum to purchase contract by "adding a buyer"
close the deal...
Quit Claim the "Yourself" of title...

In a nut shell YES - MLS Properties can be "wholesaled"... but with the government intervention (especially the GSE's)... it is alot easier to do equity deals or going direct with the seller...

Jeff Coga

I don't like to give out the numbers on the web so message me directly and I can give you more...

When it comes to mailers... you'll hit a wall at some point... where the $1 spent doesn't justify your return...

meaning some campaigns you just crank CAN NOT crank it up and mail harder to make bajillion $$$$.

The problem is... and why is... the mail list get's capped off... meaning the list I go after is a limited numbers... meaning I can only scale it up so much... anyways... here's the other stuff that will help yall...

*****
Copy Writing - BECOME A BEAST AT THIS AND SKY IS THE LIMIT IN ANY BUSINESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*****
The goal in any mailer is to grab attention... and rest is tell a story... they talk about in direct marketing industry there are 3 elements to a great offer or aka KILLER offer.

1) greed
2) lust
3) desire

If you can trigger all 3 you got a winning copy...

And make sure to KILL all objection up front...

example..
Cash offer in 10 days = sounds too damn good to be true... so say "many people who at first believes that selling their home in getting cash in 10 days is unheard of, until I sit down and explain the process"

Make sure to say "it's NOT for everyone" because really it isn't... use terms like "maybe you're not ready for an all cash offer now and that's ok too because...xxxxx "

AND big one..

When you write...
Think of ...
What you HAVE
How they can get it FAST
Why it's a bargain
Why they need to act NOW
and give guarantee

Guarantees I've used - "When you sit down with me and you do not have 100% clarity on what to do with you problem property, I will pay you $50 for your time. Here is what you need to do now. Call me at xxxx to hear my personal message I recorded for you and if you call me between the hours of 9 am to 5 pm you can reach me at xxxxxx. For whatever reason I do not pick up, it means I'm probably on the phone helping another homeowner or I'm out in the field, so make sure to leave me a detailed message blah blahh blah"

For the letters go to http://goo.gl/RsqaK (it's a masked aff-link)

ALLL OF THIS ABOVE IS GREAT...

BUT....

REMEMBER... Sh*tty consitant marketing will out due ANY one time marketing campaign that is good....

Bottom line... just keep mailing, track it, change it aka test it, mail it, track it, change it, and rinse and repeat...

It's really that simple...

J.

Confused... so someone else is answering the call?

Make sure to track the calls and for me... I don't even have people answer it live... I have them leave a message... this way you can get a "pluse" check on your hot leads...

So the vmail goes something like this...

"Hey you got hold of xxxx, sorry I can't get to the phone right now. Please leave me a detailed message.... if you are looking to sell your home and need a cash offer quickly, please leave me with your name, address, phone number so I can get back to you within 24 hours. Thank You."

This scrubs the list and takes only the best leads... you dig?

Also...

I spend thousands of dollars a month on direct mail and extensively studied how to write "copy" (if you don't know what "copy" means... then this is that much more important)... so I'm going to give you a golden nugget.

Your message is straight BUT it stinks (MHO)... Now... they do say "consistent BAD marketing is 100x better than GOOD marketing that you do once"... that means... be consistent... and track everything...

Also... I'm going to give the most KILLER "opener" to any letter and why I dominate Los Angeles...

My letter's get opened and people call me because of 1 thing... I do something so off the wall... people are FORCED to read my letter... and reading your letter and taking action is the #1 key to success in doing a mail drop...

This is a PROVEN letter copy...

**************************

Dear Bob,

As you can see I've attached a crisp new $1 bill to the top of this letter... Why have I done this? There are 2 reasons...

1) I have something very important to share with you... I needed a way to get your immediate attention... and...
2) Sense what I have to share involves a cash offer... I thought using a dollar bill as an "eye catcher" was especially appropriate.

**Then go into the copy for your message** aka add yoru message after....

**************************

I really do staple a $1 bill to the letter...

My hard cost is about $2 for every letter... but my respond rate is 27.2% EVERY single time.

Also... Your list is important as well (THIS IS HUGE and bigger and more improtant than your "copy").

I hope this helped.

Jeff Coga

Edgar Nailed it on knowing your buyers business model. You NEVER want to wholesale a deal to a so called investor who switches on you. Collect a non-refundable EMD so if he pulls that crap you keep the EMD and move to the next one... puts you in a stronger negotiation position.