All Forum Posts by: Laura Alamery

@Nate Soufan As real estate is moving more towards a virtual investing model and people prefer being contacted virtually than in person (no door to door,) I suggest marketing keeping that in consideration.

Also people's perceptions are different. Some prefer being contacted via text, or phone calls, or via mail.

With that said, we contact leads through a system using all the media: text, voice calls and direct marketing. We have automated the process with Podio CRM and text, calls and direct marketing apps. Recently we have gotten more deals via text contact than anything else, but it depends on the area where you market.

I hope this helps :)

@Kody Ward Welcome! You are in the right place at BiggerPockets! :) My suggestion is to gather information first as much as possible about real estate investing, as far as the different strategies (the main ones are wholesaling, fix and flip, and buy and hold.) Then to expedite your learning curve, find someone who is achieving the results you are looking for in real estate and copy what they do.

Good luck!

I agree. Networking is definitely a great way to establish relationships and get leads. We all too often forget that real estate investing is a "people's business."

You can go about marketing in 2 ways - the free or inexpensive ways take more of your personal time, but they are often the most rewarding. Networking, driving for dollars, personal calls - they are inexpensive ways to market, but will give you the fastest results.

@Niki M. It is heavily a matter of having a vision and believing on the end results you want to achieve. Write down what your goals are and deadlines. Make sure the goals are something you really believe (you can wrap your mind around them,) and then when you reach them, stretch them further.

Take the time every morning to really set yourself up for success. I suggest you read "Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod (he also did a podcast with BiggerPockets.) 

Hang in there! :)

@Michael Zacher

1. I agree with Aaron. However there are instances where I would send the first class letter (not postcard) to the property address and have on the enveloped "Address Correction Requested" or "Forward to Recipient Address." In the first care the letter will come back to you with the new/correct address. In the 2nd case, it will be forwarded. I do this when I cannot fine the mailing address for the owner.

2. Building a buyers' base and vetting potential buyers (by actually talking to them and asking questions) will minimize the risk of not being able to flip the property. In any case, you should always have a contingency clause on your contract, even if you have a buyer lined up.

Some of the questions that we ask to qualify buyers are:

1. What type of property do you buy?

2. How much are you willing to spend?

3. Which areas are your preference?

4. Have you purchased property recently?

5. Which title company do you work with?

6. Are you ready to buy now?

@Andrew Mankowski For every batch of leads, we go through a process where we text, call (2 to 3 times) and then send a direct marketing campaign (postcard.) This way we don't leave any stone unturned. :)

We also automated the whole process via Podio CRM, which connects to our texting app (TextMagic), Mojo dialer (then we have a caller) and PostcardMania.

@Patric Sepulveda We still use direct marketing as part of a bigger marketing strategy. For every batch of leads, we go through a process where we text, call (2 to 3 times) and then send a direct marketing campaign (postcard.) This way we don't leave any stone unturned. :)

We also automated the whole process via Podio CRM, which connects to our texting app (TextMagic), Mojo dialer (then we have a caller) and PostcardMania.

@Bryant Francom Distance real estate investing, also called virtual real estate investing, is something that has gained a lot of ground lately with the coronavirus crisis and forced quarantines. I have personally done virtual investing since the '90s and it does not have to be long distance. We do virtual investing even in our own city (it is virtual because we don't see the properties that we are buying and selling.)

The "secret sauce" to flipping virtually is to have trusted boots on the ground, mainly a project manager. First find a real estate agent that you establish a good rapport with, then through real estate agents, local REIA meetings (that now you can attend virtually,) and word of mouth you can hire contractors and project managers.

@Kory Muraoka As far as negotiating terms, you want to be a little more generous than the ongoing mortgage rates. It depends how long of a term you are looking for and how much loan to value. The longer the term and the higher loan to value will usually imply that your rate might be higher. But you still want to make a lower offer, knowing that probably there will be some back and forth going on between you and the seller. 

As far as the legalities, you should talk to a title company and they can probably refer you to an attorney. But yes. If you don't have experience, I would hire an attorney, at least for the first seller financing deal. In the future, you can use that paperwork as a template.

@Greg Koszkul As an investor,it really depends if you are analyzing a deal for wholesaling, fix and flip or buy and hold. It is different if you are looking at analyzing a deal from a lender point of view.