All Forum Posts by: Mark Henderson

As soon as I saw that photo it reminded me of the home I lived in when I was in Stockholm 15 years ago. Then I noticed you're from Oslo!

That bathroom looks fine - I'd say depending on the size and quality of the rest of the rental property. Lot's of white, but it looks bullet proof for a tenant. I agree with @Valerie Hiscoe - a little storage, some mirrors etc. to add some colour to the room would break up the white a little.

@Jennifer Beadles - thank you for the great advice. I checked out the mojosells website - the dialer looks like a great option. Just curious - I see it has an auto voicemail drop. Did you use that feature? And if so, did people respond?

Also, have you used theredx before? I see they sell FRBO leads for a subscription of $80 per month.

Aaron Jones love your spirit. You're going to go far with your attitude. Right now might be the time to save some money, build your credit, study and learn the business. It won't take you long to jump right in and start investing. Keep up the focus. Very impressive.

As someone that has done 10's of thousands of calls (for real estate and other ventures) over the past 15 years, I'd like to chip in my two cents here:

1. Always answer the phone. Regardless of whether you're in the car. You've spent your hard earned money to get that lead - get used to responding to these calls. You'll fail a lot, but the more practice you have the better you'll get at it. If you don't have a pen and paper - you now have their caller ID - do a preliminary bond and rapport session with them, go through a little discovery and tell them a time that you'll call back (then stick to that time!).

2. Always call people back. Be a professional - don't be flakey. After all, it was you who contacted them first. 

3. You're trying to do a 'Buyer Initiated Purchase'. In other words you contacted them to buy. Not vice versa. Your goal is to switch the tone of the conversation to getting them to sell to you...instead of saying, "What's all this about - I'm not interested unless you're going to pay me top dollar!" and "Don't waste my time etc."

4. If you don't build bond and rapport with them - you're going to have trouble turning that conversation around unless you find a desperate seller.

5. You should use the first call to bond and qualify the seller. Be a real human/person on the other end of the phone, a family person - whatever it takes to create a bond and alter their attitude.

6. If the deal doesn't sound good - you should ALWAYS call them back. Again, be professional - you contacted them to begin with. Don't be a chicken - tell them politely the deal is not for you. Who knows? If you bonded with them properly from the beginning - they may refer you to another seller that they know personally or perhaps keep your number and call you back in six months or longer and tell you they are 'Now interested in your deal due to changed circumstances'. Just because their deal doesn't sound good now, doesn't give you the excuse to be just another flake on the phone with no guts. It's your reputation - show you are better than the others. 

More often than not you'll never know that your bad reputation has lost you future business - Because the people simply will not contact you.

7. Don't do a script - but do by all means study them and identify what questions are right for qualifying your prospects and create a strategy for dealing with inbound calls. The more practice you'll get the better. Certainly @Jonathan Johnson has a really good script for you to begin developing to meet your specific needs.

Hi Ty, I would recommend purchasing the book listed on this site - Rental property investing by Brandon Turner. It has a nice breakdown in it to show you how 'House Hacking' works and can show you how to run the numbers. I'm sure there are also quite a few FREE podcasts on this site to discuss it.

However, ultimately what you plan to do with the property will matter the most. If you plan on moving out later and renting the room out that you are living in - then you'll want to run the numbers to ensure you receive the type of positive cash-flow for the future that's inline with your investment strategy.

@Moe Iqbal - I think Perri would agree - deals can be found in Australia and money can be made. But it's a very tough market. It would be far easier to look in your back yard and find a deal that is easier to manage here in the USA.

G'day Perri - fellow Aussie here, living in the US. I can certainly understand why you would look to the US. Man, Melbourne must be a tough market right now? My brother is a first time home buyer and just paid 1.1 million for his first home in Melbourne. I almost had a heart attack hearing this after living in Orlando for so many years. You can buy a four bedroom home here in Orlando for the cost of a deposit on a house in Melbourne.

Anyway, feel free to inbox me. I'm more than willing to help give you some pointers here in the US market. I'm new to the real estate investing side of things, but worked as a real estate agent in the local market for a few years and have some good connections here that I can put you in contact with.

It's about a 30 minute job if you want to do it yourself. Usually just four wires and a few screws. Check at Home Depot - I'm sure they can offer you advice or probably even recommend someone else to do it if you don't want to.

@Lawrence Smith Great question Lawrence - I'm also looking to do the same thing here in Orlando.

@Steve Bracero Steve, what kind of response rates do you usually get from these types of lists? Do you use yellowletters.com? Or some other type of template mailer?

@Maurice Staples I wish you the best of luck with these tenants. Sounds like you've done the right thing and you're a level headed guy. If they have any sense they'll understand how reasonable you are being given the situation they've put you in.