Keep Your Mobile Home Buying Machine Full

Real estate investors can naturally get tunnel vision when in the middle of their current real estate transaction. An investor’s “current” deal can easily become the center their attention. Focus then gets pulled away from: finding leads, management, other obligations, family, friends, etc.

Below are a few tips that can help keep your buying funnel full when you are ready to begin buying once more.

Always Keep Ads Running: You can never know when a desperate seller will need to sell their home. However you can be positioned correctly to intercept these sellers exactly when they need to sell. Keep track of your marketing and consistently have advertisement(s) running in at least one small news publication and/or free online source.
Sending “Management Holiday Cards” (Second Wednesday in June): If you are as into mobile home investing as I am you will want to send every park manager that you know a Happy Manager’s Day card. Sending a sincere card to compliment the park improvements over the past year can go a long way to cementing you in their minds as a serious buyer of used mobile homes that may become available to purchase.
Sending Monthly Greetings: Mobile homes inside of rented parks require lot/pad rents to be paid monthly, quarterly and/or yearly. Within this envelope to pay include a personalized greeting and message requesting they inform their residents call you when then need to sell any mobile home fast. Tell the park manager you will make a donation to the park’s yearly activities budget if he/she gives you a priority heads-up on any private homes for sale inside the park, consider this a “bird-dog” fee.
Bonus Email Blasts: In a previous article I talked about wholesaling real estate as a way to pay a bird-dog a fee over the “finder’s fee” limit. Use this same strategy to entice your entire email list to be constantly vigilant towards mobile homes or other specific real estate for sale. Include within this email the dollar amount that will be paid to them if they find a deal you close, as well as the requirements of the leads you desire (Include picture examples of right and wrong homes you seek). Offer a limited-time additional $$$ dollars for the first 3 “bird-dog action takers” that bring you a lead which you close.
Business Card Reward Referrals: In the same hopes of exciting business associates to bring you their old and/or unwanted mobile home leads, advertise your deal finder’s fee on the back of every business card you hand out. Let everyone you come in contact with know that you pay top dollar for used mobile home leads that close.

Remember that every real estate transaction comes to an end. Outsource your buying funnel by consistently running ads in print/online and attracting leads through bird-dogs as well as other local real estate investors. “It is better to pass on a deal because you are too busy than struggle to find deals when you are bored.”

Enjoy,
– J. Fedro

Note By BiggerPockets: These are opinions written by the author and do not necessarily represent the opinions of BiggerPockets.