Source: http://www.blogforayear.com/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 10:15:10+00:00

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A very effective, yet often overlooked method of marketing both your rentals and your homes for sale is door to door flyers in the vicinity of your property. Residents who live near your property are likely to know someone – a friend, colleague or family member in the market for housing that they can pass your flyer on to. You may also attract the direct attention of a neighbor who is ready to buy or move up / down in their housing.
If you are local and do not mind running around the neighborhood yourself, this method will only cost you a few hours plus the cost of printing. If you're not available for the distribution, or just have better things to do, paying someone to distribute flyers is very cheap and incredibly cost effective if it results in a sale or a qualified tenant placement. Just remember to do a quick drive through of the neighborhood to ensure the flyers have been distributed if you're paying someone to do it.
As for the content of the flyer, it's worth it to take some quality photographs of the interior and exterior of the home. If your main selling point is the quality of the property, be sure to feature these in full color along with some of the basic specs of the home. If you are advertising a rent to own that's a really great deal, make sure your analysis of the numbers is prominent and easily understood. Also, be sure to emphasize that this property is in their neighborhood and that this is an opportunity for them to choose their new neighbor. Lastly, do not forget to include full contact information: your telephone number, fax number, email address and 24 hour recorded information line if you have one.
A more expensive variation of this method is to use direct mail to target your property's neighborhood. Again, you'll want to tailor your marketing message to let them know that this is their chance to mold the neighborhood by helping to select the new neighbors. To maximize your exposure, try using both flyer and direct mail distribution methods, timed several weeks apart to make sure that as many neighbors as possible get your message that you have a great property for sale or rent in their neighborhood.
Are you interested in a secure financial future for your family and children? I am too. Here’s a small example on why I feel so strongly about creating wealth through investing in multifamily real estate.
As a parent, family person, or individual, one of the best decisions you can make is the right investment early on that will help take care of all the financial problems and needs of the future.
About four years ago we had an opportunity to buy a mixed-use property (three apartments and one store) in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It was not a big property, but we liked the location (five minutes from new casino) and felt it would be a good long-term hold.
The purchase price was $65K but it needed $75K in renovations, which brought the total investment to $140,000. At the time we only had about $35,000 in cash budgeted for this, so I called an investor I had worked with in the past and he agreed to lend $105,000 at 10% for 1 year.
We closed on the property, had the renovations complete in three months, and the property was 100% occupied within eight months producing over $3,000 per month in income. Now for the best part: The beauty of commercial real estate is that if the cash flow is there, banks are willing to lend.
We have a friend that works in the commercial banking department at a small community bank in Pennsylvania. I called him up to inquire about a commercial loan on the income property and he told me it wouldn’t be a problem, I just needed to send over the package with income and expenses, the leases, the work completed, and a little background on myself.
Thirty days later I saw how easy it was to create wealth through multifamily real estate. I walked into the bank and was handed a check for $105,000 at 6.5% for 15 years, and it was under my company name. I immediately paid the investor off. Now, three years later, the property generates positive cash flow and only has 12 years left on the mortgage. In just 12 years, we will be making more than $24,000 in yearly cash flow and have accumulated over $240,000 in equity.
This is not a massive skyscraper deal, but it is an illustration of what you can do when a good opportunity pops up. As an investor you are armed with the right knowledge.
My son is just over a year old, and by the time he’s 12 that property will paid off completely by the tenants, and he will basically have an entire college fund along with cash flow at his disposal!
Now scale that scenario up to a 40-unit building — all you have to do is add a zero, the principles are the same! It is possible for you to create wealth for yourself through the purchase of an income-producing multifamily building just like we did and be on your road to increased cash flow and net worth.
Natural To Go is a franchise vending machine business and opportunity that is based in the health and wellness industry. With businesses and schools slowly progressing from sweets and soda vending machines to healthy snack options could this be the right time and franchise for you? Here is a simple review of the opportunity.
Naturals To Go is a vending machine based franchise business opportunity for the entrepreneur looking to profit from the ever growing healthy conscious public. The cost of starting this opportunity is a liquid investment of $6,000 dollars with the availability of third party financing. The company does offer marketing material, training and ongoing support to it’s franchisees.
With the growth of small and large businesses as well as the public school system opting for a more healthy alternative to it’s snacking habits, NTG does seem to have the potential for growth. This will of course be based upon the old real estate term “location. Location. Location” however. Solid locations for this type of business opportunity would be great for larger corporate style businesses, mini-markets and of course, if a contract can be obtained, dispersed throughout your local school district.
There is no real experience required to own or operate this type of vending machine all in all it is simple.
The company does also pride itself for being part of a large organization of health food providers which is sure to help with the marketing of your vending machine and products.
Naturals To Go is a legitimate vending franchise business opportunity that any entrepreneur might want to take a second look at. The products are part of a growing trend with healthy snacks, and the low cost of start up with no real experience required is very attractive. It is best however to complete your due diligence before the investment of time and finances. Asking about earning potential in your area, upkeep and overhead should be first and foremost the answers you should be looking for.
1. The International Bill of Exchange, IBE, used as a mortgage settlement check, but sometimes not accepted by your bank, servicer, lender, trustee, or investor, but are legal and binding.
2. The International Promissory Note, IPN, also used as a mortgage settlement check, which are legal tender under the United Nations, UCC, and United States law.
3. Where can you get the mortgage settlement checks known as the International Promissory Note to settle a commercial property or home mortgage debt.
The International Bill of Exchange is used mostly outside the United States of America, but do fall under the United Nations as a mortgage settlement check to pay off any mortgage debt within the United States according to Federal Laws, but let us concentrate on the International Promissory Note that has the same force as a Federal Reserve Note that you carry around in your purse or wallet representing money, but is nothing more than a debt instrument. It also has the same effect as a Bank check, cashier check, money order, or money.
The International Promissory Note, IPN, for mortgage debt payments, is also known as a Bankers Acceptance Note, and is the same method of payment as the Federal Reserve Note in that, “THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE.” authorized by the UNITED NATIONS, (UNCITRAL Convention), Federal Government, UCC, United States Laws, and World Law. The IPN is not just a promissory note that some banks may not accept where you list the U S Treasury Head as the payer of your debt. You as a Private Banker, Financial Institution, and Financial Agency pursuant to 31 U.S.C. § 5312 can use the IPN as legal tender as a mortgage settlement check to pay off your home mortgage lien or commercial lien for mortgage debt payments in full? The International Promissory Note is drawn in particular to the United Nations (UNCITRAL) Convention on International Bills of Exchange and International Promissory Notes, Articles 2-10, 12, 13, 36, 39, 46, 47, and 55. The IPN constitutes Makers (YOU) UNCONDITIONAL PROMISE to pay ON DEMAND / AT SIGHT. This Instrument is redeemable in lawful currency of exchange in accordance with 12 U.S.C. § 411.
Pursuant to (U.C.C. § 3-311) F.S § 673.3111, The IPN Instrument can be tendered in full satisfaction of the claim regarding the alleged mortgage debt payments. The BANKER’S ACCEPTANCE Note, IPN, presented by you for a special deposit is a statutory legal tender obligation of THE UNITED STATES and is in accordance with “Public Policy” established in HJR-192 of June 5, 1933, Chapter 48, 48 Stat. 112-113, Public Law 73-10, US Supreme Court case Guaranty Trust Company of New York vs. Henwood et al., 307 U.S. 247 (FN3), 31 U.S.C. § 5118 (d) (2) and in accordance with 31 U.S.C. § 5103 and 18 USC § 8, such instruments are “national bank currency” and thereby ‘coin or currency of the United States’ by statutory definition. If a bank refuses a properly rendered instrument, IPN, the debt is discharged pursuant to (U.C.C. § 3-603(b)), F.S. §673.6031 and all other State’s debt discharge statutes.
You can get the mortgage settlement checks known as the International Promissory Note to settle your commercial property or home mortgage debt payments below. The IPN is different from the Promissory Note or Bill of Exchange in that the IPN is accepted by the bank CFO as the legal tender that it truly is since 1933.
Some houses or multi-family properties in real estate can seem un-financeable. This could be for a number of reasons including the perspective buyers or title issues with the properties. Unfortunately, these problems seem to occur after an investor buys a property and then can’t sell it.
Let’s examine the usual reasons that properties cannot be financed and what can be done. The most common issue is likely that the appraisal on a property isn’t sufficient to cover the costs and expenses of a rehab. The investor often only finds this out after he has completed the rehab and has a ready and willing buyer who has to get a conventional bank loan to buy it.
On this same vein, the appraisal may come in but the buyer can’t get financing because of more stringent lender requirements – such as credit scores, time on a job, recent foreclosure history or bankruptcy to mention a few. It may not be as simple as going on to another buyer or just getting another appraisal, especially if this buyer had been declined by FHA in the first place as the investor’s property is “tainted” as to appraisal in the FHA system for at least six months.
The simplest solution to the credit issue and appraisal issues is to get private lenders or portfolio lenders to finance the sale. Private lenders are individuals who are willing to loan money that they would normally have in a bank earning a couple of percent interest. The investor should offer this individual a 10% interest-only loan secured by a first mortgage on a property with a two or three year balloon note. This private lender could also receive 2% to 5% as closing points on the loan and have a pre-payment penalty of three months interest.
The following is an example of what the private lender would get on a $100,000 mortgage: The buyer should be able to put down 20% of the purchase price to secure the mortgage in case of a market decline. A lot of current home buyers have large deposits because they went through foreclosure and haven’t paid mortgage payments for extended periods. 10% interest on $100,000 = $833.33 per month versus perhaps $83.33 in a local bank at a 1% interest on a savings account.
At closing, the lender would get cash of $3,000 to $5,000 as closing points. If the homeowner refinanced during the term of the loan and paid the pre-payment penalty, the private lender would additionally receive $833.33 x 3 months pre-payment penalty = $2,500.
The appraisal should be done by a reputable appraiser and a title policy and insurance should be provided to the private lender. An attorney should draft all the mortgage documents and do the actual closing to protect the investor/seller and the lender.
Using a private lender allows a buyer with blemished credit to purchase a home. It also allows the seller to not have to be dependent on the whims of a local or national bank which may be afraid to lend money in that neighborhood or at that time in the market. The investor should also contact portfolio lenders in his area to see if his buyer(s) qualify. Portfolio lenders are smaller private lenders who do not have the stringent lending requirements of national lenders. Most notably are credit unions.
Another major cause of being unable to finance is because of a title issue and the inability of a buyer to get a conventional loan on the property. If necessary, the investor may have to do what is called a “quiet title action” to do what the courts call quieting any claims. This can take from a few months to a few years but is worth the effort to be able to sell a property at full market value and get conventional financing at that time.
In summary, no matter how impossible it may seem to get funding for a buyer of a property, there are multiple ways to get this done, a couple of which have been mentioned in this article. Looking for properties with defective titles is a great way for investors to get great deals – you just need patience and fortitude.
Having been in the ATM machine business for nearly two decades I’ve been able to unlock the mystery behind how ATM Machines Work as a Business. There is no magic potion, but there are several pit falls and traps that can be avoided if you work with an experienced ATM company. It’s very similar to a vending business, the main differences are this vending machine dispenses cash and deals with the banking regulations. The only inventory is twenty dollar bills.
The ATM Business is straight forward. Let’s look at all the parts.
You have a piece of hardware (The ATM Machine).
You need a good location (retail store, parking lot, restaurant, condo complex, office building, hospital, medical building, airport, etc).
You need to fill the ATM with Cash (yourself, the location manger or an armored car company).
You need a reputable ATM Company (they have contracts with an ATM processor, sponsoring bank, move your money between banks, provide statements and online reporting) They should also provide technical support, but some don’t.
You need your own bank account, where funds are deposited if you load cash.
The income comes from the surcharge (fee customers pay to use the ATM) a portion of the interchange (the fee banks have to pay the network and processor) and then they deduct some network fees. This works out to a little bit more than the surcharge (we’ll explain later or you can jump to the bottom).
Many ATM companies try to make it seem complicated but if you’ve done it long enough it should be a simplified process. ATM companies that claim to sell you locations, or find you ATM spots and get you to invest in them are most likely scams.
Personally if I found a good location to put an ATM into why would I offer it to someone else if I could put my own ATM in there and make a profit. There are a few reasons, maybe I’m out-of-state and need someone locally, okay, that’s a good reason. But if I’m local to the place I would never get rid of a good spot unless I was exiting the business or selling a route.
Knowing the rules, getting all the facts and crunching all the numbers can ensure that if you invest in ATM that you’ll make a wise investment and good business decision. Like any business you want to know how much you need to invest and what the return is. This is the ROI. How long is it going to take and is the income better than other known instruments. Is the ROI better than keeping the cash in the bank in a regular savings account. Well, these days just about anything pays better than a savings account. Just like real estate, it’s all about location, location, location.
If you select the wrong ATM Company to help you navigate the waters the costs can mount up effecting your ROI.
The ATM Machine. Obviously a key component to your business. Buying the wrong machine, an outdated machine (not in compliance), or not getting a machine from one of the top three manufacturers (Triton, Tranax, Hyosung) can be a nightmare. Free standing, through-the-wall or kiosk, what is the best for your needs?
The Location: Another key component to make sure you’re successful it to verify how many people visit the location you select. Do they accept credit cards? Are they an all cash business? What are the other important questions. An experienced ATM company can help you answer all these questions and more to help you determine if the location could have good potential.
Who loads cash: The ATM owner and the cash loader typically share the lions portion of the ATM revenue. So if you plan to own the ATM and load it yourself, you will obviously keep most of the revenue. Other than the cost of the space (you may rent it, sign a placement agreement for a portion of the income, etc). There are many types of deals you can make. Armored car service is only a viable option if the ATM does really well (over 500 transactions monthly). Armored car service is expensive and typically cost prohibitive for retail ATM machines.
A reputible ATM company will help you with all the above information but more importantly they should help you with the process of ordering your ATM, arranging for delivery, installation, training and programming to ensure the cash transactions are reliable and secure.
A good ATM company should also provide 24/7 toll-free technical support. We see many ATM companies that don’t offer this. However they appear to be a good deal because they offer an unusually high rebate. But what good is a high rebate if your machine has an error code or problem or you have an issue you can’t get resolved because you don’t have anyone to call to help you. Or when you do call, no one ever answers the phone. The extra few pennies you can earn from some of these ATM companies can cost you hundreds of dollars when it comes to needing service. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish.
How do you make Money with ATM Machines?
Your ATM charges the card holder a fee (referred to as a surcharge or convenience fee) you, the ATM owner, set this fee. Depending on the ATM Company you sign up with you receive most or all of this fee plus a portion of the interchange. Banks pay a small fee to the ATM networks for connecting the cardholder to the bank, this is the interchange.
There are many variations and deals similar to credit card processing. An honest ATM Company should give you 100% of the surcharge and depending on the number of transactions your ATM does or the size of your ATM portfolio (if you have several machines), they will give you up to $0.15 of the interchange.
To manage your ATM’s you should make sure the ATM company offers 365 day toll-free tech support 24/7. They should also provide you monthly statements and access to monitor your ATM machine online at no charge. Other benefits of a reputable ATM company include no monthly minimums, no monthly fees, and no statement fees. Small, inexperienced ATM companies that can’t offer economies of scale may charge for services whereas others do not. Caviate Emptor, let the buyer beware!
Want to know more about the ATM business? Check out the links in the authors resource box below.
Almost all business owners understand that providing the very best customer service possible for their customers is essential to running a viable business. However it is almost impossible to run a business without occasionally having a dissatisfied customer. It used to be said that for every dissatisfied customer you had they would tell 15 other people.
Well the rules have changed. The internet now gives a dissatisfied voice a range of thousands with an almost endless time limit to express themselves. All anyone has to do is give a business a bad review on Google Places, or Yelp, or Facebook or one of the hundreds if not thousands of the directory sites, and that one incident can make your business look bad sending customers running from your business.
I recently was working with a client who had exactly this situation. A rare dissatisfied customer had posted a negative review on his Google Places Page. He knew of the situation so he knew it was real and not a competitor’s dirty trick. What most business owners do not realize is that it is virtually impossible to get a review removed unless you can prove to Google that some one else really is playing dirty pool. But this review was real and even though the account of events (as told by the customer) was not exactly in line with what my client told me.
As a business owner when you get a bad review your initial reaction is to want to set the record straight. But as we talked I was able to explain to my client that there is a better way to handle it. You see Google gives the business owner a rebuttal space right below the review. How you handle that rebuttal can mean the difference between getting more customers and not.
It might mean eating a drumstick of crow, but it is worth it to make sure the bad review does not do the damage the author had in mind.
What we did was to acknowledge that a bad situation did occur. In our case the complaint was about a late delivery. Even though the customer had actually given the wrong address over the phone, we did not say that. What we said was that we strive to make sure we get accurate information, but in this case something had gone wrong. We apologized to the customer for that.
Then we took the key step to correcting this situation. We offered a significant discount to the customer if they would come back in and give us another chance to prove our capabilities.
To my knowledge that customer never took my client up on his offer. But what we accomplished with this type of rebuttal was a chance to tell other potential clients these things about us.
We care enough to answer the complaint.
We are responsive to our customers.
We take responsibility for our actions (even though anyone reading between the lines would recognize the customer had some culpability in the delay).
If things go bad we try to make them right.
We took the high road in our response.
That is one way to deal with a bad review, but here is another way.
Get your satisfied customers to go in and crowd out the bad review. For Google places just a couple of long winded reviews will push the bad review beneath the fold (off the page).
Finally another way to deal with them is to make it right with the customer. Do whatever it takes to get them to turn that bad review into a good one. But see actually that is the thing. You can’t go in and revise your reviews. Once they are there…they are there. What you can do is to go in and give an updated review. Once you have a satisfied customer that is what you want to ask them to do; to give a revised version of their experience with your company with a new review.
If you are going to be in business these days you really have to keep an eye on your internet reputation. You can’t turn a blind eye, because potential customers are looking for you and finding you. It does not take much to have them move on to your competition. How you deal with bad reviews can be killer important to your bottom line.
Isn’t it great that there is so many ways to get funding for Real Estate Investing projects today? That’s important since Sellers kind of want to get paid for their houses when they sell them… Right?? Now, just because there are what seems like an endless number of sources for funds, doesn’t mean those funds are easy to get… or when you can get them… they’re easy to afford. The borrower is required to, in many cases, “Jump through hoops” in order to end up with the funds they need. Credit approval, Appraisals, LTV/ARV… and, even then they usually don’t get it. All they need, is “skin in the game”.
Most Real Estate Investors are familiar with the expression “Good debt vs. Bad Debt”. The problem is most don’t fully understand the difference. My daughter knew the difference when she was 8 years old. I remember when we went to lunch and she went from asking me to do “plusses and minuses” to doing story problems. So, in the interest of “training her early in life”, I gave her story problems involving business. She would accidentally learn about everything from expenses, to profits… including the differences between good and bad debt. Her understanding was so thorough she could recite the definition, and more importantly explain it when asked to.
Unfortunately, we are not taught any of this in school today. We are taught how to be spenders/savers instead of how to be investors/entrepreneurs. In other words, we are never taught how “money works”, but we are most certainly taught how to “work for money”. Knowing the difference between Good and Bad debt isn’t brain surgery, but the negative effects of ignorance can be huge. The difference is very simple. Bad Debt costs you money, Good Debt makes you money. Yes, it’s just that simple.
The Banks are well aware of the difference. Just look at the difference between what they “pay you” (and I use the word “pay” very loosely) for your deposits, and what they “charge” you when the “sell” you credit. Understand the business of banks are to sell credit. They also know and understand the dictum, “Own nothing, but control everything”. They live by it. What’s fun, is with the use of Non-lien-able debt, the Real Estate Investor can do the same thing. They can almost become their own bank.
Bad Debt costs you money since the net result of it is you end up with less than what you started with. Good debt makes you money since the net result is you end up with more than what you started with. In business, you are comparing Profit vs Expense. In our personal life, we are comparing income to, well “Income substitute’… sometimes referred to as Credit Cards.
The obvious examples of Good Debt would be things like SF rentals, Multi-family rentals, commercial properties, and other appreciable cash flowing assets. Bad debt examples would be the previously mentioned Credit Cards, boats, RV’s, etc… The equity in our own home is not an investment. It makes us no money, it costs us money to build it. Now, if we tap into it in the form of a loan, it becomes debt… what type of debt depends on what it is used for. Note that I’m not saying we should all go out and refinance our homes, cash out the equity, and invest. If you decide to do that, you don’t have my blessing. You are putting your home at risk. Not smart. Particularly since there are so many other safer ways to get funds to invest with.
Banks understand all of this. They leverage your assets/deposits into credit/debt. That’s, credit from them, and debt to you. They own nothing, and in fact can leverage credit, actually sell “virtual money” to you at many times the “face value” of your asset on deposit with them. That topic is for another time. For this discussion, understand that the bank is exploiting the power of Duplication. Actually, they are taking advantage of what Albert Einstein referred to as the “Greatest Invention of the 20th Century”… compound interest. He went even further to state that those that understood it (banks) live off of those that don’t (the rest of us).
You want a very powerful example? Start with a penny… just 1 cent. Then, for the next 30 days, double it. So, day 1 would be 2 cents, day 3 would be 4 cents, day 4 would be 8 cents, and so on. Do it on paper. It will have a much greater impact on you. What’s the answer? Try it. You’ll be amazed. What you will be watching is an example of compounding at its finest.
So, how do we, as Real Estate Investors, do the same thing? Can we do the same thing? The answer to the second question is a resounding yes! The answer to the first question is, you guessed it, with the use of Non-lien-able debt.
How you ask? Simple. First, remember that typical financing used in Real Estate Investing is lien-able debt. There is a lien of some type on the asset… the property we are buying. When we use non-lien-able debt, there is no lien on the property. In fact, there is no tie at all to the property. This is critical. This is what makes this work. This is what makes us our own bank. How?
What’s the first thing that happens at closing, after the mountain of paperwork is signed? The answer is, the original lender of the seller, is paid off. In other words, the lien is paid off. The seller doesn’t even see the money. Wouldn’t you like to at least touch it when selling… even for a minute? How about doing more? How about being able to re-use it, over and over again? Yes you can. That answer was for all those reading this and saying “know you can’t”. Here’s why… and how.
Let’s look at a typical property funding. First, a loan is acquired and we buy and rehab the property. We flip the house, and upon sale we do two things: 1) We pay back the original funding (lien); 2) We make a profit (hopefully). Now, to move forward, we need to get new financing and deal again with the “App triplets”. You know, new Application, Appraisal and Approval. All costly, time consuming and with no guarantees.
Now, if this was a form of Non-lien-able debt, we wouldn’t need to pay back the money we borrowed… at least not right away. This also means, that instead of only walking away only with our profit to use, we walk away with all of the proceeds from the sale. Sell a house for $75,000 with a lien-able debt of $50,000 and we walk away with only $25,000… the profit. Sell that same house with non-lien-able debt, and we walk away with the entire $75,000… minus closing costs. Which would you rather do?
Flip these two Houses, combine the two profits and buy/rehab a third Flip House. Again, you will be re-using the costs for all three houses to buy/rehab the next 3 Flip Houses in line. You now have three lines of Flip Houses. No matter how many times you try to spend the principle… they keep giving it back to you. Now, this is where the real fun begins.
While you’ve been developing your system, your Cash Reserve is dwindling down to nothing. So, it’s about time you refunded it, don’t you think, and “buy yourself” more time. Keep in mind that these payments you are making from the cash reserve is actually paying off the debt… or it doesn’t work, so when you calculate how much to put into the cash reserve, keep that in mind. Now for the real fun.
Like I said, the cash reserve is “no more”, so refund it… with one of the profits from one of the three flip houses. What do you do with the other two profits? Buy/rehab a “Hold house” for the cash flow… with all cash. Then, just continue to flip the three Flip Houses, over and over again, using the “profits only” to buy more “Cash flow” houses, with all cash, and occasionally refunding the cash reserve until the debt is paid off… and you are completely debt free.
Question #1: How many times did we pay for these funds?
Answer: Once… we just didn’t pay it back all at once, as we would have if it was lien-able debt.
Question #2: How many houses are we able to use these funds for (remember, we are only going to pay for them once)?
Answer: I don’t know. I’ll let you know when I stop re-using them.
We just became our own bank. We are now leveraging our own money to ourselves, at no extra cost. Every time we re-use these funds, at no extra charge, we make the cost of the debt per house go down. This means, we also just made the initial cost of this type of funding insignificant.
Einstein was right. Compounding is a beautiful thing. When combined with Non-lien-able debt, it can be a “gold mine” to Real Estate Investors.
A very effective, yet often overlooked method of marketing both your rentals and your houses for sale is door to door flyers in the neighborhood of your property. Residents who live near your property are likely to know someone – a friend, colleague or family member in the market for housing that they can pass your flyer on to. You may also attract the direct attention of a neighbor who is ready to buy or move up/down in their housing.
If you are local and don’t mind running around the neighborhood yourself, this method will only cost you a few hours plus the cost of printing. If you’re not available for the distribution, or just have better things to do, paying someone to distribute flyers is very cheap and incredibly cost effective if it results in a sale or a qualified tenant placement. Just remember to do a quick drive through of the neighborhood to ensure the flyers have been distributed if you’re paying someone to do it.
As for the content of the flyer, it’s worth it to take some quality photographs of the interior and exterior of the home. If your main selling point is the quality of the property, be sure to feature these in full color along with some of the basic specs of the home. If you are advertising a rent to own that’s a really great deal, make sure your analysis of the numbers is prominent and easily understood. Also, be sure to emphasize that this property is in their neighborhood and that this is an opportunity for them to choose their new neighbor. Lastly, don’t forget to include full contact information: your telephone number, fax number, email address and 24 hour recorded information line if you have one.
A more expensive variation of this method is to use direct mail to target your property’s neighborhood. Again, you’ll want to tailor your marketing message to let them know that this is their chance to mold the neighborhood by helping to select the new neighbors. To maximize your exposure, try using both flyer and direct mail distribution methods, timed several weeks apart to make sure that as many neighbors as possible get your message that you have a great property for sale or rent in their neighborhood.
Many people are overwhelmed when they look into real estate as a possible income stream. Aside from the nervousness hesitation to put out legal contracts constantly, there is an obstacle before they are even able to make an offer on a single property. That obstacle is in the pursuit of actually finding motivated sellers.
Leads are the bread and butter of any successful real estate wholesaler. Without leads, the wannabe investor will spin their wheels. You will find that cash buyers are pretty easy to find when compared to getting motivated sellers to contact you.
Lead generation is your answer. For the next few minutes, you will discover some incredible ways to pull in those motivated seller leads. You will discover the trade secrets of a 20+ year internet marketing veteran that just so happens to be a real estate wholesaler. Let’s get started!
Do you find sellers, or do sellers find you?
There are many methods wholesalers use to reach motivated sellers. Many of them require you to reach out to them. Others will allow them to reach out to you. I am a huge fan of having the motivated seller contact me. Why? Because if they are contacting me, then I know they are more likely to be motivated in the traditional sense. They will be much more open to a discount offer, or even creative financing terms, or subject 2 if there is little to no equity on the property.
While I prefer that the seller contacts me, I am not one to close a door on a gift horse. Every lead is a good lead, and a potential assignment fee. This is why I am going to recommend that you employ as many of these techniques as your time, budget, and determination will allow.
This will not necessarily be the case for post cards and letters however. You can find that format by searching Google for “yellow letter”.
The “yellow letter” or post card are excellent sources of done deals. The problem is that a mass mailing can be expensive, even at a single piece cost of $.40 cents per post card. You will need to send between 1,000 and 2,000 to secure a couple of deals. On top of it, the best method is to send it 6 times to the same people before moving on to the next list. That’s about $400 to $800 per mailing times 6. When you are already established in the wholesale game, that cost is easy to absorb thanks to the many assignment fees you’ve collected. When first starting out however, you may not be able to manage that.
The yellow letter is targeted towards a direct mailing list of homeowners with equity and other factors. ListSource is a popular provider of such lists. I have obtained ‘small lists’ of about 180 addresses and names for about $50 or so. You can import the list into a yellow letter or post card mailer service such as BigYellowLetter or any of the various others.
As someone who started in the website design and internet marketing business way back in the teenage years, I am always creating websites whenever I get an itch to start a business or collect leads. One of my favorite website backbones is WordPress due to it’s ease of use, ability to optimize for search engines, and the mere fact that I can create multiple variations of lead pages targeting different campaigns.
A wholesaler without a lead website isn’t a wholesaler at all. Not everyone wants to, or has the option to call you. Just providing a phone number on your ad materials isn’t enough. A URL should always be provided as an option, and the visitor should be able to reach you through an intricate contact form that collects information about the house they want to sell you.
When creating your lead site, make sure that you ask all of the appropriate questions so you can analyze the deal ahead of any discussions with the seller. I have an example down below. I like to collect the address, contact info, property type and info, description of needed repairs, etc. I even include an option for them to tell me whether or not they would be willing to hold a note for all, or a portion of their equity. This leaves the option for creative financing in the event that the property is not ideal for a cash offer (low to no equity).
I spend hours every day on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media websites interacting with others, promoting, and just trying to drum up traffic to my website and lead conversions.
Be careful to provide the right ratio of content vs ads however. Over posting ads can be annoying to followers and friends. It would be a good idea to provide fresh articles, resources, ideas, quotes, and other goodies to keep a follower interested long enough to convert them down the road.
As an internet marketer, I know the value of building a list. But who is going to want to just hand over their name and email address to a stranger? Someone who is getting something for free of course!
To build a newsletter, you first need to offer something of value for free in exchange for their name and email address. This is often an eBook, or even something smaller such as a 10 page ‘report’. Your report would contain some simple information that teaches them something that they want to know. In order to get access to the report, they must first submit their name and email address. They can then download the report via a confirmation email you send them automatically afterwards. This is email list building 101. Follow this blueprint, and you can have a massive list in 30 days or less.
Don’t just have a lead site. Blog on it regularly. You can write articles ahead of time, and schedule them to publish week after week. This way, they are getting new content on a regular basis.
In addition to value for your readers, blogs are great for search engine traffic. Content is king. This means that every time you publish a new article, you run the risk of showing up on the first page of Google or another search engine for your target search terms. This will bring in motivated sellers to your lead site (if you convert them), and it can also attract cash buyers if you are targeting them as well.
As before with social media, I have to warn you not to spam forums either. But forums can be excellent sources of leads if you are smart about it and actually contribute. Forums provide a place for you to add your URL and contact information in a signature. This signature would show up whenever you post on the forum, and interested parties can follow you.
I like to join credit repair forums, bankruptcy and back tax forums, and give advice. You can get motivated sellers who are in preforeclosure this way. Just avoid posting urls while giving your advice, as that is considered spammy. Rely wholly on the signature you be your golden goose, and you can’t fail!
You can also join real estate investment forums like EquityPaper or BiggerPockets, and interact with other investors. This can be a chance to co-wholesale deals with other wholesalers who may not have a cash buyer for a certain property. You may be able to help them, and share in the assignment fee.
I’m sure you have seen a newspaper before. They still exist, and many people read them. In the classifieds section, you will see other ads just like the one I mentioned earlier. Give it a shot, and see how fast you get calls or leads through your website.
Newspapers can be expensive, but there are some smaller ones with more manageable fees.
I have gotten quite a few commercials done and played on live and recorded podcasts. They were bought and paid for through Fiverr, and certainly affordable. You can get an ad played for $5, or a little more for larger podcasts. You can get gig extras which also have your ad mentioned on the podcast’s social media accounts, permanent links on their podcast website, and other goodies.
You can also create your own real estate podcast, and gain a bunch of new listeners to promote to here and there.
YouTube channels have to be one of the greatest methods of generating a following, and converting to leads. You can manage to do a simple 15 minute video every week, and publish it can’t you?
It can take some time to build a following, but soon enough you will see thousands of new followers ready to absorb what you are putting out there. They will share your content and spread the word. Do not fall asleep on YouTube marketing. It truly is a heavy hitter.
Put your creative juices to work, and come up with some excellent lead generating ideas. You may be surprised at what you come up with!

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