Foreclosure auction in NYC

I recently attended the largest foreclosure auction on the east coast. My goal was to meet other investors and add them to my buyers list. It was a great event, full of energy and some great deals! I tried to video as much as I could, even though it was not allowed:



If you are looking to add buyers to your list, attend some foreclosure auctions in your local area and network, network, network.
Don't forget to add your name to my buyers list to be the first to hear about the great deals that I have available. http://www.thewholesalekid.com

Finding Motivated Sellers & Distressed Homes

Links: Investor Tools, US BuyersList

Another important topic that there is a multitude of information on is the process of “Marketing to Find Distressed Homeowners”. There are many techniques that are used to attract leads. I will focus on some of the more common methods used. These are methods used day in and day out to generate a steady flow of potential deals. Methods that seem to be most effective are

1. Direct mail Campaigns
2. Print and Online Ads
3. Websites

There are many, many ways to market for deals. That is the problem, so I will focus what I have learned about the three listed above.

Even focusing on these three, I cannot cover all of the detail or methods that are involved. Another case of information overload, so I will do my best to be concise and informative.

Direct mail Campaign
A mail campaign can be one of the best ways to market your real estate investing business. It's fairly easy and cost effective. Besides the cost of acquiring the names, you will only have to pay for copies, envelopes and stamps. It is important to determine who your target audience is. Are you focusing on individuals who are in foreclosure, filing divorce, probate, or non-owner occupied. You do not want to do blast mailings to specific areas or zip codes. This is inefficient and a waste of money. Whatever you decide, stay focused and be consistent.

Here are a few things to remember when starting a mail campaign:
· When starting a mailing campaign, consistency is the key to success. It will take several exposures (at least 3-5) before your prospects start feeling comfortable with the thought of doing business with you. You cannot send out one mailing and expect to get a response. You will need to send out at least five mailings, spaced seven to fourteen days apart.
· When sending a mailing, send both postcards and letters as part of your mailing sequence.
· When addressing envelopes, make sure that you always address them by hand. You will have a better chance of getting your mail piece opened. Those that have pre-printed labels do not get opened as frequently.
· Always start your mailing off with a headline stating the benefits to the customer. Make it clear what you can do for them. For example: "Relieve your house worries today." or "Sell your home for Fast Cash."

There are many books available on the subject. Use your local library as a free resource. You can also purchase online books such as Million Dollar Mailings from Amazon. There are a lot of books available that can be a good resource on the subject.

Direct mail campaigns are a great area of your business that can be outsourced to help you be more productive. If you have ever done a mailing before, it is very tedious. The process of collecting a list, preparing a marketing piece that you think is effective, printing, stuffing, addressing, and stamping the envelopes, bringing them to the post office and then praying that the marketing piece you found online from some guru will inspire people to call, can be grueling and non-productive. And in order to get results, you need to do this on a consistent basis. This can easily discourage you and has discouraged me. I have had many days in the past going through this process and use to recruit my wife to help stuff and address the envelopes, by hand!

One solution is to hire someone to do this for you. You can easily post a help wanted ad on Craigslist and pay someone an hourly rate to do this for you. You want to be able to manage this person to insure they are being productive. Make sure to interview a few people to find the right person. This will free up your time to focus on other parts of your business.

A second solution is to hire a company that will handle all of your marketing for you. Such companies will automate the entire mailing process for you and get your phone ringing. They can provide targeted lists, use proven marketing pieces developed by professionals, prepare and send out your mailing on a consistent basis. This completely automates your entire direct mail campaign. The one company I am investigating is Sales Team Live. I learned about this company recently from my local REIA meeting. It is a company used by many investors and was developed by an investor. So far, this seem to be the best option. I will keep you updated.

Print and Online Ads
Let’s look at placing ads both in newspapers and online. These are great ways to reach a larger audience and target your marketing to specific. Online offers a lot of free websites where you can post your ad to find motivated sellers. Two of the better websites are Craigslist and Postlets. Postlets is great because you create one ad and it will post that ad on numerous other sites, including Craigslist. That is great exposure for free. Also, search for classified websites from local newspapers. Some will post your ad for free or for a small fee. They may also be able to offer you a package deal for both newspaper print and online. Print ads may be a more expensive way of marketing, but if done correctly and consistently, you can get a lot of bang for your buck.

The main goal of any advertisement is to get the phone to ring. Bottom line is that you want to find motivated sellers. Make sure not to clutter up advertisements with too many details and graphics, when all you really need is a catchy headline and a few key details. Classified ads only need be a few sentences max, while a online ad should have a picture of a home and a few key phrases. Simplicity is the best way to go! If you can afford color, choose a bright red title that will grab the reader’s attention. The size of the ad may also have an effect on your ability to find motivated sellers. Bigger is usually better, but you will want to experiment with this as well.

Having a good understanding of the real estate market will help you plan your next move. Once you know if it’s a buyer or a sellers market, you can begin to advertise accordingly. When you place your advertisement is just as important. Generally speaking for newspapers, weekend editions have a higher readership. So if you can afford to advertise in the Saturday and Sunday paper, that is your best bet. You may also be able to find motivated sellers in the daily paper, so try out both to find out what works best for you and your city.

Just like a direct mail campaign, consistency is key. A one time advertisement isn’t likely to find many motivated sellers. The more advertisements that you place, the more likely it isthat you will get the response that you need. So place ads daily or weekly for the maximum exposure. Even if the reader isn’t looking to sell right now, they may be in the market to do so a week or a month from now. The more people that know that you are looking for properties, the more likely you are to find motivated sellers.

Website

Your website is an awesome tool that will create an air of legitimacy and credibility for you from the start. Make sure that your website looks professional and well-maintained.
Here are some things to remember when marketing your real estate investing business with a website:

-You can use your website whether you are buying or selling. If you are doing both, maintain two separate websites.
-Present information clearly. Your site should be easy to read and should not have too much information on one page. This can get confusing. Learn about creating a “Squeeze Page”.
-If you are selling, put pictures of your houses. The more information that you provide for people to look at independently, the more sales you will make.
-Make it easy for your prospects to contact you. If people are visiting your website, they are interested in the services you offer. Because people tend to be impulsive, you want to make sure they have a way to contact you immediately.

Go back and reference my last Blog about building a buyers list. The techniques you use to drive traffic to you buyers website are the same for attracting motivated sellers. The internet is very powerful and can really help your business.

Search the internet for other investors out there who are looking to wholesale deals. Join their buyers list. Websites such as http://www.usbuyerslist.com will contact you when there is a great deal available in the area you specified. The marketing medium you use and the message you accompany with it that hits the right target market turns sellers into motivated sellers. There simply is no generic marketing message and medium that is a "one-size-fits-all" approach in real estate. Experiment to see what works and make sure that you track your results.

Good Luck!

A simple idea to build your buyers list!

RESOURCES: http://www.ctdreambuilders.com/blog/resources/
http://www.usbuyerslist.com/

I know it's late, but I am too pumped up and can't sleep anyway, so why not blog!

I just got back from the Connecticut Real Estate Investors Associations monthly meeting. The speaker was Than Merrill from CT Homes, LLC and star of A & E's flip this house. What an excellent speaker and teacher. Than, if your reading, well done.

I took a lot away from the meeting, but the one thing I wanted to share with everyone now relates to my last post of Creating a Killer Buyers List. It is a simple concept that will bring great results. It deserves to be mentioned.

What is it? Go to autions to find qualified buyers. If you attend some foreclosure auctions at your local county court steps or some of the larger auctions held by larger auction companies, you will find tons of people looking to buy your deals. These will be mostly investors who can close quickly on your wholesale deal.

I am learning that the simple things that you learn can help you generate more leads which means more profits.

Creating a Killer Buyers List

RESOURCES: http://www.ctdreambuilders.com/blog/resources/
http://www.usbuyerslist.com/

I wanted to keep some kind of chronological order with my process. I planned on researching the process of developing a “Business Plan” first. I admit I got side tracked….I was reading up on building a buyers list and got really excited! It’s not the best place to start, but not the worst:

For those who don’t know, a buyers list is a list of contact names, phone numbers and email address’ of other people who are looking to purchase real estate. This is one of the most important things you can do as an investor who is looking to wholesale properties. You can buy a deal with more confidence when you know that you have a solid list of waiting buyers and your turnaround time will be much faster. Don't wait until you have a property under contract to start building a list of potential investors and retail buyers that will be interested in deals that you find.

The list will be composed of other real estate investors who are looking for wholesale deals to rehab and either resell or hold as a rental. There will also be people who are looking to buy a home for themselves and are looking for a better deal than they may find from their local Realtor.

Here are techniques I’ve found from various articles on “How to Build a Buyers List”;

Post ads with online classifieds and other free websites. Posting a number of different ads on free classified ad websites can start the process of growing your buyers list. Plus, this method is relatively easy to do (once you learn how), and is either inexpensive or costs no money at all on most websites, and you will see almost immediate results in most cases. You can post ads on sites such as Craigslist, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, REI Club Websites and your local classified ad websites (usually for newspaper website.)

Be creative on the types of ads you run. You can run generic ads looking for investors who are trying to find deals, ads seeking partners to team up with you on deals, ads for specific deals you have, and ads giving away a free real estate course or a list of distressed properties. These are just a few methods; with a little creativity, you could come up with many more. Some examples I found;

“Investor relocating has 17 properties, single/multifamily. Must sell. No money down. Must have good credit. Possible cash-out at closing. Serious buyers only. Free 25” color TV with purchase. Call___________” or

Handy, investor special Great deal for rehabbers! 914-555-1212
or
Investor special Thousands below market--Won't last! 914-555-1212

Run these same online ads in your local newspapers, Pennysavers, and Thrift Papers etc. in the Real Estate sections. Also print flyers with these ads and distribute them everywhere.

Look through classified ads and online ads and call on the ones that are from investors or landlords. Call the “For Rent” signs and the “We Buy Houses” signs you see in your neighborhood. These are usually investors and they may be looking for deals to buy.
This leads into direct marketing. Create brochures, flyers and business cards and get them out there. Send them to Realtors, they may have qualified buyers and/or work with investors. Mortgage brokers may have qualified buyers too and want to help them find a home so they can close a deal and get paid. Post flyers in Laundromats because most people who use these places are renters. Speak with parishioners from your local church and let them know that you are involved in the community and help people buy homes. Find contractors who want to buy and rehab homes. Help them find the financing to buy and walk them through their first deal. Same thing for new investors and first time home buyers. Purchase absentee owner lists to find landlords who may purchase additional properties. Your local Section 8 housing authority can also help you with this too.

Make sure that you fully utilize the power of the internet. There are numerous ways to market for buyers. Create a website “Squeeze Page” and drive traffic to it.

Here is a website does a great job at collecting information from potential buyers: http://www.usbuyerslist.com/. This is what you want your website to look like, simple with no distractions. This site collects the information so when it is time to sell a property, you can email blast it to your entire list in seconds. This could mean hundreds of people are viewing your property and it will sell quickly.

I found a great source of information about websites and online marketing from this website; check this out: http://bit.ly/UGCbo.

It is from Than Merrill (one of the better gurus.) There you will find a video and two e-books to download. It will go into greater detail about search engine optimization, online articles, blog’s and more.

I always worry that this may be information overload. Remember, get yourself out there and network. Implement as many of the techniques above as you can and you will soon build a killer buyers list. If you have other methods that you have used, please share them with me. http://www.twitter.com/johncelli

RESOURCES: http://www.ctdreambuilders.com/blog/resources/
http://www.usbuyerslist.com/

My goal is to build a successful real estate investing business and share my discoveries along the way. I have invested in real estate part time for about ten years now. During that time I made some money and also made some mistakes.

Now it’s time to learn from past mistakes and do it right! I have a passion for real estate and a strong desire to succeed. There is more to this then buying a house. Any idiot can do that. This time around I need to build and implement systems to create a real estate investing machine.

As I go through the process, I will share any information that I feel will help others accomplish their goals and be successful as a real estate investor. I know there is a ton of good information out there for investors. I plan on weeding through as much as I can and compile the information that I feel is relevant. Hopefully I will not have information overload!

Here are some topics I plan on working on in the future:

· Developing a comprehensive “Business Plan”
· Creating a kick ass “Buyers List”
· Implementing a killer “Marketing” system to attract motivated sellers
· Raising capital from “Private Lenders” and building business Lines of Credit
· Using the power of “Internet” technologies to grow your business
· Using a mentor/coach to help steer you to success
(You know who you are wink wink!!)

These are the topics that I feel are EXTREMELY important to long term success.

Again, what I learn I will share. My intention is to shorten the learning curve for new investors.

Here is a quick video from Than Merrill, successful investor and teacher. This is one site that is packed with great information: http://bit.ly/11U4QF