In the real estate game, it is all about finding amazing deals and keeping them for a long term before flipping them and making a huge profit out of it. Now you must be wondering, if great deals were that easy to find, everybody would be millionaires now. I am not saying that it is easy but finding these deals takes experience, talent and most importantly patience.
Here I would provide a head start for novice investors–or a refresher course for old pros
- Target the reluctant landlords
One of the easiest ways is to call the owners of rental properties and offer them to buy. From my experience, many income property owners are reluctant landlords and most of the time they will entertain your offer. I am not promising you that all of them will agree because some of them will insist on no. Worst case scenario if they say no, just leave them your name card and phone number just in case if they ever are interested in selling, they can contact you.
- Advertise, Advertise, Advertise
I can’t emphasize how important it is for you to your own classified ad. Many novices do not dare/ know if they should invest money in ads because they don’t see the value of it. If you’re unwilling to first spend some money to get to the right target audience how are you supposed to get deals? What I would suggest you to do is putting out a simple headline like “We Buy Houses for Cash” works perfectly well most of the time. Although I must say that, there are other investors who would use the same ads as you but don’t worry it is a numbers game. Just be genuinely kind and caring to the people and they will sell to you because they like the way you sound, or they trust you over your competitors.
I am pretty sure you’ve seen many advertisements in the paper for mortgage companies, car dealers, and retail stores that are selling the same product. Rest assured, there’s enough business to go around, and as long as you get the phone ringing, you’ll learn to get good at converting them into deals. It takes work, and lots of it, but the rewards are worth it.
- Finding distressed sellers
The first place to look is the newspaper. Go right into the Classifieds instead and start looking for listings with “for sale by owner” in the text or that appear as though they are being sold without an agent. Key phrases such as “must sell,” “fix-up,” “needs work,” “vacant,” and of course, “motivated sellers.” (Although, agents often advertise “motivated seller” when in fact their client isn’t all that motivated!.)
Be prepared to make a lot of calls do not be discouraged by rejections. Just remember that the more calls you the make the higher your probability of success. Keeping a positive attitude is important because it prevents you from burning out too soon by all the obstacles.
- Leverage Your way with Agents
What do I mean by this is you can draft a letter on professional letterhead and fax it to all of the real estate offices in your area. Explaining that you are a real estate investor looking for distressed properties and that you can close quickly if the price is right and provide them some incentives if they help you out. “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” everybody wants to know what it is in for them if they help you. Sadly but true, you have to provide them with a certain amount of incentives that they find it attractive in order for them to work with you. So, before you ask for anything, first you present what are you able to give them and make sure that they can’t say no to that.