Since I just scheduled about 5,000 postcards to sellers to be sent out and I am going through my checklist for making sure I am prepared for the calls, I figured I would share with you what I use to take calls from sellers.
First, let me tell you how they call in.
In my post, there are three ways for them to contact me. Usually, the more ways you provide for people to contact you the better your response will be since people can choose the method they prefer. The three ways are: 24 hour recorded info line, my buying website and a direct number to me and/or my acquisition manager.
If they call the 24 hour recorded info line, they hear a 5 minute message about the benefits of working with me and why I may be their best option for selling their house. They are also given the direct number to me and/or my acquisition manager in that recorded message as the next step as well as my website address.
If they go to my website, they get a special report on the benefits of working with me and a link to a form to submit some very, very basic info about their property. Yes, I could ask EVERY question on the website… I know how and it would be easy for me to do it, but I make the web form very simple to get the largest number of responses and then get on the phone to get the rest.
Lastly, there is my direct number. When I say direct number, I do not mean my personal mobile phone number or my office phone. What I am referring to is a special number I set up that I can move to wherever I want. If I want to forward it to my personal mobile phone, I can. If I want to forward to my acquisition manager’s mobile phone, I can. If I want to forward it to a live answering service, I can. If I want to forward it to my office… you guessed it… I can.
I can also have it forward to multiple phones at once so it will ring on my mobile, my acquisition manager’s mobile and the office phone all at the same time. Whoever answers first, gets it. I like using that number on all our postcards and marketing as our direct number so that I can change how its handled easily and still have it come to us live as much as possible.
When I do actually take the call from the seller, I need to make sure I have our Property Information Sheet (links to exclusive resources for Real Estate Investor Bronze Members) ready to gather some info about the property. I encourage you to see the Gathering Property Information Checklist as a starting point for learning more about how I gather info about the seller and the property.
Until my next post,
James
I just finished editing and uploading a copy of the actual Acquisition Manager Employment Agreement (links to exclusive resources for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members) that I use in my business to hire someone to help me find and purchase properties.
In the agreement I outline the term of the employment as well as the duties that I expect our Acquisition Manager.
I go over exactly how they are compensated so they understand exactly how they are paid (commission only with incentives based on the profitability of the property they help us buy). I also cover the benefits they can expect to receive working with us.
An important section that I do include is on how termination of the agreement works including them quiting and us parting ways based on our decision.
In it I also discuss how notices are given to both parties.
In my agreement I also have a pretty extensive section dealing with the recording of training materials. I provide a fair amount of training to my staff and record the training materials for both future staff as well as being able to share it with our investors (like we do on this website) and so I need to make sure they understand that part of their compensation includes the right for us to record and use the training materials.
If you are considering hiring your own Acquisition Manager, you may want to have your attorney look over our agreement with your modifications as a starting point.
Until my next post,
James
So, you’ve started to advertise to hire an Acquisition Manager. Here’s an overview of the process that I’ve outlined in detail on the Acquisition Manager Application Checklist (links to resources for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members).
First, the candidate for the Acquisition Manager job has completed the Employment Application and faxed it over to you.
You should take some time when you receive that fax to review the application and call the candidate back. I have a series of questions I have put together for this Initial Call With Acquisition Manager that you may want to consider using. I recommend printing out a copy of the question and making notes as you speak to them on the phone as it is especially helpful if you have several you are considering for the job.
Next, if that call goes well, you will want to schedule a formal interview. I have a series of questions that you may want to print and use during the formal interview as well on the Acquisition Manager Interview Questions page.
If that goes well, call their references and perform a background check and decide whether you will hiring them or not.
If you decide to hire them, you may want to then have them fill out your employment agreement and the other necessary paperwork so they can get paid before you start training them.
Until my next post,
James
As we continue with our themed articles on how I am hiring my Acquisition Manager (links lead to exclusive resources for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members) to assist me in buying investment properties, today I’d like to take a moment to share with you the ad that I have been running that has gotten me several good candidates so far.
I will be discussing the ad, but to see the actual ad and some updated information on my results with it, you can via it Acquisition Manager Wanted Ad.
For the title of the ad, I’ve used: Real Estate Acquisitions Manager Wanted. Since the title of your ad can have a huge impact on the number that see it and my title is, in my opinion, not the best in the world, I will be experimenting with some additional variations as I renew the ad to run again.
In the ad itself I might be over-describing the job by explaining that we are looking for someone to give a pre-approved, scripted presentation to buy houses.
I explain what my definitions of full time (10 presentations per week) and part time (5 presentations per week). I also go on to explain some of what they can expect to get out of it including training on how to buy houses and personal development.
I explain what the base compensation is: $1,000 commission on each property purchased plus incentives based on profitability of that deal. I stress that it is a commission only job and there is no base salary.
I talk about the level of experience that is required (none) and the type of experience that would be helpful (in-home sales and real estate).
I try to screen out people that are going to have a problem with a background check as that is an automatic disqualification.
I then give them my fax number and ask them to fax me a resume for consideration.
So, that, in a nutshell, is my ad to hire an Acquisition Manager.
Until my next post,
James
I am knee deep into hiring a new Acquisition Manager to meet with sellers and find houses for me to buy and so you will be seeing lots of resources related to that for the past week and probably will continue to see them for the next couple of weeks as well.
Today, I want to share with you a little about the application process and give you access to my Employment Application (link is for Real Estate Investor Bronze Members only) that you can use whenever you are considering hiring someone.
For me, I am posting ads on CraigsList (and if needed on some other websites) to find possible candidates for this particular job. The first ad on CraigsList that I am testing is one that asked the candidates to fax over a resume. Once I receive their resume, then I review that and if they seem like they’d be good candidates, I ask them to complete the Employment Application and to fax or scan and e-mail it back to me.
This really is the first true step in the application process since the faxed resume is just a way for candidates to raise their hand and tell me that they are interested in applying.
In my next article, I will be sharing with you some of the questions that I ask when I receive back their Employment Application and how the rest of the hiring process goes from there.
Until my next post,
James
I’ve been sharing with you some information about how I am hiring what I am calling an Acquisitions Manager to help buy investment property for me. Today, I’d like to share with you how I am paying my Acquisitions Manager to give you an idea of what you may consider paying someone to do it for you.
First, I want to point out that buying properties for me involves scheduling appointments with sellers, putting together the Seller Property Information File (this is a link to exclusive resources for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members), meeting with the seller to give a full, well-scripted, value adding sales presentation, presenting several offers to the seller for them to choose and bring a signed contract back to me for my approval. The contract says that it is subject to approval by the business within whatever time frame you determine.
My acquisitions person then brings me the entire file and signed contract and I review it and if it is a deal, we move forward with it.
So, how do I pay them to do this? They are 100% commission only and they are paid at closing. It is important to realize that I just include what I need to pay them in my offer so really the property when I buy it is paying the acquisitions person.
For each property purchased: $1,000 at closing.
I want to get long term owner financing on properties I buy, so I reward them for those. I’ll pay an extra $1,000 if they can get the payments to be “until paid in full”, which means that we continue to make the payments on the property until it is totally paid off. Or, if they cannot get “until paid in full”, but they can get at least 15 years, they will get $500. If they cannot get 15 years, but can get 10 years, then that’s $250.
I want to reward them for purchasing for less than the current fair market value taking into account repairs. I’ll pay 5% of anything less than our Maximum Allowable Offer. If we buy it for $10,000 less than what our maximum allowable offer is then I’ll pay them $500 additional in cash at closing.
I want to reward them for smaller down payments so if they get an offer accepted with nothing to the seller they get an extra $500 at closing.
So, if they purchase a $200,000 property for us for $180,000 on payments until paid in full, they would earn the base $1,000, plus $1,000 for the $20,000 discount, plus $1,000 for getting them to accept until paid in full. So, they’d earn $3,000 for helping us acquire that property.
Until my next post,
James
