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

Related posts:

1. Real Estate Investor Motivated Seller Calls – How To Deal With Seller Calls
2. Handling Motivated Seller Calls
3. Using Yard Signs To Sell Your Property Fast
4. Talking to Motivated Sellers – The Initial Call
5. Real Estate Investor Tip – Cost Effective 24 Hour Recorded Information Line Setup

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

Related posts:

1. The Acquisition Manager Application Checklist
2. Hiring An Acquisition Manager: The Employment Application
3. Our Ad To Hire An Acquisition Manager
4. How To Hire Someone To Buy Houses For You
5. Using the Rental Agreement For Teaching the Rules

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

Related posts:

1. Hiring An Acquisition Manager: The Employment Application
2. Acquisition Manager Employment Agreement
3. Our Ad To Hire An Acquisition Manager
4. How To Hire Someone To Buy Houses For You
5. Hiring A Property Manager

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

Related posts:

1. The Acquisition Manager Application Checklist
2. Acquisition Manager Employment Agreement
3. Hiring An Acquisition Manager: The Employment Application
4. How To Hire Someone To Buy Houses For You
5. Choosing a Property Manager: Weighing Experience and Resources

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

Related posts:

1. The Acquisition Manager Application Checklist
2. Acquisition Manager Employment Agreement
3. Our Ad To Hire An Acquisition Manager
4. Hiring Someone to Buy Houses For You
5. Hiring A Property Manager

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

Related posts:

1. Hiring Someone to Buy Houses For You
2. Assignment of Contract Versus Double Closings
3. Ugly Houses – Making Your Offer To Buy An Ugly House
4. About The Bills Checklist
5. Buying Properties On A Land Contract or Contract For Deed

I am in the process of hiring what I am calling an Acquisitions Manager for two markets that I am interested in buying in myself right now, so I will share with you a brain dump of some of the things I have on my to do or capture list that relate to hiring an acquisitions person.

Feel free to use the following list as a starting point for some of the things that you may need to do to hire your own sales professional to acquire properties for you. In future updates, I imagine I’ll be sharing with you additional information relating to this that you can use to improve your own buying or hiring a person yourself.

• Prioritize this list.
• Get Employment Application.
• Describe position and duties in detail – the more the better (Psycho-cybernetics).
• Take description of position and format it to a job description.
• Post job description on CraigsList, Kijiji, Backpage. Any others?
• Define deal analysis for them of specifically what I want to buy so they can use that to submit offers.
• Get purchase contract for them to use to make offer to sellers.
• Prepare sample filled out purchase contracts for them to model.
• Prepare my Credibility Pack for them to use.
• Prepare and give them presentation binder for sales presentation.
• Give them Property Information Form to use when talking to sellers on the phone for the first time.
• Give them a written set of expectations.
• Have them sign and Employment Agreement. If you are hiring yours as an Independent Contractor, your system may be slightly different than mine. Consult your attorney and accountant for the pros and cons of each.
• Teach them how to handle the most common objections.
• Teach them how to set the appointment.
• Teach them who to call.
• Teach them how to submit a deal for us to approve (the package).
• Business cards for Acquisition Manager.
• What extra marketing will you do for your Acquisition Manager?
• Overview of sales process for them.
• How will you train them to your presentation? We are using my own materials and purchased training materials.
• How do you get them reporting back to you.
• Daily checklist for them added the Real Estate Investor Cookbook.
• Have them role play and give me several sample presentations before going out on a live appointment.
• Have them get testimonials and referrals during the presentation.
• Have them get photos of the property as part of the package.
• Setup payroll for them.
• Have them complete a W4 to prepare to pay them.
• Setup evaluation system for them so they can get feedback on their work.

Of course, this is a first pass, rough draft list, but hopefully it will help you understand my initial thought process and give you a springboard for hiring your own.

An updated version of this checklist as an exclusive resource for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members can be found at How To Hire An Acquisition Manager.

Until my next post,

James

Related posts:

1. How To Hire Someone To Buy Houses For You
2. Hiring An Acquisition Manager: The Employment Application
3. The Acquisition Manager Application Checklist
4. Our Ad To Hire An Acquisition Manager
5. Acquisition Manager Employment Agreement

The resources I just added were part of my system that I had not yet moved over to the new system and include the following (links go directly to the resources for the benefit of our real estate investor consulting clients):

• How To Pay An Acquisition Manager – Learn how we pay our acquisition manager only when they buy a property for us AND based on how great of a deal they buy for us.
• Acquisition Manager Application Checklist – We use this to make sure we get a complete application for all folks that apply to be our acquisition manager (and we tend to get quite a few).
• Acquisition Manager Daily Checklist – Used by the Acquisition Manager to make sure they are doing the things they should be each day. Give this to your Acquisition Manager to have them up and running in no time flat.
• Acquisition Manager Interview Questions – Part of the application process is doing an interview with your Acquisition Manager applications. Use these questions in your interview to make sure you ask the right questions and can pre-screen the applicants to find the right person.
• Acquisition Manager Training Checklist – I use this checklist to make sure that my Acquisition Manager goes through all the training materials they should before they talk to a seller.
• Initial Call With Acquisition Manager Checklist – Use this to make sure you relay ALL the info you need to your potential Acquisition Manager and to make sure that they are qualified enough to do an interview with.
• Acquisition Manager Employment Agreement – This is the actual agreement in both MS Word and PDF that I use to hire my Acquisition Manager. In this four page agreement, it shows you how I pay my Acquisition Managers and much more.
• How To Hire An Acquisition Manager Checklist – Use this checklist to guide you through the entire process of hiring your own person to buy properties for you.
• Plus many additional forms and checklists including the ad we run to find applicants.

I noticed we were missing them when I was trying to update our Seller Presentation (links directly to our full downloadable presentation for Bronze Members) and add to it an additional article. I’ll be writing about that next.

Until my next post,

James

P.S. It is not too late (as of this post) to sign up as a Bronze Member and get access to all our systems and free real estate investor consulting. Sign up now for Bronze Membership and download everything you need to be up and running in your own profitable real estate investing business providing immediate cash flow and long term wealth building.

Related posts:

1. The Acquisition Manager Application Checklist
2. Hiring Someone to Buy Houses For You
3. Acquisition Manager Employment Agreement
4. Our Ad To Hire An Acquisition Manager
5. Why It Is Better To Hire In Pairs