When people are first calling you on an advertising you have out, they likely do not know you. They have doubts about your ability to do what you say you can do. If you are going to pay them all cash for their house, this might not be as big of an issue. But since we are often asking for very creative deal structuring often with owner financing, building trust is critical and absolutely required. You must build credibility and trust with your sellers.
Two of the most effective ways of building trust and credibility is first – use testimonials and second – to do what you say you’re going to do with the little things when talking to them.
First, let’s talk about testimonials. You will want to get testimonials from people you have done business with. Might I suggest sending out a testimonial letter to people that you deal with that you can sincerely compliment and endorse. When they call to thank you for the letter, ask them if they would like to write a similar letter for you. The more testimonials you can gather the better. I have taken 300 or so testimonial letters from customers, clients and business associates from our real estate business and other businesses and compiled them into a little printed pamphlet that I send out immediately to people that call about selling their house. The testimonials are for people’s experiences dealing with you and not necessarily dealing with your real estate business. When potential sellers see that I have worked with hundreds of people and that they all pretty much say, “This is a good guy,” then they are much more likely to trust me.
We also recommend that you bring a copy of your credibility pack with you when you meet the seller at their house and give them an additional copy, even though we also recommend you mail one to them right after you gather the initial information
Until my next post,
James
P.S. Check out the Real Estate Investing Systems book on Amazon for an entire book of real estate investor business systems and checklists in the palm of your hand.
Last night we had a webinar for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members where we discussed the strategies (and resources for implementing those strategies) that are working right now in our current market.
Part of what I discuss in the webinar is that anyone can actually do these strategies in this market if they choose to. You know how to access everything you need and as I mentioned any parts that you do not want to do yourself are able to be outsourced to someone who would love to do that for you. In fact, I have most of the systems to outsource those tasks as well since I have outsourced just about every part of the real estate investing business. If you are a Bronze Member and need help with that, just let me know.
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Viddler video.In the webinar I discuss wholesaling, virtual wholesaling, buy and hold, real estate partnerships, subject to and lease options as well as owner financing and private money.
Enjoy the video!
Sincerely,
James
P.S. If you have not downloaded the free real estate courses we have available, you can do that on the Real Estate Course Downloads page.
“If real estate investing is so great, why doesn’t everyone do it?” Maybe you’ve heard that or even thought about it before. How about the other variation I get: “If real estate investing is so easy, why doesn’t everyone do it?”
There are many things in life that are both great and easy, yet the overwhelming majority of people do not do it. I can think of two major examples off the top of my head.
First, frugality. If you are spending more than you earn, it is both great (and prudent) as well as easy to stop and put money aside in savings, yet there is a large part of our population that continues to spend more than they earn and go deeper into debt. Why? It is easy to not buy extra stuff (just don’t go to the places you can buy those things). It is easy to set a budget and check the budget before each purchase, but many people don’t.
Second, body weight. Body weight is just like money except the currency is Calories. If you eat more than you spend, you gain weight. If you have a balanced Caloric intake with what you expend, you maintain your weight. And, lastly, if you spend more than you take in, you lose weight. Despite all the crazy diet programs, shakes, vitamins, supplements and other tools for losing weight, it really is a simple intake versus use issue. By the way, I am not saying that what you eat isn’t important, but the BIG factor is Calories.
So, if both living within your means and living at your ideal weight is both great for you and easy to do, why don’t people do it? Maybe it is the same reason they don’t invest in real estate.
Until my next post,
James
P.S. Need help implementing what you already know you need to do? That’s part of what we provide in our Real Estate Investor Bronze Membership. Upgrade now.
Last week I shared with you an article about my recent experience of looking for a few new real estate agents to work with in the markets we are looking to buy in. In that article I shared with you how diverse the applicants were… some were amazing; some were not.
One thing that I knew going in, but was reminded of as I searched was the power that belief and expectations had on the real estate agent. Here’s what I mean.
If an agent believes deep down that properties never sold for large discounts or with owner financing or any of the creative real estate strategies that, as real estate investors, we know happen every single day, they would automatically shut down and try to tell me that it can’t be done. For those of you that think you’re going to be able to convince an agent that it can be done, I’ve got a couple redwood trees you can push on to move as well. It is just not going to happen.
Even though I personally and thousands of other investors I know have done deals like I have suggested, some agents insist that no one would ever (and fill in the blank).
On the other hand, there are other agents that, because they are new or overly optimistic or maybe just desperate for any deal, tell you they are willing to find those types of deals but have an overly rosy picture of what that entails. They may believe that if they make 2 or 3 offers they’ll find you a killer deal at 50% of value with owner financing. Are there deals out there like that? Yes. Can you find one with an agent? Yes. Will it happen in 2 or 3 offers… the chances are very, very small of that happening with the first two or three offers you make.
While I believe you should be doing marketing yourself, using agents in your business to supplement your deal flow is a great tool–as long as you find an agent that both has realistic beliefs and expectations that mirror your own.
Until my next post,
James
P.S. Download and listen to the Real Estate Investor Daily Training Volume #1 (free for a limited time) to learn how I recommend finding deals and working with motivated sellers.
I’ve talked before about the important of building your dream team and having a great title company on your team is critically important. In fact, many people do not realize all the different things that a great title company can provide.
While I was putting together the Title Company Interview Questions as an exclusive resource for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members I was reminded of just how important my title company is to my business. For example, here are some things that a title company may be able to provide to you:
First, they can close your deals and provide you with title insurance to protect your interest in the property.
Second, many are offering to help negotiate short sales for you.
Third, many can provide access to comparable sales data so you can determine the value of your properties before you buy.
Fourth, many can pull up mailing lists from public record including Absentee Owners and Free And Clear–both are excellent marketing lists. Many can pull a foreclosure list for you as they are filed. Some, and this is much rarer, can give you access to probate data if that is part of your business model.
Fifth, many will help you with the paperwork you need when you are using owner financing or private lenders to do your deals.
So, take some time to find a great title company for your real estate investing business and you’ll find it saves a lot of time and money.
Until my next post,
James
The following article was submitted to me for publication. I am sharing it with you because I think it makes an important point that most new investors need to hear. Enjoy…
How many times have you heard or said something like “There’s no such thing as free money?” Probably many times. So why do you think that you can walk in, buy a house for $250K, spend $20K on it, and sell it for $330K? The truth is, those deals are out there, but it requires a very savvy, seasoned real estate investor to make them. Or at least, to make them consistently.
Every beginning real estate investor has to rub the stars out of their eyes and try to think realistically. The truth is, you need to pay your dues in the industry before you can get to the level that you aspire to. It’s not an attractive thought, but it’s the only sure way to avoid financial ruin. So here are some tips to get you started.
First, and most importantly, use your own money. If you can’t come up with $50,000 to get rolling, you probably shouldn’t be buying a house just yet. The absolute minimum that you should consider investing with is $25,000. With that amount of money, you can buy a dirt-cheap, undesirable home in a bad neighborhood to cut your teeth on. Since you’re spending your own money, you want to be very careful not to get stuck with a house that is not legally habitable. Since you’re looking at the bottom of the barrel, the actual purchase price might be as low as $10,000 (or even lower). The rest of the money is what you need to have on hand to get through two closings, any minor (often times major) repairs, and unforeseen expenses.
Second, buy that first home with the idea that you just want to make a little something on the deal. More than anything, it’s a learning experience for you. Maybe you lay out $15,000 and you sell it to a local family as a rent-to-own that they will be able to pay off in two years. If they can afford $1,000 a month, you can turn about a $5,000 profit on your investment over a 2 year period. Not bad.
It doesn’t sound very glamorous, but they can’t all be Beverly Hills mansions. You need to make several of these types of small deals, slowly working your way up to bigger numbers, until you really have a handle on all of the little problems that can wind up costing you big dollars.
If you are looking for a massive collection of free checklists for buying, selling and renting plus a huge portfolio of free investor forms in both PDF and MS Word for you to use as is or edit for your own real estate investing business, then check out these free resources for Real Estate Investing exclusively for our Real Estate Investor Bronze Members.
Until my next post,
James
