I couldn’t have said it better. Waiting for people to call you is like watching paint dry! You gotta get out there and look at houses and talk with sellers. Granted it’s ok to send those letters and hope they call you. I have a cell phone, so they can call me while I’m out looking. Those techniques might work in dead areas with nothing but junkers but in my area where there is a hot marketplace you gotta get out there or someone else gets the deal!
Any Advice for a Guy in a Slump? - Posted by Stacy (AZ)
Posted by Stacy (AZ) on March 12, 2000 at 12:44:00:
Is it the time of year? I haven’t had a good lead in weeks. This is getting worrysome. A fellow investor passed on some advice he attributes to Joe Kaiser, “If your phone isn’t ringing at least seven times a day with sellers, you’re not maintaining your buying machine.” My phone is pretty silent these days.
I’m focussing on Postcards to out of state owners and newspaper line ads, and I’m getting ZIP. Do you full timers have any words of wisdom?
Now if that doesn’t “pick you up” I don’t know what will!
Dude - I certainly don’t have all the answers because if I did I would fix myself first. All I can offer in addition to the below is you KNOW you can do it because you’ve done it before. Think about what you might have done differently when it worked, and what you might be missing now. It could be all between the ears (I’m guessing it is).
Stacy,
What’s this? Looking for a little pick-me-up? I know you know what you need to do to get the phone ringing. I also know from personal experience that balancing the JOB, the family with little ones, and the REI biz is not easy. My newspaper ad does not seem to drop off after a while, but it does come in waves. I also was in a drought until recently (since September), but that was due to getting pickier with my deals (larger margin and less risk) and the desire to spend a decent amount of time with my wife and kids.
It also depends on your approach. Previously, I was doing a serious prescreeening over the phone (either me or answering service initially). If you do this, you will need many more leads. What I’ve found is true to Kaiser’s mantra: “Do the deal at the kitchen table!”. I’ve lost several deals because I didn’t get the paperwork signed at time of agreement, but it’s much easier to get a deal after a face-to-face. Therefore, due to my limited time, I can’t follow up on as many possibles as I could otherwise.
I agree with Hal that active pursuit of leads and realtor networking is a good idea, but I get plenty of leads right now with my passive advertising. To me, one method is not necessarily better than another - it’s a matter of having ENOUGH out there. I got our first couple of deals by calling ads in the paper, another one came from someone looking at the first SFH, another from a realtor, a couple from our paper ad, a couple from our bandit signs, etc.
It depends on what you want to do and your goals. If you have a short-term goal of being full-time, I don’t see how you can generate enough leads without doing as Hal suggests. I know of others in my town who do almost no advertising because of the network they’ve created. An important lesson that Steve Cook reminded me of in Atlanta was to work backwards. In other words, once you’re clear on the goal, you can work backwards (all the way to the number of leads you need and how to get them) to determine the action steps necessary to achieve that goal. Hope that helps?.
Re: Any Advice for a Guy in a Slump? - Posted by d.henderson
Posted by d.henderson on March 12, 2000 at 14:20:13:
Get OUT THERE AND ATTACK!!! smile You have to do a little of it all. I drive or farm my area that I like best. I talk to realtors, postman, policeman(I have two nephews and a son on the force so I have them looking as they patrol all day). I change my ads everytime I feel like I’m not getting enough phone calls. Do something – anything – but don’t give up.
I tried something new the other day. I haven’t had time to see if it works or not, but this is what I did. There’s a small town about 12miles from my area that I want to buy in. They get my paper but I’m not getting calls. The realtors are listing everything so…I went to the friendly convenience store that most everyone frequents and started talking to the nice lady that ran it I ask her if I could put cards in the grocery sacks…I assured her that she wouldn’t have to do it I would. I sat down at one of the tables (they sell sandwiches there also) and while I stuffed paper sacks with my cards I talked with everyone that was curious to what I was doing. Took about 2 hrs of my time. I think that it will generate a lot of leads, if nothing else everyone will know my name when they need to sell or buy.
OK lets hear some positive posts in a little while. I’ll be watching.
Good Luck,
Dee-Texas
All the acquisition techniques you describe are passive: they necessitate someone calling you before you can act. No calls, no action. Big mistake. While passive marketing is important, you must get out there and look at property on a continual basis and make offers. This is active. Active and passive = success.
I must admit to you, though, that I do NO passive advertising, and I have plenty of deals. More than I can handle, in fact (I’ve begun to flip them to others). How? I talk to a lot of realtors and let them know what I want. I look at a lot of property; in fact, I just spent 2 hours and looked at about 16 houses, and maybe 5 I will make offers on. I also found some good vacant stuff that I will begin to track down. I am positive I will get at least one deal from this batch.
Imho, it is a MAJOR mistake not to work with realtors. Realtors control 90% of the re market; they often refer the best deals to folks they know can take them down (and thus give them a 6% buyer and seller commission). To have this “all realtors are dumb, inefficient, incompetent, etc” attitude is nuts, to my mind. Not that you have this attitude (I don’t know), but many do, and, imho, it is a MAJOR mistake. You’re cutting off your top torso to spite your face.
Get out there and look for deals. Get active. Make offers. Don’t wait for your phone. You may be waiting a long time.
Stacy,
As far as news paper ads go I have had the same problem. To me it seems like they run there course or quit drawing response after a while. What I may do is change the focus or the wording to try and pull some new calls. Or I may stop the ad for a couple weeks and start with a new one.
I ran across an intereting ad today that another investor is doing. I thought this might draw the lease option or subject to deals. I don’t know how it will work but I may try it myself.
It read;
Have to move? Can’t wait? I pay your payment untill I sell your house. You keep your equity. 555-5555
