Posted by Merle E Woolley on February 12, 2001 at 21:45:33:
Well, it has been said that we live in an area where people are different. They pay us better, cause no problems. We don’t even have to check the credit of our buyers.
People here are definitely different.
Where is this unusual place? About 220 miles from you … in Springfield, MO.
I had to dig today’s paper out of the trash to look at the ads. Yes, there are some in there. Had never (honestly) looked at that section of the ads before. We have never ran an ad in the House Wanted or Real estate Wanted section of the newspaper.
Quite frankly, I doubt if many individual sellers ever read those ads either. After all, who ever heard of someone who wanted a house running an ad to find one? Do you really think the average person trying to sell their home would think to look for this section in the paper?
No, people are no different here than anywhere else. Most of the difference we experience comes from doing business differently. I feel sure that those running the “house wanted” in our newspaper might post the same questions you ask.
When I occasionally meet another investor in this area, they almost ask similar question, “How do you do the volume of business you do?”
It’s really very simple. We didn’t have any help in the beginning. And, we knew nothing at all about buying and selling real estate. That ignorance was our greatest blessing.
In our area, you find a weekly “shopper” newspaper called Pennypower. EVERYONE reads the Pennypower. Garage sales … personal ads … almost anything you can imagine. Seemed to us that even people who wanted to sell their home would be reading this … not necessarily to sell their home, but because everyone reads Pennypower.
We ran our ads there. In fact, we’ve not only bought houses by PP ads, we’ve bought many other items … latest was a brand new, still-in-the-box digital camera for half price.
Our buyers are people who don’t think they can buy a house … bad credit, no down payment, etc. BUT, THEY READ PENNYPOWER!!
It has been said that to be successful, you must learn to think outside the box. Be creative.
Just came from an Advisory Board meeting at our local golf club. The question asked tonight, “How can we get a surge of new members without spending a fortune in advertising?” I suggested a once-a-month guest day. Every member can invite one guest that day for a free round of golf. Guest can play free only one time per year. How many of the members do you think will be talking to their friends every month about the club? Can you think of a better way to promote the club than to have the members talking about it? No other club is offering free golf … no strings attached.
That’s just the drift of the idea … but, learn to think of something no one else is doing. Dare to be different.
Forget the competition. Do the job right and you have no competition.
Too easy to get carried away … gotta go. Hope this helps.
Merle