Important lesson for big-eyed newbies from one himself. - Posted by Jack Z.

Posted by Donielle Head on December 02, 1999 at 08:53:44:

So where do we get info on how to market? Any one know so that it can be learned by all and success can happen?

Important lesson for big-eyed newbies from one himself. - Posted by Jack Z.

Posted by Jack Z. on December 01, 1999 at 19:38:27:

Hi All,

I thought I’d offer some advice that every turbo-charged, “I’m gonna get rich off this stuff” newbie should really take to heart. I wish I’d tempered my initial excitement by realizing the importance of this from the start:

Marketing.

To be pithy, in this business, if you can’t market, you ain’t s#!^. If that phone’s not ringing all the time with motivated sellers, you’re not gonna get rich, now or anytime.

Now, this is not to rain on anybody’s parade. Creative real estate is not only real, it’s REALLY exciting. And you can get rich (from what I hear), and have a lot of fun while you’re at it. But there’s way more to it than getting excited because you understand how a pro’s deal worked for big profits. And there’s way more to it than just reading and understanding techniques from the plethora of articles and courses available here. It’s one thing to know what to do to solve a motivated seller’s problem; it’s wholly another to find him.

So for all the starry-eyed newbies (hey, I admit it, I’m one of you), just realize the importance of marketing. Yeah, study up so you at least thoroughly understand the basics of transaction engineering. But spend lots of time and effort learning how to make that phone ring and ring and ring. And then you’ll be more than halfway to your dreams.

Have at it!

Jack Z.

The Fool Theory - Posted by Tom Moses

Posted by Tom Moses on December 02, 1999 at 20:25:05:

Great post Jack…I have a theory that I live by every day and that is “a fool is someone who does the same thing over and over and expects to get a different result.” This goes for anything in our life, our job, our values, and yes even our real estate.
If what someone is doing is not working then they need to realize that and move on. There are so many ways to find motivated sellers and we just have to work a hard at that as any other career.

I am now up to 50 properties and enjoy every day of my life in real estate investing. If you ever want to get a hold of me you can at www.homebuyersadvice.com. Goodluck investing Jack.

Re: Important lesson for big-eyed newbies from one himself. - Posted by Ed Garcia

Posted by Ed Garcia on December 02, 1999 at 10:21:57:

I like your posting. Your points are well taken. Because of your posting I’m going
to give some tips on marketing and strategies.

Earlier this week I did a post ( NUBIE’S getting started) which is down below.
I think I will redo that post adding marketing to it for the newbie. You seem to
understand the fundamentals of the business and I think you will do well.

Ed Garcia

Marketing for Motivated Sellers - Posted by Suzanne

Posted by Suzanne on December 01, 1999 at 23:50:19:

This is the same frustration I’m experiencing.

Any marketing ideas or recommendations of books/tape programs from experienced investors would be welcomed.

Re: Important lesson for big-eyed newbies from one himself. - Posted by Mark-NC

Posted by Mark-NC on December 01, 1999 at 22:03:31:

Jack,
You are so right on the marketing. It’s funny I know people that can talk real estate circles around me as far as knowing how to do the deals. But if you ask them how many they have done they say " well I am working on some now or I just haven’t found the right deal yet". They haven’t figured out Its the MARKETING that makes the money. Your right if the phones not ringing your dead in the water and if your marketing and its still not ringing figure out why and make it ring. I am convinced not everyone can do this, Its just not in their cards so to speak.

Another thing people need to realize is this is a numbers game. You have to have a constant supply of deals to work on because many of them are going to fall apart. Thats the nature of this business. But when its all said and done, its great when a deal comes together and you walk away with a nice profit.

I have been doing this full time a little over 3 years now, it has been one of the most exciting and challanging endevors I have ever embarked on. My deals haven’t all been good ones and I have made some mistakes, but like the Nike commercial says “I just do it”. With the information available and help from the pros on this web site there is no reason not to succeed.

Jack with your attitude and realization of what needs to be done you will go far if you stick to it.

Mark

Re: Important lesson for big-eyed newbies from one himself. - Posted by mateo

Posted by mateo on December 01, 1999 at 20:47:29:

You hit the nail on the head kido. Keep your eye on the prize.

Guerrilla Marketing for Real Estate Entreprenuers - Posted by Jim Kennedy - Houston, TX

Posted by Jim Kennedy - Houston, TX on December 02, 1999 at 20:20:59:

Ron LeGrand sells a course called “Guerrilla Marketing for Real Estate Entreprenuers”. It includes a 275 page manual and 16 audio tapes. The course covers a wide variety of marketing topics including classified ads, flyers, telemarketing, direct mail, radio advertising, signs, seminars and more. The manual contains plenty of sample ads. I found the material to be very effective.

Best of Success!!

Jim Kennedy,
Houston, TX

Re: Marketing for Motivated Sellers - Posted by Mark-NC

Posted by Mark-NC on December 02, 1999 at 11:10:47:

Suzanne,
There are alot of different ways to market and each type of deal requires a different strategy. Some of it is not marketing at all it’s just good plain detective work. Also depending on where you live the real estate market may be stronger for one type of deal than another. Once you discover what that is then you can run with the marketing.

I market on both sides of the fence. I market for buyers and sellers. Fortunatley in my area I can put signs up. They get more response than any form of advertising I have ever done.I can figure about 10 calls a day mostly on the buyers side.I like to put them near busy intersections with red lights. You have a very captive audiance, they have to read it. As appossed to newspapers where alot of people don’t even pick up to read your ad.
As far as news paper advertising goes it can be very expensive. You will have to test the waters so to speak to see if you get any response. I have spent big money on the major metro papers and got very little to no response. But then again a smaller paper in a town close to a big city will pull a pretty good response.But thats not true in every city.

There is no magic formula, it takes persistance, you will need to figure out your market and like I said you are going to have to test your marketing and perfect it untill you get the desired results. Be creative and experiment, Check out some of the ideas in this web site and try one or modify them to fit your needs.

Good luck

Mark