Posted by Chris on February 09, 2000 at 11:06:18:
If your signs are being removed but you are not being fined and you can afford more signs try this. Friday evening put up the signs after the local government employees have gone home. Take them back down before they go back to work Monday morning. Unless these folks are REALLY into their government job they are not going to work on their days off.
This will provide some exposure for this method of advertising.
PLEASE HELP!!! How do you sell L/O’s - Posted by DJ
Posted by DJ on February 09, 2000 at 09:38:57:
I’ve been pretty sucessful at doing sandwich leasing for the past two years but now all of the sudden it has dried up on the sales side. I’ve perfected my technique for finding homes and can easily find 2-3 a week. In the past all I’ve done is put an ad in the newspaper and within a week or two everything sells now all for some strange reason I can’t seem to sell anything or to use the proper term I can’t lease option anything to a prospective tenant/ buyer as of late I’ve been running one ad in the for rent section due to the cost of advertising each individual home the ad reads:RENT TO OWN- $825-1200/mo. Several avail. all over XXXXX County. xxx-xxx-xxxx. I’ve tried posting signs but I have been told that they are not allowed within the city limits where I work. I am forced to believe this is true because once I put out over 50 signs and within four days all but four had been removed. Sorry to ramble on but can any one tell me a good way of finding perspective tenant/ buyers. I don’t think the problem is my price because I usually set my price based on a resonable todays market value plus 4.5% appreciation and most clients say they have no problem with that especially when they always have the option of extension after the first year with no additional appreciation added and I usually offer at least a third of the rent back in rent credit. Oh yeah and the last thing is I usually set the rent at FMV and the houses average from 3-7 yrs old in Mid to Upper middle class neighborhhods. If You read all this PLEASE HELP!!!
How to be a “Slime bag Mooch Killer” - Posted by Jim IL
Posted by Jim IL on February 09, 2000 at 16:10:06:
DJ,
Try putting your ad in both the “For Rent” and “For sale” sections.
Many people who want to own but think they cannot, look in the for sale section and browse.
Also, since you are offering a L/O, which is really a way to get the person financed in a sense, you can include some verbage in the ad about financing.
I have used, “No BANKS NEEDED, Move in as you buy” as a header in my ads.
The calls got to be overwhelming.
Most people want to own a home but do not know “How” to do so if there credit is slightly scarred.
Once they call, tell em what you have available and what it takes to get in the home.
The buyers I deal with really do not care about the price, they want to know, “How much upfront and how much monthly”.
They think “paycheck to paycheck” and whether or not that will get them into a home.
When I talk to buyers, I do not say, “lease option”, I either say, “Rent to own”, or "Lease Purchase Option.
The buyers pick up on the words “own” and “purchase” and feel more comfortable.
And, the suggestion about placing your signs up on weekends is a good one.
In my area, the signs are a problem also, UNLESS I am selling a home. (my signs are used to get sellers mostly).
So, talk to your city, ask them what the deal is?
You are essentially doing a FSBO and we see those signs all over town with out any problems from the city.
The ordinance exempts “For sale” signs, and that sounds like what you have.
Also, try to put flyers and cards up everywhere that a renter may lurk.
Laundry-mats, grocery stores, video stores, and apartment complexes.
And, of course, car flyers in parking lots of apt. complexes work well too. (although you may want to check with the city laws and managers as well here, they may object or have a “rule” against it.
And, if that still does not work, try to lower your terms a bit. This is the slow season for RE, at least here anyway, so we are forced to reduce our terms to get quick occupancy.
Hope that helped,
Jim IL
P.S. Just do not “prey” on motivated buyers and become a “Slime ball Mooch Killer”. Õ¿Õ (sorry Ed, could resist, just in case you read this)
Go where they are… - Posted by Carmen_FL
Posted by Carmen_FL on February 09, 2000 at 13:27:25:
I have tried this on a limited basis, and for sale not L/O - but why not go where the renters are? Make flyers/doorhangers and hang them or have a kid distribute them door-to-door in all the apartment complexes surrounding the houses you are trying to L/O. Make it specific to one house, or even list all the houses you have, with down payment requirement, monthly rent, etc. For simplicity’s sake, I usually wait until the property managers go home for the day - less explaining to do.
I’ve actually created post-it notes with my message, which I can walk around putting one every door - works OK, unless it’s windy, then they don’t stick too well. I’ve only done it once, as a test, in one apartment complex (I only hit the bottom floors). Don’t know how many people actually called, since my ad directs them to a voice mail, but out of 50 post-its, 2 left messages, so that’s not too bad. I bet if I were “selling” lease/options I would have gotten a better response. My ad is pretty generic - “we can get you into a home, ask us how” type of stuff.
You can also try your ad in the Sales section - more people who want to own need a L/O. An “owner financing” ad would also work - I ran one this weekend, and was surprised at the number of calls I got, and some of those people asked about L/O (which I can’t do on this house). When they call, explain that it’s an L/O, they can own in a year, etc. etc.
Re: PLEASE HELP!!! How do you sell L/O’s - Posted by Terry (IN)
Posted by Terry (IN) on February 09, 2000 at 11:18:34:
DJ,
You might try selling with owner financing. Don’t know if this will work any better in your area or not, but it’s worth a shot. Owner financing works real well here; I’ve never tried L/O’s. If you need assistance putting an owner finance together, let me know.