Too Quiet & Discouraging - Posted by Shelva

Real Estate Investing Real Estate Gurus
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Posted by Ben Innes-Ker on December 17, 1999 at 23:10:31:

Jay Bee,

If you have a r/e license you can get expired listings and comps from the MLS. Print out the expired listings each month and mail to them.

If you mean regarding working as a realtor, I have no idea.

Ben

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Too Quiet & Discouraging - Posted by Shelva

Posted by Shelva on December 10, 1999 at 22:51:27:

Hello all CRE Pros…

Maybe its just me…but have any one you pros been where I am ??

Brief: Bought Ron’s Fast Cash course…Really motivated and went thru the material and did the steps…put the ad etc…NO LEADs or nothing is happening…maybe it is the holiday season where it is a buyers market and less transations happening…

Got one call after an ad in about 750,000 total circulation publications for a week…the owner was rude and put me off completely…he wanted me to name the price of a property and refused to tell me what he wanted for it…! He said I name the price and he will then accept or not. For that he wanted me to come over and have a look at the house. Ofcourse this is not what Ron teaches…

Okay Fellow Mentors…I need help. I am so disspointed that there are no leads and I cannot seem to look beyond this ‘Cloud of Dissappointing Results’. Anyone been here? Any ideas to get over it and get up and go?

I was even eager to go to his January boot camp and was fully motivated to come to the February convention. Now I am beginning to get doubt lining on my Silver clouds…Help!

Shelva In Canada

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Hmmmm… yeah… - Posted by Mark (SDCA)

Posted by Mark (SDCA) on December 14, 1999 at 16:39:35:

Yeah… I am there right now. I have not been turning up any deals. And I came to realize that relying on classifieds and realtors alone isn’t getting it done for me. So I need to beat the bushes more.
I placed an “I buy houses” ad in a small paper for 30 days. Zero calls in 2 weeks. Today I got a call. From a guy looking to buy flips. Not what I wanted but it’s a contact. Also, he does handyman work. I can always use one of those. So the network has started.
Am I disappointed that I got zero leads on houses to buy?? Sure. I thought about pulling the ad after 30 days. But here is the thing… I never know when someone is going to NEED to sell their house. It is on their timetable, not mine. And my ad will be there when they do.

Mark

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I’ve been there, but get over it! Here’s what to do… - Posted by Ben Innes-Ker

Posted by Ben Innes-Ker on December 12, 1999 at 11:36:53:

Shelva,

Once you learn the techniques of buying houses with creative financing, the next thing for you to do is get lots and lots and lots of people “calling you”. Try not to chase, the instinct of the seller is to run away when you do that.
You see, ultimately its a numbers game, not every person who calls you is going to be motivated enough for you to buy the house they way you need to, but in there amongst all the people calling you is going to be one, or two, or three sellers who are ready to go, they are motivated, don’t want the house anymore, they are ready to sell.
So the first thing to get a handle on is generating lots of “calls coming in to you”. How?

  • mail “to” FSBOs in your local and major papers, and in the FSBO magazines.
  • mail to expired listings. These are great leads. People who want to sell, have tried, and failed, maybe one or more times. There is lots of motivation in the expired listings every month.
  • mail to out of town homeowners. I don’t know what the score is in Canada re obtaining this info. In the US, in most states, you can get this info from information services like Dataquick, Experian, etc., or from title companies. Bit if you get this list and mail a postcard to them, you “will” get motivated sellers calling you. You know, a guy in Nova Scotia, owns a house in Vancouver, has evicted a tenant long distance for the third time and is paying thorugh the nose for repairs, attorney fees, etc, not to mention the lost rent. He values his credit and wants to stop the hemorrhaging out of his checking account. You get the picture. Its very easy to put together deals with these types of sellers. No “you name the price first and I’ll see if I like it” here.
  • put signs up all over neighborhoods you want to target. Signs are really underrated as a way to generate leads. You can get them made for about $2 a pop, plastic last forever type things. Get 2-300 made up and blanket the parts of town you want to work in with them. You want to know how to generate a couple hundred calls coming in to you in the space of a week or two? Spend a day or two putting 300 golden signs up that say We Buy Houses CASH! 111-2233. You’ll get the calls. AND, you will buy houses from motivated sellers.
  • mail to tired landlords via eviction notices.
  • mail to foreclosure default listings. If you’re in a bigger area you need to do some screening to make it more practical an exercise. But people who are about to lose their house are about as motivated as they get.
  • ads in the paper. The major papers are not always the best place to advertise; they are expensive and you get a lot of waste going on there. Try the local weekly papers. These are firstly cheaper, and secondly, targeted to a specific area. Also it’s likely you’ll be the only one in there with an ad saying you buy houses. Try the local papers. I think you will be surprised.
  • bulletin board tearoffs. create and I buy Houses CASH flyer with little tearoff tabs on the bottom with your phone (voice mail) number on them and go put these up on bulletin boards in supermarkets, big discount stores, and anywhere there is a lot of walkby traffic. This costs about 1/5 of a cent to do and it results in motivated sellers calling where you make thousands from flipping their house. You have ask yourself, why are you NOT doing this all over town?

Get the picture Shelva? I could go on with more things to get people to call but this stuff alone, if you do it, will overwhelm you with sellers “calling you” wanting to sell their houses to you.

The other thing to take note of is, following up with the sellers who called you, who have houses you are interested in buying, who are interested, but not yet ready to sell the way you want to buy. THese are basically warm leads that are a degree or two away from becoming hot leads. All you have to do is send a postcard or a follow-up telephone call to them each month to stay in touch and be there for them when their circunstances change. You just can’t know what will happen to people in the future that will change the way they look at their house, and then, your offer. But if you stay in touch with them, and build a relationship with them, when trouble or circumstances do strike, who do you think will get the call. Right. You! If you want to know where all the money is, and where all the deals are Shelva, you’re looking at it. It’s in the follow-up. But no-one does it because it’s such a hassle.
So anyway Shelva, I think you get the picture. You can’t just run one ad, and claim you are suffering under a “cloud of disappointing results”. You’ve got to make a bigger effort than that to really seriously be in the game of real estate. No one is just going to “hand” you a deal where there are tens of thousands in profits coming to you. You’ve got to do stuff to make it happen. Its really a cause/effect scenario Shelva, and ultimately it comes down to that.
So try and get your emotions out of the way so that you are spared “disappointment” and “clouds”, and any other kind of romantic affliction, and start doing things, Shelva, doing things, many things, that get sellers “calling you” in great numbers. Because when you have people calling you in great numbers, you are in control. You can cherry pick for deals to do “now”, screen out and delete the deals you want nothing to do with, and the carefully select the deals that go into your database for follow-up and buying later. OK? So get the marketing machine going Shelva. Set 5 or 6 lead generating systems going and get the flow of sellers calling you happening.

If you do that, and take that approach, you will get deals. I hope this has helped you. I wish you the best.

Ben Innes-Ker

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Re: Too Quiet & Discouraging - Posted by AL

Posted by AL on December 12, 1999 at 11:18:35:

remember,not everyone knows to look in the paper to sell their place,you should also be searching different newspapers in your area for deals as well.When I first started out my ads also werent responded to,so I made looking in different newspapers a daily task.Not only will you find your deal your looking for,but you will also meet other investors and burnt out landlords thu the paper.If you havent joined you local real estate investment group do it now!Trust me,you do not want to give up this is just one small obstacle in your road to investing!

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Re: Too Quiet & Discouraging - Posted by Steve Simpson

Posted by Steve Simpson on December 10, 1999 at 23:48:08:

Im in the Tampa Fla area, and every day in the paper is ad after ad “owner finance” “no money down” “lease option”. Im sorry you have a shortage. I just closed today on a property (got the course 1 month ago) a duplex on the beach, 1 week old appraisal for 210,000. Bought it for 162,000. No money down. Got back 2400.00 at closing. Bank financed 130,000, owner holding second to cover remainder and closing costs. (I offered to pay his and he liked that)so he financed it.
Bottom line: got a fully rented duplex 1900.00 income , just short of covering all the costs, and made 47,000 in equity. I have contacted several property management companys and both say I can rent the units for 1500.00 each a week to the friendly tourists. (on the beach, gulf view, intracoastal view tiki bar and restur. across the street, and disney is 60 miles east). Write to the St. Pete Times here and get a Sunday paper, you will be in bussiness. Great deals my friend

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Excellent advise - Posted by CJ

Posted by CJ on December 17, 1999 at 15:26:51:

Ben, I’m printing your response to Shelva and posting it on my wall—and whenever I feel discouraged–ah, there’s my inspiration. Thanks, CJ

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Good Post! - Posted by David P. Butler America’s Note Network

Posted by David P. Butler America’s Note Network on December 14, 1999 at 23:35:19:

Very well put, Ben. Good Post.

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Re: I’ve been there, but get over it! Here’s what to do… - Posted by Jay Bee

Posted by Jay Bee on December 14, 1999 at 03:20:32:

Hey Ben:

I read your suggestions to Shelva. You make the art of real estate investing sound very easy. Actually, you are right, I think it is that easy! You must never give up. You have to wheel and deal. I say this though I am not even in the game yet. I have a question. I am studying for the California real estate brokers license. Can you please offer advice as to what options I will have with a brokers license in terms of making money. Thanks

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Re: Too Quiet & Discouraging - Posted by Bob Taylor

Posted by Bob Taylor on December 11, 1999 at 20:02:02:

You don’t say how long you ran your ad. Ron teaches to run the ad daily on a monthly basis. I have his three cash flow courses. I run my ad daily on a monthly basis. I get more leads than I can possibly handle. I still have, for a few more days, a daytime job. So, my time is strictly a part time endeavor at this point.

However, by doing what I am doing, I can be very selective about who I go see. You can qualify them on the telephone. What are you asking for your house?$100,000.00. What will it appraise for?$100,000.00. Sir, M’am, I do not want to live in your house, I buy and sell houses to make money which means I have to buy for less than I sell for. So now, you help me, how can I pay you $100,000.00 for your house and sell it for $100,000.00 and make any money.

Some people will come off that price and some won’t. If they don’t, Good bye. If you advertise enough, you will get the leads you need.

I advertise in Birmingham, Al. Population of 500,000 to 750,000, depending on who talk to. My ad is one of about 6 or 8 on a daily basis, and, one of about 15 to 20 on Sunday. Keep trying if you really want to do this business and make some good money.

I am scheduled to close on one Friday. Paid $100.00 to get the lady out of the house, spent about $6000.00 on paint, carpet, and doors, paid 3 months payments(about $3,000.00) will sell for appraised orice, $110,000.00. I am to pay her, at simultaneous closing, $90,300.00. My net will be about $10,000.00. $100.00 initial investment.

Good luck.
Bob Taylor

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Re: Excellent advise - Posted by Ben Innes-Ker

Posted by Ben Innes-Ker on December 17, 1999 at 23:13:03:

CJ,

Glad I could help.

Ben