Posted by Joe Kaiser on March 22, 2006 at 05:20:12:
You have to think differently, Tom.
If every other investor in town is doing the marketing thing, you’ll
never get seen and you’ll waste whatever money you spend. I stopped
marketing years ago and now do more deals than ever.
Frankly, if my phone’s ringing, I’ve screwed up. Believe me, the last
thing you need is 50 phone calls a day from people who you’d never
buy from anyway.
I’m selective. i target the people i know who have big problems and big
equities and I hunt them down. I can’t afford to hope they see my sign
or billboard or classified ad . . . I just don’t trust them that much.
I’d much rather just swoop into their lives and see what’s what.
Any system that depends on them finding you is not one I’m interested
in using. Again, I just don’t want to hope they notice me when I can
pick up the phone and instantly get noticed.
That whole thing about them calling you being better? Ugh, no, it ain’t.
And doing it this way puts you in an entirely different arena than every
other investor in town who’s running ads or sending letters or hanging
signs after dark.
And it’s not about looking at foreclosures listed in the paper either.
YOU HAVE TO THINK. Thinking matters.
For instance . . .
I hear people ask all the time about where to find buyers to flip to. It’s
not something difficult to do. You just have to engage your brain and it
becomes obvious.
Here’s an idea - why not look at the fixer houses that were listed in the
MLS for the last six months and see who bought them? Sure, it takes a
little work, but not much, and a friendly agent can easily get you that
info in an afternoon.
What do you have?
A list of real buyers who made offers and paid cash and closed as
promised and are likely now selling those very properties all fixed up.
And now, you’ve got a list.
How do you find sellers?
It’s the same sort of process. First, engage your brain. Figure out who
they are, where they’re likely to be, and get in their way.
How?
You have to think about it . . .
Joe