Many people are overwhelmed when they see real estate as a possible source of income. Aside from the nervousness and hesitancy to constantly sign legal contracts, there is a roadblock before they can bid on a single property. That hurdle is in the quest to find motivated salespeople.
Leads are the bread and butter of any successful real estate wholesaler. Without clues, the aspiring investor will spin his wheels. You will find that cash buyers are fairly easy to find compared to getting motivated sellers to contact you.
Lead generation is your answer. During the next few minutes, you will discover some incredible ways to attract those motivated leads. You will uncover the trade secrets of a 20+ year internet marketing veteran who happens to be a real estate wholesaler. Let us begin!
Do you find sellers or do sellers find you?
There are many methods that wholesalers use to reach motivated sellers. Many of them require you to contact them. Others will allow them to communicate with you. I am a big fan of being contacted by the motivated seller. Why? Because if they are contacting me, then I know they are more likely to be motivated in the traditional sense. They will be much more open to a discount offer, or even creative financing terms, or subject 2 if there is little or no equity in the property.
While I prefer to be contacted by the seller, I am not one to close the door on a gift horse. Every lead is a good lead and a potential assignment fee. That is why I will recommend that you employ as many of these techniques as your time, budget, and determination will allow.
Before you start, you’ll want to follow a standard format for your ads. Here’s an example …
We buy houses
ANY area, ANY condition.
Zero closing costs, “AS IS”
Call now! (555) -555-5555
However, this will not necessarily be the case for postcards and letters. You can find that format by Googling “yellow letter”.
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Yellow letters and postcards.
The “yellow letter” or postcard are excellent sources of offers made. The problem is, mass mailing can be expensive, even at a single piece cost of $ .40 cents per postcard. You will need to submit between 1,000 and 2,000 to secure a couple of offers. Also, the best method is to send it 6 times to the same people before moving on to the next list. That’s around $ 400 to $ 800 for shipping time. 6. When you’re established in the wholesaling game, that cost is easy to absorb thanks to the many allocation fees you’ve charged. However, when you first start out, you may not be able to handle that.
The yellow letter is directed to a direct mailing list of homeowners with equity and other factors. ListSource is a popular provider of these types of lists. I’ve gotten “small lists” of about 180 addresses and names for about $ 50. You can import the list into a yellow letter or postcard delivery service like BigYellowLetter or any of the others.
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Main Websites
As someone who started in the business of website design and internet marketing as a teenager, I am always building websites whenever I feel like starting a business or collecting leads. One of the mainstays of my favorite website is WordPress due to its ease of use, its ability to be optimized for search engines, and the mere fact that I can create multiple variations of lead pages targeting different campaigns.
A wholesaler without a main website is not a wholesaler at all. Not everyone wants or has the option to call you. Simply providing a phone number in advertising materials is not enough. A URL should always be provided as an option, and the visitor should be able to reach you through an intricate contact form that collects information about the home you want to sell to you.
When creating your main site, be sure to ask all the appropriate questions so that you can discuss the deal before any discussion with the seller. I have an example below. I like to collect the address, contact information, type and ownership information, description of necessary repairs, etc. I even include an option for them to tell me if they would be willing to have a promissory note for all, or a part of their capital. This leaves the option of creative financing in the event that the property is not ideal for a cash offering (low or no equity).
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Social media
I spend hours every day on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media websites interacting with others, promoting, and just trying to drive traffic to my website and drive conversions.
However, be careful to provide the correct ratio of content to ads. Posting too much ads can be annoying for followers and friends. It would be a good idea to provide new articles, resources, ideas, quotes, and other benefits to keep a follower interested long enough to convert in the future.
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Newsletter
As an internet marketer, I know the value of creating a list. But who is going to want to just hand over their name and email address to a stranger? Someone who gets something for free, of course!
To create a newsletter, you must first offer something of value for free in exchange for your name and email address. This is usually an e-book or even something smaller, like a 10-page “report.” Your report would contain simple information that teaches them something they want to know. To access the report, they must first submit their name and email address. They can then download the report via a confirmation email that you automatically send them afterward. This is email list building 101. Follow this plan and you can have a massive list in 30 days or less.
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Blogging
Don’t just have one main site. Blog about it regularly. You can write articles in advance and schedule them to be published week after week. This way, they get new content on a regular basis.
In addition to the value to your readers, blogs are great for search engine traffic. Content is king. This means that every time you publish a new article, you risk showing up on the first page of Google or another search engine for your target search terms. This will attract motivated sellers to your main site (if you convert them) and can also attract cash buyers if you are also directing them.
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Forums
As before with social media, I must warn you not to spam the forums either. But forums can be great sources of leads if you’re smart about it and really contribute. Forums provide you with a place for you to add your URL and contact information in a signature. This signature will appear every time you post on the forum, and interested parties can follow you.
I like to join credit repair forums, bankruptcy and back tax forums, and give advice. In this way, you can get motivated sellers who are in the pre-foreclosure phase. Just avoid posting URLs while giving your advice as that is considered spam. Trust the firm completely, you will be its goose that lays the golden eggs, and you cannot fail!
You can also join real estate investment forums like BiggerPockets and interact with other investors. This can be an opportunity to co-wholesale with other wholesalers who may not have a cash buyer for a certain property. You may be able to help them out and share the assignment fee.
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Newspapers
I’m sure you’ve seen a newspaper before. They still exist and many people read them. In the classifieds section, you will see other ads like the one I mentioned above. Give it a try and see how quickly you get calls or leads through your website.
Newspapers can be expensive, but there are some smaller ones with more manageable fees.
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Podcasts
I’ve done quite a few commercials and have played them on live and recorded podcasts. They were bought and paid for through Fiverr, and certainly affordable. You can play an ad for $ 5 or a little more for larger podcasts. You can get gig extras that also have your ad mentioned on the podcast’s social media accounts, permalinks on your podcast website, and other benefits.
You can also create your own real estate podcast and get a ton of new listeners to promote here and there.
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Youtube
YouTube channels have to be one of the best methods to generate followers and become leads. You can make a simple 15 minute video every week and post it, right?
It may take some time to get followers, but soon you will see thousands of new followers ready to absorb what you are posting. They will share your content and spread the word. Don’t fall asleep with YouTube marketing. He really is a great hitter.
Put your creative juices to work and come up with some great ideas for generating leads. You may be surprised what came up!
