Author Archive
Three Good Ways To Find Pretty House Deals, Part 3 of 3
Posted on May 6, 2013 byMethod Number Three: Call Ads
I know this doesn’t sound appealing but if you’ll do it my way, you’ll probably grow to love it. You see, I don’t want you to call ads, I want you to get someone else to do it for you. Someone who will do it every night because it’s their job and you’re paying them. Here’s how it works. It’s so simple.
Get the Property Information Sheet out of my course or one of my Boot Camp manuals and have someone call all of the Sunday FSBO ads every Monday night between 6-9 p.m. Have them fill out the basic information you need to determine if you want to call the seller back.
Frankly all I need is the asking price, the estimated value, and the loan balance, condition of the property, name, and phone number, address and whether or not it’s listed with a Realtor. With this information, I can prescreen the prospect sheet in 5 seconds and make my decision to follow up or not. I can’t get into prescreening here so if you don’t know how to do this, I’d suggest you fix that before getting real serious about generating leads on houses when you can’t spot a deal when it appears. Read More→
Three Good Ways To Find Pretty House Deals, Part 2 of 3
Posted on April 5, 2013 byMethod Number Two: Direct Mail Campaigns
This can be a full marketing machine all in one if you do nothing else. Not only does it work well for many people, but also the list of targets is so big you can target your chosen prospects and never run out of mailing campaigns. Even though signs work well, the best target you can hope for is an area you like. With direct mail, you can use a rifle approach.
- Pre-Foreclosures are a goldmine if worked correctly. This is a whole business within the business that’s worth the time and expense to learn.
- Out-of-town owners almost always work. The list is easy to get from a Realtor or your local record office. This is one Kathy specializes in (with a 12% response rate if I remember correctly). Be sure to mention the property address in the letter and include a response card to make it easy for them to reach you without calling. Some people simply WON’T call. You must call them!
- New Homeowners who’ve been in the house less than two years. I’ve heard over 70% of the foreclosures occurs within the first two years of ownership and a large percentage of those occur in the first year. Any broker can get you the list. You’re looking for pretty houses so you can get the deed!
- Vacant Ugly Houses.
- Target Zip codes you want to buy in. Just pick an area, rent the list of homeowners from a list broker and mail a postcard. Read More→
Three Good Ways To Find Pretty House Deals, Part 1 of 3
Posted on March 11, 2013 byWe should start with defining what a pretty house really is. It’s not the price that makes the definition. The house could be high-priced, but most people in the pretty house business work in a range from $70-$200,000. If you’re in a high-priced market such as San Francisco where a $200,000 house is rare, your range will be higher.
The point is, pretty houses start at the bottom end and go up. It’s not just expensive houses. My definition of a pretty house is any house requiring less than $5,000 in work to get it in a good, saleable condition. An ugly house is one that needs a rehab or a lot of repairs.
I’d want you to work both sides of the business and become a transaction engineer who can recognize a deal when you see it, whether it’s pretty or ugly. Don’t fall into the trap of trying to get so specialized that you turn your back on lots of other profits. There’s gold in both the ugly and the pretty house business. Besides… Read More→
The Five Critical Steps to Success
Posted on January 6, 2013 byThere’s a lot of ways to make a million bucks, but most involve some kind of business, and that business must have the potential to achieve a high income, or all one has is a low paying job he/she happens to own. We all have a choice. So, why not choose a business that can make you rich?
I know a dentist who spent $400,000 on two sandwich shops which his family runs and can barely break even. There’s no way to sell because there are hundreds on the market and a business making no money isn’t worth much, especially when it has no upside potential. He’s headed for a $400,000 seminar, but hey, we all take them and look how much smarter he’ll be the next time.
In 1982, I was bankrupt broke, working as a mechanic, 35 years old and clueless. I got into a heated argument with my wife over a washing machine. She wanted a new one and I wanted to fix the old one because I didn’t have the $150 to spend.
That night, there was no sleep. All I could think about was how big of an “a—hole” I was for arguing with a mother of four whom I’d already been married to for 17 years because she wanted to wash clothes for her family. The next day, I started looking for a way out. I didn’t want to live like this for the rest of my life. There had to be something I could do to make a better living.
My way out was real estate. I started reading books and attended a seminar to get me started. Greed and hunger took over from there. Before I knew it I’d bought and sold several hundred houses without using my money or credit, and still do it today, over 2,000 now.
I tripled my income easily the first year, and it continued to climb for years thereafter until I started creating courses on what I know, and selling them in 1987. Then my income tripled again.
Today, my company continues to market information products to real estate investors and those who want to triple their income on the internet or learn how to start and grow any business. Since that has become my chosen field and hundreds of thousands have gone through our training, it puts me in a good position to see what people do right and what they do wrong.
One lesson I learned the hard way has become my credo: Read More→
