Jan
24
The Secret $97,000 Bandit Sign
Filed Under Investing | Leave a Comment
Sean Flanagan asked:
Do you get fancy when marketing properties for sale or do you stick to tried-and-true real estate investing fundamentals? The reason I ask is because I sometimes speak with new investors who – in their mad rush to prove their investing savvy – overlook simple, yet effective, strategies for success.
Bandit signs, as simple as they are, are still a highly effective way to market you real estate business especially in the early stages of your career. And, by the way, this holds true for both marketing for motivated sellers and motivated buyers.
So, before you knock them as outdated throwbacks to another era, let me share a little story.
Sometimes I’ll have a property for sale that I’m willing to hold financing on. Instead of my usual high-tech TV advertising campaign, I’ll let the simple, yet powerful message of my bandit sign get my phone ringing.
The message doesn’t need to be complicated or even specific to a particular property. A general message like this works very well:
Beautiful 3BR/2BA home
NO BANK QUALIFYING!
1-800-555-1212
This particular sign has been blazingly successful for me. Whether I have one house for sale – or a hundred – the result is the same: My voicemail box fills with messages from motivated buyers waving cash down payments. Many callers have down payments ranging from $3,000-$10,000, but on one glorious occasion the caller stated that he had $97,000.
You read that correctly.
$97,000!
He had lived in the same property for 30 years and for one reason or another he decided to sell. He walked away from the closing table with a fair sized check and immediately gave it to me as a down payment on a property I had available.
Because I was willing to carry financing I had a lot of applicants from which to choose. This gave me the luxury of weeding through all of the other applicants and selecting the very best ones for properties I had available. The $97,000 applicant was the best.
When he and his family had seen the property, they fell in love with it and decided they had to have it. I did my due diligence, signed some paperwork, and they moved in.
You may wonder why they would want to make such a large down payment. They fell in love with the house. They committed to purchasing the property and they felt that a larger down payment demonstrated their seriousness – and they didn’t want to have a big underlying mortgage payment.
This family saw another benefit in purchasing the property this way: They didn’t have to go through the hassles of bank qualification at a time when they really needed to be able to move in quickly.
Bandit signs are a simple marketing strategy you can use to move houses in almost any way you see fit. Whether you’re buying or selling you can put these mini-billboards to work for you almost anywhere you live. Be careful, though. They’re illegal in some areas and if you put them on telephone poles or street signs you could get fined.
Look into your local regulations and if you get a green light, set some signs out and see how quickly they can generate real estate cash and quick profits for you.
Outdated? Maybe.
If they work… well, why fight it?
SHANE
Do you get fancy when marketing properties for sale or do you stick to tried-and-true real estate investing fundamentals? The reason I ask is because I sometimes speak with new investors who – in their mad rush to prove their investing savvy – overlook simple, yet effective, strategies for success.
Bandit signs, as simple as they are, are still a highly effective way to market you real estate business especially in the early stages of your career. And, by the way, this holds true for both marketing for motivated sellers and motivated buyers.
So, before you knock them as outdated throwbacks to another era, let me share a little story.
Sometimes I’ll have a property for sale that I’m willing to hold financing on. Instead of my usual high-tech TV advertising campaign, I’ll let the simple, yet powerful message of my bandit sign get my phone ringing.
The message doesn’t need to be complicated or even specific to a particular property. A general message like this works very well:
Beautiful 3BR/2BA home
NO BANK QUALIFYING!
1-800-555-1212
This particular sign has been blazingly successful for me. Whether I have one house for sale – or a hundred – the result is the same: My voicemail box fills with messages from motivated buyers waving cash down payments. Many callers have down payments ranging from $3,000-$10,000, but on one glorious occasion the caller stated that he had $97,000.
You read that correctly.
$97,000!
He had lived in the same property for 30 years and for one reason or another he decided to sell. He walked away from the closing table with a fair sized check and immediately gave it to me as a down payment on a property I had available.
Because I was willing to carry financing I had a lot of applicants from which to choose. This gave me the luxury of weeding through all of the other applicants and selecting the very best ones for properties I had available. The $97,000 applicant was the best.
When he and his family had seen the property, they fell in love with it and decided they had to have it. I did my due diligence, signed some paperwork, and they moved in.
You may wonder why they would want to make such a large down payment. They fell in love with the house. They committed to purchasing the property and they felt that a larger down payment demonstrated their seriousness – and they didn’t want to have a big underlying mortgage payment.
This family saw another benefit in purchasing the property this way: They didn’t have to go through the hassles of bank qualification at a time when they really needed to be able to move in quickly.
Bandit signs are a simple marketing strategy you can use to move houses in almost any way you see fit. Whether you’re buying or selling you can put these mini-billboards to work for you almost anywhere you live. Be careful, though. They’re illegal in some areas and if you put them on telephone poles or street signs you could get fined.
Look into your local regulations and if you get a green light, set some signs out and see how quickly they can generate real estate cash and quick profits for you.
Outdated? Maybe.
If they work… well, why fight it?
SHANE
Nov
13
7 Simple and Easy Steps to Big Time Real Estate Investing Success
Filed Under Investing | Leave a Comment
Sean Flanagan asked:
Too many real estate investors fail to achieve their dreams because they fail to properly launch their investing careers or because they reach a crossroads and don’t know which way to turn. Confused about the next step to take, they spin their wheels, do nothing, and eventually opt to walk away from real estate completely and go back to a life of mediocrity. To prevent this from happening to you, follow this simple seven step roadmap to success.
Step One: Education – The right education is critical to your success. Before getting started you should begin learning about a variety of creative techniques. You don’t want to spend so much time preparing to invest that you never launch your investing career, but you don’t want to go off half-cocked and fire at everything that moves either. Learn enough to be able to write an intelligent offer and then make it happen. As your career advances, continue learning as you go along. There’s a ton of accumulated investing knowledge available, so take advantage of it. Keep in mind, too, that education doesn’t have to be a $2,000-$3,000 guru-sponsored super course. You can sometimes learn more from a $20 book, but never quit learning or you will quit growing.
Step Two: Planning – What steps are you taking to reach your goals? Are you sitting around with a pad of paper and a pen planning how you’ll spend your real estate profits or are you taking a series of deliberate steps to all but guarantee your success? How many calls are you going to make today, this week, or this month? How many properties will you look at? How many offers will you write? Real estate is a numbers game, so you need to plan your numbers and then you need to follow up by analyzing your activity. If you don’t keep score you won’t know if you’re winning or losing. It all starts with a plan and ends in the winner’s circle or the employment office. Planning – or failing to plan – will determine where you’ll be in a year and how much money you’ll have.
Step Three: Team Building – Major league ball teams don’t wait until the season starts to begin looking for members of their team. Their team-building effort starts months ahead of opening day. As a real estate investor you need a team of professionals in your corner. Start today with a small title or escrow company and a mortgage company. Make sure they understand creative real estate and have experience. If you’re not working with a mentor familiar with creative investing, you need to find one. He or she can shave years off your learning curve by helping you to avoid some of the stupid and costly mistakes they made.
Step Four: Circle of Influence – Who are you listening to? Your brother whose idea of creative real estate investing is buying a time share in Arkansas? If your circle of influence – people who give you advice – don’t know and understand real estate investing, they’ll constantly be taking aim on your hopes and dreams because they don’t understand the concept or because they don’t want your success to shine a spotlight on their mediocrity. Tap into as many creative – and successful – real estate investors as you can at your local REIA meetings.
Step Five: The Right Sellers – Wasting time trying to browbeat somebody into accepting your creative offer is unproductive and demoralizing. Make sure that the sellers you’re dealing with are highly motivated to sell and good things will happen. Don’t be afraid to walk away from the wrong deal even if the price is right. Know your ideal situation and then capitalize on it when the opportunity presents itself.
Step Six: Hobby/Business? – Is real estate investing going to be your pathway to prosperity? While there are plenty of opportunities for you to have fun, never lose sight of the fact that you’re playing in a very competitive sandbox. You have something going for you, though. A lot of investors lack the education, training, and mindset to prosper. If you’re one of them, you should save your money and take up stamp collecting or join the rock club. If, however, you’re serious about success and give this business the effort it deserves, your future is a blank check – and you’re holding the pen.
Step Seven: Stick with It – Real estate investing success won’t necessarily come overnight. That’s not to say that you won’t become an overnight sensation, but be prepared for the possibility that it might take 3-5 years to achieve a level of success that inspires you to throw all of your time and energy into enriching yourself. Real estate investing is easy, but it’s not simple. It takes work, effort, and a willingness to keep plodding ahead even when your big payday is years away – instead of mere days.
By following this seven step action plan you can set your sights on reaching all of your personal and financial dreams. Real estate investing is one of the most lucrative careers in the world, but you’ll have to dedicate yourself to your success. How bad do you want it?
Now go get it!
BYRON
Too many real estate investors fail to achieve their dreams because they fail to properly launch their investing careers or because they reach a crossroads and don’t know which way to turn. Confused about the next step to take, they spin their wheels, do nothing, and eventually opt to walk away from real estate completely and go back to a life of mediocrity. To prevent this from happening to you, follow this simple seven step roadmap to success.
Step One: Education – The right education is critical to your success. Before getting started you should begin learning about a variety of creative techniques. You don’t want to spend so much time preparing to invest that you never launch your investing career, but you don’t want to go off half-cocked and fire at everything that moves either. Learn enough to be able to write an intelligent offer and then make it happen. As your career advances, continue learning as you go along. There’s a ton of accumulated investing knowledge available, so take advantage of it. Keep in mind, too, that education doesn’t have to be a $2,000-$3,000 guru-sponsored super course. You can sometimes learn more from a $20 book, but never quit learning or you will quit growing.
Step Two: Planning – What steps are you taking to reach your goals? Are you sitting around with a pad of paper and a pen planning how you’ll spend your real estate profits or are you taking a series of deliberate steps to all but guarantee your success? How many calls are you going to make today, this week, or this month? How many properties will you look at? How many offers will you write? Real estate is a numbers game, so you need to plan your numbers and then you need to follow up by analyzing your activity. If you don’t keep score you won’t know if you’re winning or losing. It all starts with a plan and ends in the winner’s circle or the employment office. Planning – or failing to plan – will determine where you’ll be in a year and how much money you’ll have.
Step Three: Team Building – Major league ball teams don’t wait until the season starts to begin looking for members of their team. Their team-building effort starts months ahead of opening day. As a real estate investor you need a team of professionals in your corner. Start today with a small title or escrow company and a mortgage company. Make sure they understand creative real estate and have experience. If you’re not working with a mentor familiar with creative investing, you need to find one. He or she can shave years off your learning curve by helping you to avoid some of the stupid and costly mistakes they made.
Step Four: Circle of Influence – Who are you listening to? Your brother whose idea of creative real estate investing is buying a time share in Arkansas? If your circle of influence – people who give you advice – don’t know and understand real estate investing, they’ll constantly be taking aim on your hopes and dreams because they don’t understand the concept or because they don’t want your success to shine a spotlight on their mediocrity. Tap into as many creative – and successful – real estate investors as you can at your local REIA meetings.
Step Five: The Right Sellers – Wasting time trying to browbeat somebody into accepting your creative offer is unproductive and demoralizing. Make sure that the sellers you’re dealing with are highly motivated to sell and good things will happen. Don’t be afraid to walk away from the wrong deal even if the price is right. Know your ideal situation and then capitalize on it when the opportunity presents itself.
Step Six: Hobby/Business? – Is real estate investing going to be your pathway to prosperity? While there are plenty of opportunities for you to have fun, never lose sight of the fact that you’re playing in a very competitive sandbox. You have something going for you, though. A lot of investors lack the education, training, and mindset to prosper. If you’re one of them, you should save your money and take up stamp collecting or join the rock club. If, however, you’re serious about success and give this business the effort it deserves, your future is a blank check – and you’re holding the pen.
Step Seven: Stick with It – Real estate investing success won’t necessarily come overnight. That’s not to say that you won’t become an overnight sensation, but be prepared for the possibility that it might take 3-5 years to achieve a level of success that inspires you to throw all of your time and energy into enriching yourself. Real estate investing is easy, but it’s not simple. It takes work, effort, and a willingness to keep plodding ahead even when your big payday is years away – instead of mere days.
By following this seven step action plan you can set your sights on reaching all of your personal and financial dreams. Real estate investing is one of the most lucrative careers in the world, but you’ll have to dedicate yourself to your success. How bad do you want it?
Now go get it!
BYRON