I usually run my bird dog ads through this because it’s free and most people are time wasters. Now they are charging 5 bucks a pop for ads. Guess I will have to put a bit more effort into it direct mail because it’s not worth that.
In the last 6 months I’ve ran 4 ads for bird dogs at $25 each, and they run for 30 days.
Dozens of prospective bird dogs have called & bit the dust bucket.
I dont waste time anymore meeting these non productive talkers.
Only one bird dog sent me a good lead and I made 3 Grand.
Let me do some math here. Spent 100 buks on ads, made $3,000 and that equals $2,900 profit.
I’m gonna place more ads.
OK now I feel like a ass for complaining about $5 lol. I’ve seen little success in bird dogs though. Most want the equivalent of a 401k and a health plan. It has amused me but thats about it.
My typical bird dog response.
My name is Jenny, I’m taking the realtors exam and I seen your ad for property finder and it says you pay $2,000 for each house I send you that you buy or assign to another investor, is that true?
Yep, all I need is an address and I do everything else.
My Aunt and grandma and uncle Burt were realtors and I’ve got real estate in my blood. I am constantly looking at houses and I spend all my waking hours thinking real estate, I’ve got real estate in my blood and it was what I was born to do and I will be the best and hardest working property finder you ever had. When can we meet?
Well Jenny, I used to spend a lot of time meeting prospective finders & most of the time they didn’t pan out so now I don’t meet them anymore.
That’s not me, I’m different, But I have to meet you to know your a real person and that your legit.
I’ll meet you when I hand you this $2,000 in cash, I will send you my info pack and you can get started.
Next day or so: OK, I read over your info, what do I need to do to get started?
Are you sure you read it? cuz I specifically tell how the fastest way is to drive older neighborhoods in lower and mid income areas and exactly what to look for.
OK I will go out on Saturday and send you some addresses.
Guess what, I never hear from them again.
At first I wondered what I was doing wrong, I furnished testimonials of my bird dogs that have made big buks with photos of them holding the cash. I dumbed down my info so even someone with my limited intellect cud comprehend.
I wud send follow up emails.
Now I expect 99% of my applicants will be all talk, no action. It’s just human nature.
What is interesting is that many of my applicants are realtors.
However, once in a while you get lucky, one of my first bird dogs is Bob in a nearby town, we have done a dozen deals, he is off doing his own deals now but when he gets the crème of the crème deals, actually the worst of the worst, he knows I can get them sold.
Persistence works for me.
I offer 1k to bird dogs and still got. “Is this a scam?” “That doesn’t seem possible.” Well let me tell you it is and you will make real money if you follow though. 99% of these disappear after I send my info pack. I also use Google drive because I can just send them a link and I will update it with my progress and such. This one guy was like why don’t you have a building and a database so we all can log in and track our leads so we know no one else steals them. :rollers Then you get the ones that go out find 2 houses and then disappear or try to sell you these great deals they have that there realtor friend doesn’t want. They would totally fix them up but they just don’t have the time lol. I’ve yet to find anyone of quality and amusement isn’t really worth 5 bucks lol.
I’m with Randoskie on this.
Everything having to do with real estate is a numbers game.
- You wade through 25 applications 'til you find an acceptable tenant. That’s rejecting 24 losers to find one that will pay their rent and take care of the house.
- You send 1,000 mailers a month for five months and then you make $25,000. That’s 999 dead ends to make $25,000. Or getting paid $5 per mail piece sent.
- You spend $5 on bird dog ads every month for three months and only one out of sixty performs, but makes you $15,000. That $15 and 59 losers to make $15K, or 1,000% return on your money. Or getting paid $254 per rejected bird dog.
- You make 40 offers and make $40,000. That’s 39 failed offers to make $40K, or $1k for every rejected offer.
Frankly, if your failure threshold is zero, real estate isn’t for you.
And neither is anything else for that matter.
Perhaps you should just, I don’t know, shoot yourself in the head? However, you should keep trying, if you miss the first, say, 20 times, because you can’t be a winner, until you’re successful at ‘something.’
Thanks… I guess.
I admit that when someone is whining about spending 5 buks to place CL ads, they might need a good kick in the nuts and a reality check, but suggesting he shoot himself is beyond brutal.
Perhaps some motivational words of wisdom, and an attitude change is needed here.
Give DMCcright some luv and understanding,
Lol my life is great and honestly I’m blessed. Sorry if I was bringing bad vibes I was just a bit shocked not really bitching but in my area I do feel the price point is too high. I honestly love direct mail and I’m thinking about a webpage. Seems like DLee is killing it with his page and maybe I can figure out that Seo lol. I mean what other business do you get the opportunity to close on deals that could make you 100k.
Dmccright,
My last post was meant to be half-joking and half-admonishing, if not helpful, but I think I came across as completely mean.
That was not my intention.
Soldier on my friend!
I’m not hurt one bit and sometimes sarcasm doesn’t show up on text. Victims of our own intelligence lol. As Jordan Belfort would say “let’s solve our problems by becoming stinking rich!”
You guys probably don’t know - but I am a lurker. Seldom do I post or comment even though I work for REIClub.
When you guys get together on a thread - it’s often GOLDEN!
I love reading the “meaty” and “knowledgeable” back and forth. :beer
A new investor some might not “get it” or “recognize the value” of this convo above.
As a intermediate investor (some experience with all types of deals for close to 10 yrs, probably make 1-3 transactions a year) THIS IS THE STUFF I WOULD PAY FOR. :biggrin
I had the initial reaction of - WTH?? Craigslist charging ??? :shocked
When Rando broke down the cost conversion for leads/scouts - it totally changed my opinon of the situation and now it made me want to go PLACE AN AD - to get more leads for deals instead of buying a spiced chai tea latte from Strabucks for $5.40 because I get an extra pump lol.
Just want to say thanks for the transparancy :beer
You want to have some meat w ur taters? Well here is where it gets insane.
I have made hundreds of thousands of dollars off of Craig’s List.
I’ve got a few deals from advertising that I buy houses, but the raw meat is from the buyers I’ve got. a half dozen of the serious players in my city.
But why I luv about CL the most is Craig’s list has almost always saved me when I had some of the worst properties imaginable, nobody wanted, even ones that were half burned down, advertising these junkers on CL got them sold. A few times I almost gave up, cuz properties wer so bad, I had no calls and then decided, wat the heck, it’s free I’ll renew my ad. Eventually, Sold. Profit, prosper.
Now I’m wondering who is this Craig of Craig’s List? He must be quite wealthy.
As of right now I get two to 3 buyers a week on CL. Some big timers some bottom feeders. You can tell the bottom boys because they ask for your list. Like dude when I put it under contract it sales. No list needed even for the slightly bad deals. The real problem right now is finding deals in this hot market.
Holy Moses, this Craig’s List founder is a multi millionaire, one report from Forbes says its over a Billion. He’s a 66 yr old nerd that lives in California and he don’t think anybody shud be a Billionaire, and he gives tons of money away, even a 1/2 mil to Wikipedia to fight ther hacks and spam etc.
But something is going on, cuz ther is no services Offered section when I went ther this morning.