Finding distressed properties and motivated sellers

Bird Dogs, Wholesaling
1

I have a buyers list of about 6 investors. I am trying to now find properties for them. What is the best way to get the phone ringing.

thanks

2

The easy way to get your phone ringing is to

  1. Driving for dollars
    Driving targeted neighborhoods and collecting For sale by owner and for rent numbers to cold call

  2. Bandit Signs
    Placing for sale by owner signs around your neighborhood.

3

I sure wish that people would do a little more research before they ask questions that have been discussed it hundreds of times in this category of the forum alone. :banghead You already have a list of buyers and that’s good, what you need to do now is get your marketing out, and depending on how much money you have will determine the type of marketing that you do. If you are low on money, God and get you about 100 bandit signs, it probably cost you 100 bucks. It’s one of the cheapest yet most effective ways of marketing for sellers with distressed properties.

Next time when you have a question use the search option before you ask. You just might find the answer there. :dance

4

imho driving for dollars is a waste of time, gas, energy, and effort. Do you realize how many hours you will need to drive around to get a good list of leads?

Go to the courthouse, get the delinquent tax records, mail or call.

5

Newspaper ads, bandit signs, craigslist, billboards, etc

6

Direct Mail is the tried and proven method. The leads from rent court, Code Violations and probate are typically free.

7

Create a simple landing page site or blog site (free blog site at blogger.com, wordpress.com; or get a free webiste by searching for free websites). Put in there what you’re looking for which is the criteria of your buyers.

You can also hire someone (go to craigslist, elance, odesk) to create a simple site for you and pay them. Then set up a Google Adwords account for $50. Target local keywords such as “house cash buyers Dayton Ohio”.

This is better than the other suggested ones as you can immediately see if the ad works within hours of putting it up. And you can change it on the fly. Best of all, it can be done without leaving your desk. No gas, no printing, no mailing, no postage…

8

PPC is a great way to find leads, this method my be a little higher per lead than bandit signs, but is very effective. Just make sure you landing page is very informative and gives them some valuable information.

9

Bandit sign 1:
WANTED: motivated/distressed sellers
call now!

Bandit sign 2:
Don’t want your home?I’ll buy it!

BANDIT SIGNS WILL GET THE PHONES RINGING!!!

10

Hey Warice where are you located?

11

I am just getting into the business myself and I will tell you craigslist has been awsome for me! I just posted an ad saying " :biggrinI buy houses cash, quick closings, any area, any condition ppl are still calling and it’s ThanksGiving soooo that should help.

12

mzlady,

 What section are you putting your craigslist ad in that brings in calls? I tried a couple in the Boise CL, but I didn't get any calls. I don't know if it's just not that effective over here or what. What exactly do you put for a subject line and the message? Thank you.
13

Not if you get someone else to do it! :brow Seriously though in my early days I could find a good 25 or more vacant houses in less than 2 hours.

14

Question, have you had any success whatsoever with this message? I can’t imagine this message working to any degree. First off, sellers of what? Cars? Homes? Rubik’s cubes?

Secondly, people who need to sell don’t necessarily want to think of themselves as motivated or distressed. Those terms are more like shop talk among us real estate sharks, IMO.

Lastly, you’re telling them what YOU want, not what THEY want. A true direct response oriented message speaks to the needs of the person reading the message, not to the needs of the person writing the message.

Just one man’s opinion!

15

I usually put the ads under real estate for sale by owner and once you get into there , I list under I need housing and I am offering housing. In my heading I usually put “HOUSE FOR SALE ONLY $$” AND YOU WANT TO LIST THE LOWEST HOUSE YOU HAVE FOR SALE MINE IS USUALLY $7K AND thats gets ppl intrested. I have built a really good buyers list from this even out state investors, ppl from all over are checking these ads. GET THERE ATTENTION!

16

Mz. Lady,
There are many ways to go about finding distressed properties and motivated sellers. I’ve found that it really depends on your preferences, budget, and time that you have available to spend. If you have more time and less money, driving for dollars in the right areas can be a great option. If you have some money to work with, direct mail is a wonderful option. This is my preference because it is scalable and I can target who I want to send my marketing to. I’ve used bandit signs as well and I certainly got leads however I wanted to focus on wholesaling. The issue was that there were many leads that came through that I was not able to turn into a deal b/c it didn’t fit the wholesaling strategy. If I had the skill at the time to handle just about any kind of deal, I could have made a killing using bandit signs. If you decide to use bandit signs, I would recommend finding folks from your local REIA etc. that you can partner with on deals that don’t fit the wholesaling strategy in order to increase the likelihood that you can make money on each lead you get. Best wishes to you.

17

You can move those properties that don’t have equity, are over/under, etc. But, you have to do it creatively, and there are at least a couple methods I can think of.

But, for a wholesale deal to work, the property has to be worth more than what they owe, or if they own it free and clear, it’s more power in your favor.

I, am looking for a successful way to bring in motivated sellers from craigslist. Does anybody have any ideas? Thank you.