I can’t seem to find any good deals using my realtor…Any ideas out there to find distressed properties? I was thinking of advertising, ‘I BUY HOMES’…Anyone have success with bench ads? They are pretty cheap in my town…What about the local newspaper? Magnetic signs? Billboards? I have sent out letters to people who are in preforclosure, but haven’t had any success, any good form letters? PLEASE HELP! thanks in advance
You just have to try different techniques and track your results. If you are sending letters, and getting no results, then just tweak it until you do get results. Get some feedback; maybe it is not written correctly or maybe you are not sending enough letters. The response rate to direct mail is pretty low. Don’t get discouraged. Just keep trying.
Everything you mentioned all have some degree of effectiveness, but it will be different for everyone because of area, demographics, the ad itself, etc. Good luck.
Here is something to consider that is often overlooked… Try contacting all the investors that you can find in your local area and let them know that you buy houses wholesale.
I am primarily a rehab investor, and back when I started I drove around and wrote down all the phone numbers off of all the “We Buy Houses” signs, and ads in the classifieds. Then I called them all and introduced myself and let them know that I am interested in buying houses wholesale.
This process proved to be a very good way to network myself, and I bought several properties this way. This works well when you can find someone that is good at finding the deals you like, but isnt particularly interested in doing any work to them. Its a good team effort.
Another good strategy that I have used is to find a neighborhood that has relatively older houses and are generally in a lower income area. Then either do a mailing to the entire neighborhood, or try to get a more targeted list to send to within that neighborhood. For example, houses that have a last sale date that is 5 or more years ago, and the property was transferred via quit claim (sold for $100 or less).
This list will give you properties in a low income, older neighborhood that could indicate that these properties may need some updating. The fact that the last sale date was more than 5 years ago should indicate that there may be equity to negotiate, and if it was transferred by quit claim then there may not be an emotional attachment to the property.
I have used these techniques and they have worked very well for me.
Good luck!
Most of my leads are coming from the daily newspaper ad, but I am also noticing good response from marketing to those in preforclosures. I gave up on MLS time ago.
I have tried different advertising concepts but these two by far produced the best results for me.
I know of a couple who use craigs list. It’s free!