Hi All;
I have this property for sale in North Texas. I am offering owner financing on it.
I have been advertising on craigs list primarily with minimal calls.
I would love to know where you guys advertise for buyers.
thanks
Ahh…Little Elm…
I’d suggest Clist, and I use a lady in India to post my listings a few times a week.
I use rentalhouses.com, which costs, but I have a mega account so it’s a flat fee for unlimited.
70% of the RH leads are renters, but the 30% is worth it.
Do you have your own website?
Hey Thanks Pilot.
I’ll give rentalhouses.com a shot.
I have a preliminary site - in the process of setting one up.
Not sure if can post it here though.
What about the local greensheet - have you tried that?
Our most likely buyers are going to be those already driving our neighborhood looking for something to buy.
As a result we post ugly, yellow, bandit signs in the front yards, and at least two major intersections near our property.
Then we tell people what we’re offering. We include # bedrooms, baths, garage(s), RV parking, etc. putting as much information as we can fit on the sign in the yard without it getting messy looking. We use a thick, black permanent marker on the sign.
The rest of the signs (the ones not in the yard) should highlight the most important elements such as “low down,” “seller financing,” “no bank qualifying,” and the best features of the house. We include the payment (without interest and taxes) on all the signs.
This might not work for you, since we market to people who can’t get loans, which isn’t necessarily who you are targeting…, but here’s 3 examples of what we use. Ugly is better. If we get “pretty” our responses drop.
$15k Down T.O.P.
No Credit! No Problem!
PMT $2200/mo. 3/2, Pool,
RV, Call Jay Today 555-1234
2345 W. 9th
Small Down, No Qualifying!
3/2, RV, Pool $2200 pmt.
Call Jay at 555-1234 Today
2345 W. 9th
Name Your Payment…!
No Credit Check.
3 bed 2 bath pool rv
$15k down, 2345 W. 9th
Call Jay today at 555-1234
The sign in the yard is the NUMBER ONE tool. Everything else just supports that.
We don’t put the price anywhere on our signs. That’s a hook to get people to call. If the buyer is hung up on our price, they aren’t “our” buyers anyway. And there’s lots of prospects who ARE hung up on price. Seller financing means “high price” to most folks. However, we cater to the people who’ve been turned down for financing, and want a nice place to live, and realize that beggars can’t be choosers. However, it really helps to have a highly desirable product for sale …that more people would love to own. FWIW.
javipa is right, the signs are key as well, but since Little Elm is kind of out there, you may not have as much luck, depending on the location.
There’s plenty of traffic with The Colony though that you can get the bandit signs up.
I don’t use bandit signs, but I do use signs in the yard.
I used to use ownerwillcarry.com but then the guy started charging, and it wasn’t worth the very few leads I got.
Javipa;
Thanks for the detailed post. I do have a sign in the front yard :
Owner Will Finance
Credit Problens OK
NO Bank Qualifying
555-5555
However, the property is in a quiet subdivision and on a back street to boot! Not much drive-bys which is why i am looking for other ideas.
My signs are professionnally made (nice lettering etc) - perhaps I need to hand write them - I’ve seen some of those.
I will incorporate your suggestions - thanks.
I was putting my hopes on the yard sign but like I said - not much drive-bys due to it being a back street.
I’ll try some signs in The Colony -
Do you guys leave the signs up during the week? or do you pull them down? any issues with the town officials?
Each city’s enforcement is a little different. I have a rep in The Colony, and he said that the subdivision there in The Colony on the northern side of town…I forgot the name of it…doesn’t even like having 2 signs in the yard.
I use directional signs to direct traffic to the houses if I can as well.
Dallas, if your property isn’t located near a lot of traffic, then be sure to put your signs where the traffic is… closest to your property.
Take some time to “characterize” your house. Ask yourself, "Who will this house most appeal to and why would it appeal to them?
After you’ve characterized the house, you’ll develop a clear profile of the buyer that would most want that place.
For example, if there’s RV parking and lots of bedrooms, it’s going to appeal to a family that spends time on the weekends with their “man toys.”
If there’s a large, fenced backyard, this will appeal to younger families, if not families with teenagers that like to have people over.
Are there lots of bedrooms? Well this would NOT appeal to seniors, but again appeal to a larger family with teenage and pre-teen children.
How about the size of the front yard? Is it a postage stamp? Or not? This makes difference to those who don’t like the expense or extent of care that a large yard represents/requires. Seniors love low maintenance landscaping. So, if you have a 2 bedroom house with zero maintenance landscaping, a senior couple would probably find it very attractive, all things being equal.
What else describes this house? Take some time to characterize the house and profile the “ideal buyer” for this house.
Now…you’ll know what buyer to focus on…and automatically filter out the rest.
Next thing is to start supporting your yard sign with every possible exposure point you can get into. Create a use.com flyer and embed it in craigslist, create an ebay classifieds ad, a fsbo.com ad, pennysaver ad, thrifty nickle ad, backpage ad, and even flyers distributed on the doors of the neighbors who will give it to their friends who would love to own a house near them…and a well “descripted” newspaper ad in the largest paper in the area (and the smaller ones, too, for that matter). You want your home advertisements ‘everywhere.’
Include pictures of the interior, exterior, but with some pizazz, not like a mug shot of the house. And definitely NOT packed with furniture, unless it’s new, attractive and sparse.
Good back yard pictures of the lawn furniture and any play equipment, BBQ islands, pools, and spas, if any are great, too.
Have fun with it, but get the word out.
I would put a good-looking flyer in a box next to the ugly bandit sign, too. This is where you can really highlight the targeted features and benefits of the house.
BTW, the craigslist ad will serve as a “web page” ad for your house if you think about it.
So I had the professional signs - 0 calls.
I bought me some blank signs and scrawl my message 
and went about my business.
In 2 days I got about 6 calls and 2 showings with one very interested party.
Thank you javipa/Pilot. Much appreciated. My sign co just lost some business :-0