When driving for dollars what are the major things to look out for? What is a good pitch to give to someone when approaching a stranger regarding their property? Which advertising methods have you seen the most success in? Please feel free to drop your tips & tricks down here for for others to piggy back on and give advice on how to take your REI to the next level.
Rather than hunt and peck for disorganized and non-systemized, random feedback, why not purchase training on the strategy you want to pursue, and then come back and offer something of value, instead of asking for value? Just asking.
Asking for “Tips and Tricks” just reeks like a no-work, no-effort, and no-money unicorn herder.
Hey Javipa, This is more or less for people to share simple tips and tricks they have came across through their years in the business. I have done my research and my main focus at this point is brand building, residential single family houses and joint venture deals. I can talk about those all day but I didn’t make this sub just for me my friend.
Have a nice day :cool
No numbers of ‘tips and tricks’ will do anyone any good, without also knowing the fundamentals.
I know lots of tips and tricks, and yet they’re worthless to someone who isn’t already doing the basics.
One tip I could offer is not trying to make friends with sellers. That is a worthless tip for someone who hasn’t been in front of enough sellers to know they lie, cheat, and will steal you blind if possible …friends or not. It doesn’t pay to be friends with seller PRIOR to closing. It’s either make friends, or it’s make money. It’s a choice.
Another tip I could offer is to rely on a scripted presentation outline to make your offers. This would be a useless tip, unless the person also understands the purpose of a script, and what it was designed to accomplish. Unless he’s made offers, and shot from the hip, and failed to close on deals, he wouldn’t understand the importance or necessity of following a script, much less meeting and overcoming objections to the offer elements in advance of the seller making an objection in the first place.
I say, rather than focus on tips and tricks, focus on the fundamentals, and let the tips and tricks reveal themselves in real time.
This is all sound information, thanks for the up front and honest feedback. I am in the process of starting up an LLC in which me and my business partners will start hitting the pavement in the next month in hopes for some serious $$$. The market in my area is pretty decent but there is not a lot of competition here so we already have odds in our favor. Like you said the best coaching comes from failed attempts but its always nice to have what if scenarios to look out for when you are a newcomer in any situation. If you don’t mind sharing with me what are some of the issues you have ran into personally as an investor when it comes to getting the buyer and seller to the closing table? :beer
I don’t have a ton of knowledge in real estate but I do in negotiations and honestly I hate scripts. I like to stick to the fundamentals of a conversation and build a good rapport with the other person. Not necessarily friends but closer than two drones crunching numbers.
I can give you a example. I was calling the other day to see how much radio advertising would cost with ihart radio and to see what was offered. The guy hit me with a script and a report but never built a rapport with me. You’re asking me to spend thousands of dollars with you but can’t really sell me anything not scripted. It just seems cheap and not worth it. Not only that but he didn’t listen to what I was saying and pestered me by phone for two week. That’s even worse and makes its feel cheap and not worth it. In my opinion everyone is different and needs different things in a negotiation. You have to be able to read and react to that situation. I guess that’s my advice today.
My best tip is to… shut up and Listen. The highest compliment you can give a person is to intently listen to their story and asking questions that keep them talking,
You can’t fake empathy, it is a practiced method. You will become the first person that ever listened to them and subconsciously made them feel important and connected.
If you can develop this skill, the rest is pudding.
Using a script allows you to control your negotiations without the other party knowing the difference. However, the script cannot be read, but must be memorized and internalized. It allows you to recognize and anticipate a range of responses from the other party, while maneuvering in advance to meet objections, and maintain 100% control of your presentation/negotiation. A memorized script does NOT sound canned, like the guy you were talking with at iheart. He was likely a trainee, consulting a 3-ring binder, while he was on the phone. That’s not using a script. That’s abusing a script.
At the same time, anyone who develops a pattern in their negotiations/presentation is by default following a script. It may be hodge podge, but it’s a script nonetheless. And that still beats shooting from the hip like an amateur.
Scripts are useful in disqualifying ‘losers,’ so you’re not caught wasting time with someone who’ll waste your time, or who won’t make you any money.
For example, you called iheart, and the salesman probably used the ‘assumed close’ on you, but you disqualified yourself, when it was determined that you were a time waster? Right?
And the conservation went nowhere? Right?
You resisted the salesman’s lead, as he was qualifying you as a genuinely interested customer, and not a tire kicker. The customers he wants are the ones that call and ask, “Where do I sign up for a week’s worth of ads.” Not, “How much are you gonna gouge me for a puny number of budget-minded, scarcity-driven, gap-filling ads that I can afford?”
See the difference? Of course, I don’t know what was said, but one purpose of the script is to drill down to, and sift out the ones who won’t spend money (aka the ‘poor.’)
Meantime again, if the iheart salesman had memorized his script, you wouldn’t know you were being disqualified. As such, he came across as indifferent, robotic, and yet still seemed to screen you out of their system, because your responses weren’t what they were looking for.
It’s the same for real estate negotiations. The seller is either ready to play ball, or not. You need to know how ready, and a script allows you to determine exactly how ready and flexible he is in the moment.
Never mind forcing the seller to crap or get off the pot. It’s no fun spending a hour with a seller, thinking you’ve got an offer approved, and the seller says, “I would like to sign, but I need to talk with Uncle Henry, who’s into real estate, and see what he says first.”
REALLY? Uncle Henry? Who’s ‘into’ real estate?
You just blew an hour of negotiations only to find out that Uncle Henry is the one who makes the decisions?
A scripted presentation would have eliminated this possibility, along with ten other things sellers do to screw with you. But NO! You shot from the hip, tried to be friends, lost control of your negotiations, and lost the deal to Uncle Henry, who can’t see the trail of bread crumbs you laid to lead to a deal; and will definitely reject the offer, while the sellers now shop your offer with the last investor they spoke with. Pffft.
Scripts eliminate all that wasting of time.
haha, uncle Henry that is into real estate.
My favorite is, well, I need to talk to my neighbor who is a realtor.
Oh really. well, I need to get off this phone cuz I’m late for something.
Honestly you don’t call a guy 7 times when you disqualify him. On the contrary I disqualified him because he didn’t really meet my needs. Radio is one of the cheapest forms of advertising so maybe it doesn’t attract the best salesmen. Still I get your point.
Dmccright,
OK, if the salesman’s calling you like that, he’s into hard-selling. He’s still following a script, but not one we want to use in real estate.
Getting rejected get’s ‘really’ old, and most people do not know how to qualify sellers or buyers, in order to limit their offers to motivated sellers.
Because investors are told that they need to make indiscriminate offers on cold prospects, they resort to all sorts of arm wrestling, schmoozing, and/or grinding to soften up a seller. Grinding a seller into submission is the pits.
Rather, we should do our best to get sellers to call us (tip and trick), and then pull the rug out from underneath the ‘iffy’ ones who think they’ve got options. We do this by insisting that we’re only there to buy, and they’re only there to sell. If we can’t set those ground rules, then that prospect disqualifies himself.
This is a negotiating technique that $Cash$ taught in his courses, that I’ve used for years now. That alone keeps the seller from shopping my offer and trying to consult Uncle Henry, ‘who’s into real estate.’
I get that. Kinda like knocking on pre foreclosure doors. It’s better to have them come to you than try and bang on 100 doors. Get told to f off maybe shot at here in the south.
I can give you a few DFD tips but don’t really feel like hashing out the other questions for time’s sake.
Look for any of these things while driving - overgrown grass, broken down cars in drive way, broken windows, no CHA, bad roof, severe peeling paint, city stickers on front door, in pricier neighborhoods look for old and original windows, rotting wood trim or doors around house, lots of newspapers or phone books in driveway or front porch, trash everywhere.
In Connecticut the banks take the mail boxes they probably do that everywhere. If the mail box is missing it’s probably a bank owned property and worth investigating.
Interesting mail boxes stay in place in SC.
Carry your phone and check the property appraiser to make sure its not bank or corporate owned. Save a bit of time that way.
If you’re in the northern part of the country, one thing I do is go out a few days after a decent snow has come through. Look for driveways that have no tire tracks, w/ unshoveled driveways/walkways.
When driving for dollars, always keep an eye out for uncut grass, window units, items in the front yard, multiple cars in the driveway, or boarded up windows. I know that seems obvious, but those are all things that could spell motivation.
That’s what we look for as well when we are driving around. If we find a property that is vacant we will knock on some doors to see if we can get the story before going back to the shop to look up the info.
If I can’t find who owns the property, I’ll knock on the neighbors doors and tell them I’m want to buy and fix up the property so it’s not vacant anymore and ask if they know a way to contact the owner. It’s worked for me before.