Nothing Beats Them Coming To You!

It doesn’t really matter which type of real estate investing you prefer investing in, probate, foreclosures, rehab, flip or hold, they all have one thing in common. People.

You’ll be dealing with people.

Do you like that? Well, not everyone does. Like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry says, “People, they’re the worst,” you’ll be dealing with people. Sometimes, just like you and me, they can be a pain in the wazoo!

Have you ever had a deal that you were counting on, only to see your hard work go up in smoke because the guy decided that he would “wait a while longer” and see what else the wind blew in? Exactly!

The one thing I NEVER hear from most real estate gurus is how much “effort and patience” you must exert into this magical business of getting rich quick. (Otherwise known as real estate investing.) Of course, it’s not prudent marketing to say, “I made this $35,000 check after busting my butt for 6 months.)

This is not like going to dental school for six years and opening up shop where the money just starts rolling in consistently once your practice begins. Everyday presents a new challenge. This business is sales. I’m sorry to say, “If you don’t like sales or aren’t very good at it, you should stay out of real estate investing.” Or, if you think “people are the worst.”

It’s a people business and those who succeed, know how to talk to people and how to not let their behavior, throw them for a loop, too far when they throw them. In other words, (more understandable), when someone doesn’t go with your flow, don’t let it cause you to react in an unfriendly way now. This real estate investing business is all about people and relationships with people.

Yes, you have to talk with people all the time. Some investors hoping to do all the work with their website online and hoping to have little contact with the actual people, are in for a surprise and much less success. The “press the flesh” quote, is what every good salesperson knows will “seal the deal.”

Now that we’re in a mindset that we can have “virtual relationships” through Facebook and Twitter, some misguided real estate investors may think they can avoid the messy real life contact of human beings, but that’s not going to be nearly as successful as the people that understand the “human factor.”

I believe that some of the “old ways” of marketing are still the most effective. Direct mail marketing to potential sellers and buyers will possibly be even more effective as the online world continues to get very “cluttered and over-played” in our world.

It’s like when you were in high school. Remember all the different fads? I won’t try to list them here because they’re different for every generation, but we all had them. I’m not saying the internet is a “fad,” what I am saying is that, something that we get too familiar with, loses it’s effect to move us anymore.

Receiving a letter, addressed in a personal way, will always grab your attention. Then, it’s up to the letter to hold it and convey the message after it’s opened. Good direct mail does that and will usually get my attention before my computer even gets turned on.

None of us wants to waste time with people that “aren’t ready, not serious, just curious or just plain fickled” when it comes to spending time in this business of real estate investing. Yes, websites are necessary and provide leads, but there are people that will be looking for a buyer and may be hesitating or not quite ready yet… that’s where direct mail marketing will beat the others every time. If it’s done right, direct mail marketing for real estate investors will always have them coming to you.

I don’t like chasing deals with “uncertain” outcomes anymore than anyone else, but if you use good direct mail marketing to these potential sellers and buyers, your opportunities go way up! And best of all… they come to you! I like that!

The REIM Complete Package is a good direct mail marketing package. Check it out for yourself HERE!

Do You Think Wholesaling Is SEXY?

I’m not sure that I’ve ever thought about wholesaling this way before. It seems to work during a football game… the pretty girls dancing around in their little cheer leading attire, but WHOLESALING property? I’ve never heard it presented in such a “red-light district” sort of a way! Well, if you believe Preston Ely… he says, “Wholesaling Just Got Sexier.”

Maybe he knows something you and I don’t. Is this the new “pick up line” of 2009? “How about you and me getting together for a little “wholesaling?”

NA… that doesn’t work. Parasailing would be sexier to me.

Whatever he has up his sleeve, must be more than a “sexy face and wholesaling property.” This is probably going to surprise a lot of people, including me.

I’ve got an exclusive look for you from the “den of sexy wholesaling” and the “Hugh Hefner” of wholesaling right HERE. This site should be rated XXX, do to the “wholesaling nature” of the content.

Make sure there are no children around the computer or elderly with a weak heart condition before taking a look.

Real Estate Investors Should Keep Learning

Training in real estate investing is crucial for your success as a real estate investor in today’s market. Why? The old saying, “knowledge is power” is in principle, for all areas of life, including real estate investing. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced real estate investor, there’s always something new to learn.

With our current market and changes to access to money, what they’ve learned a few years ago may not be effective in today’s Real Estate market.

Many real estate investors recognize the importance of continuing their education and earn a lot of what they learn. New ideas and techniques have been developed for real estate investors to improve their skills.

There are many ways you can choose for your training. It depends on how much you already have in your real estate investing toolbox. You can take advantage of free online webinars to find new and innovative real estate ideas where you lack knowledge.

Here are some of the various methods of learning for your real estate investing education:

. Free Online Webinars
. Join a Real Estate Investment Club
. Sign up in a coaching program
. Buy a good real estate investing course
. Reading books by experienced investors
. Seminars
. Updated Marketing Tools

Real Estate Investor Marketing is important to your success. Even if you’ve already  learned real estate marketing strategies, new methods have been developed to increase awareness about the services you offer. There are many online resources available to buy or to learn real estate investing marketing.
Personal Development – Not only can you advance your career by learning more about real estate investing, but you can also create your career by investing in yourself through personal development. Getting organized will help you on the right track.

Communicate with other investors to find out what they’ve learned. Find a forum for the exchange of information and interaction with others experiencing similar frustration and anxiety, as well as successes. Forum may actually be a way to motivate you and give you several ideas for further steps in your real estate investing career.

Continuing training in real estate investing is important to your success. Your success will be based on your knowledge of how to implement these changes in your real estate investment business.

http://real-estate-investors-marketing.com/

Just Too Good NOT To Share!

I’ve been “preparing,” over the last few years, to be the real estate investor I’ve always wanted to be. But, as one wise investor once said, “Education, without implementation, is simply entertainment.”

I didn’t spend the money I’ve spent, to learn what I’ve learned, just to be “entertained!”

Earlier this month, a guy I respect as a person, real estate investor, marketer and wholesaling godfather… (He doesn’t know that’s my title on him!) Well, he had what he called, a “No Pitch” conference in Tampa, Fl., where many different investors and “leading” teachers shared their tips.

Here’s a list of “The 10 Biggest Mistakes” investors make… according to Mike Collins. Not only do I agree with him, I just had to share this list from Mike, with you too… in case you missed the seminar, like I did. Here’s the list. LEARN from it.

1. Buying rentals before ever wholesaling.

Back when I started and still today people preach the way to success in real estate investing is to buy rental properties and hold them. While I don’t disagree in the long run, not wholesaling first and/or adding wholesaling to your existing rental acquisitions program will cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars and years, maybe decades, of your life.

2. Attempting to Rehab Homes before wholesaling.

All of the rage today is flipping houses, witness all the television shows where people buy, fix up and resell houses. While that can be a profitable strategy for some. Neglecting wholesaling and not learning the values of these houses will again cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. If we agree that the commodity we deal in is houses then wouldn’t it make sense that the first job we need to learn or the most important job we need to learn is how to find, value (or evaluate) and secure contracts on this single family home commodity?

3. Buying houses for a rental or rehabbing without understanding how deep a discount I could really get.

Many people, Rehabbers and Landlords, could make so much more money for their efforts if they first learned through constant repetition of buying and selling houses what the real lowest value is they could get on deals.

4. Not understanding the value of homes at a deep level before I made offers.

Many people try and buy houses rehab, rental, and wholesaling without a detailed comparable sales program. There are many cheaper alternatives to a quality comparable sales program; but if you were a carpenter would you go to work without a hammer? This tool (the comparable sales program) is your right hand in wholesaling houses.

5. Not understanding marketing is the most important part of my business.

“You don’t gotta get it right, you just gotta get it goin!” Everyone’s heard the term, guerilla marketing. Anyone, at any level of finances and willingness can start this business from their spare bedroom and build up to any level of marketing budget they wish.

6. Thinking I was looking for people in financial trouble.

This is one of the biggest mistakes new people make. They search foreclosures or advertise for people in financial distress. In reality the commodity we are looking for is a property that has repair issues. We can’t purchase a property at a deep enough discount unless there are repair issues we can solve and thus increase the value and price of the home.

7. Borrowing money of any kind, hard money, family money, bank line of credit against my home, any type of money borrowing for real estate investing while I was wholesaling or before I learned to be a good wholesaler.

“Find the deal first and the money second,” is the rule you should live by. Everyone gets bogged down because they don’t personally have the money, or they don’t know where to get it, or where to find a buyer for the property. This is truly a scenario of putting the cart before the horse. “Deal first – money second!!”

8. Thinking mistakes, were the end of the world.

“You fall you learn!” Learn to fail faster, if you make mistakes in rehabbing or landlording it could be years before your back in the game or back on your game. In wholesaling making a mistake means only that you learned what houses not to buy. Think of the old adage, “What would you attempt if you could not fail?” Wholesalers know that there is very little at risk, including their earnest money deposit, on well written contracts on single family homes. (In the commercial real estate world they call this a free look.)

9. Not knowing what I was looking for.

Most everyone starts their real estate career looking for houses that they might like to live in, when in reality they should be looking for the investment grade rehab and rental properties in their area. These are below the median price ranges in stable blue collar neighborhoods.

10. Wholesaling too many houses and not keeping enough for my portfolio.

Rank this as the biggest mistake I EVER made, Here I was, the gateway to my clients 100, 200 and I even 400 house portfolios and I was selling them for what amounted to tips. Don’t feel too sorry for me, as I learned my lesson and started keeping rentals! I wish I had done it sooner, Just please don’t do the same and keep the best houses with the biggest equities for you and your families future.

Even after 20 years of wholesaling houses writing this blog post takes me back in time and I feel all the frustration I did when I first got started. I want you to bypass all that frustration. Take this list, print it out, put up by your desk, and make sure you reference it frequently.

BUT…

Just because those were MY mistakes, it doesn’t mean they’re the ONLY mistakes one can make.

All the best,
Steve Berchtold

http://www.real-estate-investors-marketing.com

What a Great “Real Estate Marketing Tool” Looks Like!

The recent headline in USA Today read, “‘Flip This House’ star accused of fraud and faking work on show.

 

What a “great negative” this could be for the “real deal” investors. I’ll explain what I mean at the end of this short article…

 

ATLANTA (AP) — On an episode of A&E’s popular reality series Flip This House, Atlanta businessman Sam Leccima sits in front of a run-down house and calls buying and selling real estate his passion.

Now authorities and legal filings claim that Leccima’s true passion was a series of scams that included faking the home renovations shown on the cable TV show and claiming to have sold houses he never owned.

“This is, indeed, a con artist,” said Sonya McGee, an Atlanta pharmaceutical representative who says Leccima took $4,000 from her in an investment scheme.

McGee and others say Leccima’s episodes of Flip This House, A&E’s most popular show, were elaborate hoaxes. His friends and family were presented as potential home buyers and “sold” signs were slapped in front of unsold houses. They say the home repairs — the lynchpin of the show — were actually quick or temporary patch jobs designed to look good on camera.

Leccima says he never claimed to own the homes. While not acknowledging his televised renovations were staged, he didn’t deny it and suggested that A&E and Departure Films, the production company that makes the show, knew exactly what he was doing.

Here we go again… MORE negative press about anything relating to real estate investors!

I always say, “There’s only one way to deal with problems… FACE THEM HEAD ON!

You’re a real estate investor that’s honest, truthful and don’t want to be compared to the “other” so-called real estate investors like Mr. Leccima. Good. You don’t have to be!

What’s the best Real Estate Marketing Tool you can use? The story you just read above!
How could I use this…? The same way you face any other apparent disaster to your image as a real estate investor. FACE THEM HEAD ON!

If you’re using direct mail or even any other high profile media (radio/TV) as your Real Estate Marketing Tool, you include this story in your marketing… ALONG with the stark comparison of the way YOU do business and examples of how you’re the “real” deal, (with examples) as opposed to the “made up” TV things of this fake!

It’s the same principle with any Real Estate Marketing Tool. You want to compare your product or service and how yours is better than the “other” guys. In this example, it’s pretty clear cut what the comparison is… it’s about “honesty, integrity, character and someone you can trust and do business with.”

Real Estate Marketing Tool number 1 in anyone’s book! Does anyone ever want to do business with someone they think may try and “con” them? I’ve never met anyone in all my years on this earth that said, “I don’t care if he’s a “con artist, “as long as he gets the job done.”

Take this “negative story” and use the Real Estate Marketing Tool that gives the potential client another reason to do business with you! It’s a selling point that only works every time! This is a powerful Real Estate Marketing Tool! Use it and see for yourself.

 

 

Hello Real Estate Investors of the “Emotional” Market!

This morning, I got to thinking about the state of being an investor after the catastrophic effects of coming off the “financial orgasm” some experienced during the “flip frenzy.” Too many invested right past the “line of safety.” The “bungee” cord was “frayed” when they jumped off the bridge! It cost them dearly.

Watching the “trends” would be a smart practice and I know the “big boys” of investing do that, so they don’t end up with a “stall” of purebreds with no race to go to.

The “greed” of some investors is so intoxicating that, like an alcoholic, they never see disaster coming because they’re not looking anymore.

Almost every night, the networks bring their “doom and gloom” reports of how horrible it is and how much more horrible it will probably be very soon. That’s the power of the press! Do we as Americans believe everything they say? Of course not, but when it comes to the economy… we do! And it is bad! I don’t deny we’re in an unfortunate state.
I recently heard of a lady on the east coast of Florida, who, after being a Realtor for many years, is losing her own house to foreclosure because she hasn’t made a sale in over three months. Do you think the news media has been partially responsible for “perpetuating” the market slump? Absolutely! Let me tell you why…

Consider the facts: People, plus greed equals disaster! Banks, plus greed equals disaster! Anyone who got an ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) , got one because they couldn’t get a better type of loan (or the broker did a “whammy” on them). In other words, “grabbing” for something you don’t REALLY qualify for in the first place! Of course the banks are “always more than willing” to take whatever you’ll give them! And most people are “ignorantly” willing to give them their lives.

The point I’m going to make finally here is that EMOTION is the #1 driving force of the highs and the lows in this market. If the people didn’t watch or listen to the negative reports, would they still FEEL the same way? NO, they wouldn’t.

If you’ve got a job, your wife’s got a job and your way of life financially has been the same for the last many years, why would you not buy a home with the mortgage rates at the current level they are right now? Exactly!

Take the emotion out of the equation and we would have record home sales and a record breaking economy! Not ALL people are out of work! Not all people are losing their jobs! Not all people have gone into foreclosure. Not everyone has a reason to feel “negative” about the future. If you believed the “economic reports” on nightly news, you’d almost be ready to quit, give up or jump from the highest point in your town! (I’d have to go find a building since I live in Florida and there isn’t much here taller than the WalMart store!) But, I’m NOT going to jump!

My suggestion for all of us who still want to be successful in Real Estate Investing, is to not let the “E” word affect us like many people are being affected. Obviously, you can’t go into town with your “guns a blazing” anymore, but you don’t have to run and hide like a scared rabbit either. “Smarts, awareness and non-emotional” (not compassion-less toward people though) are the key words in our current economy… and just maybe in our future one too! If you can grasp these principles, you may be on the top, even when the bottom falls out from under the others.