I am constantly asked about my secret sauce. How are you consistently finding real estate wholesaling deals? For all of you that know me or if you are one of my students you know that my "secret sauce" to finding and selling these great deals is PROPER marketing!
I don't care what business you are in, you are first and foremost a marketer of your product or service before you are anything else. You have to let people know that you are in business before you do any business.
As a real estate wholesaler you must continue to get the word out that you Buy Houses. You need to get your message out to as many people as possible. I like to call it "Fishing Lines". The more fishing lines you have in the water, the more fish you will catch. The fishing lines that I like to use on a consistent basis include but are not limited to:
* Bandit Signs- these are the signs you see on telephone poles or stacked in the ground that say "We Buy Houses", "Stop Foreclosure" etc.
* Direct Mail- don't mail out to a certain zip code or area, mail out to people who you think may NEED your services. A few examples would be: people in foreclosure, people who have filed for divorce, vacant properties.
* Classified Ad's- I like to use www.craigslist.org and www.backpage.com. Go to the real estate section and check out what ad's are being placed and create your own ad.
* Word of Mouth- I am constantly telling my students that once you become a real estate wholesaler you have to let EVERYONE know that you are in business. Get business cards, and pass them out religiously. If you go out to dinner leave your business card with your tip. If you go to the bathroom, leave your business card on the stall. If your meeting someone for the first time, hand them your business card.
These are some great ways to find truly motivated sellers which is a essential part in your real estate wholesaling business. BUT... you will also need people to sell these great deals to. You will need investors that have the cash and the money to buy these deals quickly. There are plenty of ways to find these buyers and once again it all comes down to the marketing. I use some of the same techniques and strategies to find buyers as I do to find sellers.
*Bandit Signs- instead of using "We Buy Houses" try using "We Sell Houses"- Be creative but not to cute with your wording. Use these signs to build up your buyers list. This means that even if you don't have any real estate to sell you still want to save the buyers information for future deals. Heck, real estate agents have mastered this technique.
*Classified Ad's- use the same services I mentioned earlier to place ad's in. This time you are placing ad's to market a property you have to sell.
*Word of Mouth- the absolute best and cheapest way to find investors to buy your deals are to go where they hang out. You will find all of the investors you can handle by just joining your local REIA ( real estate investor association) you can go to www.nationalreia.com to find your local chapter.
The more "Fishing Lines" in the water the more fish you will catch. This is "The Secret"!