No matter what strategy you’re using, if you need a buyer, it’s very important to have a list of ready buyers already in place.
What is the most important thing to have as real estate investor?
Your portfolio? No.
Your lender relationships? Guess again.
The answer is: your LEADS. Because without leads, you have no deals and no opportunities to create real wealth. As a wholesaler, most of those leads come in two buckets:
Our goal? To help you generate tons of buyer leads to build up your buyers list, so when all those killer deals come pouring in, you’ve got someone to sell them to.
This doesn’t just apply to wholesaling. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a wholesaler, rehabber, landlord, or anything else. Having a robust buyers list is solid gold. It’s the only proprietary intel you have at the end of the day. The list of qualified buyers you build, nurture, and market to is yours. And used right, it could be worth millions.
That’s not to say that every buyers list out there is a must-have. Really, it’s the opposite.
There are tons of lists that anyone can get their hands on. Sure, there could be a deal or two lurking in those piles and piles of names but, more often than not, these lists are oversold and underperforming. Everyone is calling on them, so the likelihood of getting a killer deal is pretty slim, resulting in a lose/lose.
Wouldn’t it be great to send out a quick email targeted at highly qualified, highly engaged cash buyers that are ready to scoop your deals right up? Those are the lists we want to build. Those are the lists worth the big bucks.
So the million dollar question is, how do you build a buyer’s list?
The answer is simple. With these five tips that any real estate investor can tackle today, without ratcheting up your hours, overwhelming your resources, or breaking the bank.
Sounds pretty good, right? So let’s go…
Go Big or Go Home
Let’s say you met a great rehab buyer at an REIA event—always good news. The difference, though, between a powerhouse investor and someone just starting out? That seasoned pro knows that it’s just another lead on their buyers list. Sure, it’s a great lead, and possibly a lucrative one… but who knows? You could strike gold or you could strike out with this one.
Expert investors tend the relationship and figure out where they both can benefit. They don’t put all their eggs in that guy’s basket… because in most cases, one buyer lead does not make a sale. Honestly, it’s going to take a big list of quality buyers to steer yourself to successful deals. That’s not meant to scare you but, simply, to manage one basic expectation:
YOU NEED A BIG LIST. PERIOD.
As you start gaining serious momentum in your marketplace, you’ll find that three or four rehabbers tend to scoop up all or most of your properties. Sure, that will help you close deals but, eventually, you’re going to want more, more, more—and you can’t do that if you’re leaning on a small handful of cash buyers. So embrace the big list and keep building even if you have a high-quality buyer or two already in the mix.
Go Public –
Once a property sells, the details are always available via public record—so roll up your sleeves and get ready to dig in. Isolate the market you’re interested in and crack open those records. In some areas, you can do that online with a few quick clicks—now, sites like Trulia and Realtor.com offer a ton of intel. To go a little deeper, you may need to head down to the County Clerk or Assessor to get hands-on access. Look for names that pop up over and over—those tend to be rehabbers, landlords and other real estate investors. Collect any information you can and reach out.
LEARN THE SECRETS OF SEARCHING PUBLIC RECORDS.
Download your cheat sheet now, and discover what to look for and how to start searching fast.
Get Social –
Same goes for social media. Platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn are treasure troves of cash buyer intel. In minutes, you can create ads targeting real estate investors, rehabbers and landlords in select markets or, even, down to the zip code level.
Even if you have zero experience in marketing or advertising, you can do this. Facebook and LinkedIn make it insanely easy. Just follow the prompts, plug in your information and boom—you get a clean, well designed, high-converting ad. Just like that. And you’ll only pay when someone clicks on your ad, meaning no waste.
Don’t want to advertise? A quick search will turn up tons of real estate investors in your area, especially on LinkedIn. Reach out and make the connection and see where it takes you. Quality rehabbers and landlords are always interested in syncing up with a great wholesaler. If you’ve got the goods, chances are the majority will want to hear from you. So don’t be shy.
Advertise on Craigslist, Constantly –
Another buyer treasure trove is Craigslist. Post on Craigslist a lot, even if it’s the same or a similar message. There are so many ads on Craigslist, and as soon as your ad starts to fall below the first page or two, you’ll see a sharp drop off on engagement and outreach—and that’s no good. By posting frequently, you’ll always keep your business at the tip-top of the list, and top-of-mind among cash buyers.
Download our exclusive CRAIGSLIST AD TEMPLATES for building high converting ads. Make it a habit to post one or two ads at least every other day, if not every day. Keep ads short, include images and integrate a clear-cut call-to-action that includes contact info—a phone number, link to a contact page on your website or an email address that you actually check throughout the day. It sounds obvious, but lots of real estate investors completely mangle that last piece—not ideal.
Hire a Virtual Assistant –
Remember earlier when I talked about the “bigger is better” approach to list building? Good—well step two is, how do we build that list? Hire a quality VA to help with the heavy lifting.
I get these calls all the time—real estate investors who have built a reasonably good list, but fell into the trap of leaning on two or three rehabbers and landlords who they sell to constantly. But, now, they want to do more—they want more to flip more deals and make more money. My advice is always the same: STOP BEING LAZY AND HIRE A VA!
If you’re wholesaling, the way to increase your success is to create competition. The best way to create competition? By building a strong buyers list—a list that’s so strong and so active that, when you have a great deal on the table, a bidding war starts to take shape. By creating the competition— specifically, competition within your cash buyer list—you’ve just created incredible opportunity for yourself. With that rock solid list, you can do one-time group showings, creating a sense of scarcity and competition.
Because:
You want buyers competing.
You want buyers to feel the pressure.
You want buyers to act quickly—and pay more when they do.
It’s not a job for everyone, but it is a job for our all-star roster of killer VAs. If you’re there—if you’re ready to stop being lazy and to start building the most enviable cash buyer list in your market, then get in touch. The consultations are free, and we can get you linked up with an incredible VA with the expertise and background to hit the ground running and build a robust buyers list from the ground up.
And you? You can focus on everything else. Because chances are, that cash buyers list isn’t the only thing on your to-do list today…