Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Today's market certainly presents a great time to grow your real estate investment business. But are you using the best marketing tools to find the best of the best deals?
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There are a wide variety of ways to find the best deals. You could rely on a network of real estate agents to bring you deals to grow your investment business. There are some true advantages to that method but realtor commissions cost big chunks of money that could go towards bigger profits for you. Or you could grow your real estate investment business by doing all of the footwork yourself. And there are also many other reliable options.
Networking to Seriously Bolster Your Investment Business
Besides real estate agents, there are other people that will bird-dog the best real estate deals for you. These are people without a realtor's license that are trying to get started as investors. You can easily find these people by placing ads on craigslist or in your local newspaper. The best thing is they do the legwork to bring in great deals in exchange for a small commission you only pay on the deals you close.
But don't count out real estate agents. They have insider information that might prove highly profitable. These are called pocket listings. Realtors know about highly desirable properties before they go on the market and can give you a chance to make the first offer. Pocket listings are more typical in commercial real estate but also happen in residential real estate. A potential seller talks to a realtor about listing a property but doesn't actually list the property. However, the realtor knows the person is interested in selling and will put together a behind the scenes deal.
Another networking option is becoming friendly with the banker in charge of the foreclosure department at your local bank. Foreclosures are still some of the best deals you'll find to increase your real estate investment business.
DYI for a More Profitable Real Estate Investment Business
An option to keep costs down is finding the deals yourself. You can put up bandit signs around town letting people know that you buy distressed houses or commercial property. Running ads in the newspaper or on craigslist is another low cost way to find the best investment opportunities.
Some people have tried telemarketing by answering ads others are running to sell real estate. Another road to success is sending out direct mail to a specific desirable neighborhood. Still others have found great investment properties entirely on the internet through web pages, social media, and by developing an email list of possible sellers and buyers. There are great deals out there. It's all about being patient and diligent to only seek out the best deals.
Once your real estate investment business starts to gain traction, keep track of which marketing channels work best. Grow your business by putting the most effort and money into the methods that produce the best results.
Author bio: Brian Kline has been investing in real estate for more than 30 years and writing about real estate investing for seven years. He also draws upon 25 plus years of business experience including 12 years as a manager at Boeing Aircraft Company. Brian currently lives at Lake Cushman, Washington. A vacation destination, a few short miles from a national forest in the Olympic Mountains with the Pacific Ocean a couple of miles in the opposite direction.
As you mentioned, running ads in local papers has worked well for us. Craigslist? Not so much. I setup some real estate squeeze pages and posted them on Craigslist. Results were not very good. Same squeeze pages using local ads worked well.
Kevin
HowToLeads.com
Kevin,
Thanks for commenting on your experience with Craigslist. I do like the idea of using a squeeze page to capture email addresses of birddogs. As you probably know, the headline on a squeeze page is critical to garnering a person's attention.
Best of luck with your business.
Brian Kline