10 Ways To Find New Deals
By Paul Esajian on June 10, 2016
As a real estate investor you are only as good as the deals you work on. It can be frustrating at times just waiting for opportunities to fall on your lap. Instead of waiting for your phone to ring there are several things you can do to generate business. Only a handful of these require any significant capital and most of them nothing more than a few minutes a day. The more people you talk to the more deals you will have a chance to close. Here are ten ways you can find new deals.
- Social Media. It is no secret that social media is a great place to grow your business. Between Instagram, twitter and Facebook alone you can reach more people with a few posts than you can almost anything else you do. The key with taking advantage of social media is consistency. Dedicate some time every day to updating your status and posting something relevant. The more you post the more people you will reach and eventually you will find someone that may be interested in working with you.
- Host An Event. If you are struggling to find deals you need to think of out of the box ideas. One of the things you can do is host an event for local wholesalers and fellow investors in your areas. Your event doesn’t have to be a grand scale affair. It can be something as small as a happy hour or even just a small room for breakfast. Everyone likes a free meal so you should be able to draw a crowd if you put your mind to it.
- FSBO Letters. The next time you are in your car write down the address of any property with a FSBO sign in the front yard. FSBO properties are those sold by the owner without the help of a real estate agent. What typically happens is that these properties struggle to sell and after a while the owner is willing to consider any reasonable owner. They may not be willing to negotiate right now but if you follow up in a few weeks they might reconsider.
- Email Newsletter. If you have been in the business for some time you should have a pretty good database of contacts. Every real estate agent, mortgage broker, attorney, wholesaler and contractor you have a business card for should receive a periodic email. A monthly newsletter touching on some aspect of the investing business will keep you on their mind. Much like other marketing you may not get a flood of calls immediately but the more consistent you are the more deals that will come your way.
- Past Clients. There is no more cost efficient, and reliable, way to generate new business than by reaching out to past clients. For starters they already know you so you do not have to spend time gaining their favor. If you do a good job on the transaction they also trust you and are more than willing to work with you again. Every past client and contact that you have ever worked with should get some form of contact every few months. On deals you recently closed you should send a hand written thank you note and follow up by email. Past clients are a great source of leads but only if you follow up with them.
- Blog Posts. You should always be looking for ways to gain exposure to your business. One of the things you can do is find a handful of websites to post weekly blogs. Your blogs don’t have to be 2000 word lengthy pieces. Most posts are anywhere from 250-600 words focusing on a specific aspect of the investing business. There are many investing and real estate websites that welcome new bloggers. With your blog posts you can share them throughout social media and slowly build an organic following in your local area.
- Expired Listings. Ask your real estate agent for a list of expired listings in your market. These listings have been on the market typically 90-120 days without selling. For one reason or another the seller decided to take the listing off the market. By reaching out to twenty of these listings you may get one owner that mispriced their property and is now looking for a quick transaction.
- Business Cards. Make it a point to hand out ten business cards every Monday. The goal is not to just randomly find ten people and put a card in their hand. You want to start a conversation with ten people you meet getting your morning coffee, lunch, at your kids soccer game or while waiting at the car wash. After you converse for a minute hand them a business card and tell them if they know anyone who may need a real estate investor to give you a call. You never know who may know someone that has a need for you.
- Craigslist. You can find deals on Craigslist a couple of different ways. The first is by looking at property listings for sale. Make special notice of the ones that have been on the site for several weeks. The second is by looking at properties for rent. If there is an out of state number listed they owner may be sick of dealing with tenants and ready to move on from the property.
- A Company Website. Don’t neglect your personal website. Even if you don’t consider it a major lead generator everything you do on this list comes back to your website in some way, shape or form. You need to stay on top of your posts and updates. You never know who will work with you solely based on your website.
If you are willing to think outside the box and put yourself out there you can always find new deals. You don’t need to do all ten of these things at once. Pick and choose the ones that make sense for you and give them a try.