(Before you read this – go get yourself a green beer and speak with an Irish brogue (that is a fancy word for accent)) I was going to title this blog "How to Use a Leprechaun to Sell real Estate", but I just couldn't get it to work. Anyway..... Aahhh St Patrick’s Day – my Irish side always comes out on this day – well everybody’s Irish side comes out on this day. I have been thinking of how I can sell more houses and St Patrick’s Day is a perfect day. What better day to sell than on a day that is so GREEN. Our slogan for today should be: “You Don’t’ Need the Luck of the Irish to Buy One of Our Homes” We have programs for anyone who wants to own a part of the American Dream today.
But I want to think bigger. There was no ground swell for my “Forget the Flowers, Buy a House” Valentine’s Day program. In fact I got a few nasty emails from florists on the suggestion at all. But everyone is Irish today and they love green. I was thinking of having a slogan for today: Don’t Go to the Pub – Buy a House & Save the Money. But I like to go to the pub. So maybe I should modify it to be: Go to the Pub after you Buy the House and Celebrate with Friends” Everyone wants to celebrate when they buy a house and with today’s prices you cannot go wrong. In fact I believe if you let everyone know you just bought a house at the local pub you would get more than a few pints on the house or from other patrons.
So plan your day by calling your Realtor and tell them what type of house you are looking for and go buy a house. The economy will get an immediate boost. Much quicker than the stimulus package that was approved last month.
Maybe we need some help and I do not mean Washington DC. I was thinking more in the form of a Leprechaun. I have heard that if you trap one they have to reveal the location of their pot of gold and with the price of gold I am sure we could purchase many houses. So I did some research on how to trap a Leprechaun (the internet is a wealth of knowledge… isn’t it). You can use a box, net or any other clean container. The bait is very important. Yes you guessed it – Leprechauns love Lucky Charms cereal. So make sure you add them to your bait. Since Leprechauns are greedy, money is always a good thing to use and lastly they like four leaf clovers. Placement of the trap is critical to success. Rainbows are good to use on or around your trap. Set the trap and wait for the Leprechaun.
So we have our game plan.
1. Trap a Leprechaun
2. Get his pot of gold
3. Call a realtor
4. Buy a house
5. Go to the pub to celebrate
Well maybe just the last three items on the list, but it is fun to think about the other two. As we all know home ownership is the fastest way to better self-worth. We could use that today.
Irish Toast: May the roof above you never fall in,
And those gathered beneath it never fall out.
Irish Blessings; author unknown:
May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.
See ya at Mike’s Roadhouse on Dale,
Mike
Showing posts with label Real Estate Marketing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Real Estate Marketing. Show all posts
Monday, March 16, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Real Estate Course: Day Sixteen of 30 Day Action Plan
Day 16
Day Sixteen: No Private money! Take a break from talking to people. But if the opportunity presents itself, then do not hesitate.
Today is the day to increase your marketing effort. Marketing is the lifeblood of your business and you cannot stop it. You can adjust the size of it but never stop it, since it takes such a long time to get the momentum going. You start a marketing campaign it takes time for people to notice it and respond. Once they do respond you do not want to shut it off, because you will have to start again and it is about momentum. You are already doing direct marketing to homeowners, now you want to extend that reach. Bandit signs are the little 18 x24 signs you see on the side of the road that say “WE BUY HOUSES” with a phone number. You see them everywhere because they work. So today check into ordering 100 plus signs and arrange for someone (not yourself) to place them. Unless you think your time is better spent putting up the signs instead of talking to sellers. You can advertise for someone to place the signs on craigslist. Also check with your local government to see if they have any sign ordinances against putting up the signs. You can also buy a bench sign. It is simpler to do but can cost more ($100/mo). It is also stationary to one location, so pick a location careful. You are building your name in the community. There are many other ways to advertise. Brainstorm more ideas and keep your eyes open to what attracts your eye and why.
You should be constantly looking at and researching properties. Talk to your network, look on craigslist and drive your farm area.
- Marketing in your farm area
- Research properties
- Make offers
Day Sixteen: No Private money! Take a break from talking to people. But if the opportunity presents itself, then do not hesitate.
Today is the day to increase your marketing effort. Marketing is the lifeblood of your business and you cannot stop it. You can adjust the size of it but never stop it, since it takes such a long time to get the momentum going. You start a marketing campaign it takes time for people to notice it and respond. Once they do respond you do not want to shut it off, because you will have to start again and it is about momentum. You are already doing direct marketing to homeowners, now you want to extend that reach. Bandit signs are the little 18 x24 signs you see on the side of the road that say “WE BUY HOUSES” with a phone number. You see them everywhere because they work. So today check into ordering 100 plus signs and arrange for someone (not yourself) to place them. Unless you think your time is better spent putting up the signs instead of talking to sellers. You can advertise for someone to place the signs on craigslist. Also check with your local government to see if they have any sign ordinances against putting up the signs. You can also buy a bench sign. It is simpler to do but can cost more ($100/mo). It is also stationary to one location, so pick a location careful. You are building your name in the community. There are many other ways to advertise. Brainstorm more ideas and keep your eyes open to what attracts your eye and why.
You should be constantly looking at and researching properties. Talk to your network, look on craigslist and drive your farm area.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Real Estate Seminar
Hi All,
I will be adding an extra post this week. Jeff and I are in Orlando Florida at a Real Estate conference with others investors. We share ideas with other investors to see what is working best. We will be sharing highlights for each day.
The flight here was great. After traveling 9 hours we arrived to beautiful weather. So see you tomorrow after the first day.
I will be adding an extra post this week. Jeff and I are in Orlando Florida at a Real Estate conference with others investors. We share ideas with other investors to see what is working best. We will be sharing highlights for each day.
The flight here was great. After traveling 9 hours we arrived to beautiful weather. So see you tomorrow after the first day.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Real Estate Course: Day Five of 30 Day Action Plan
Day Five
Day five is the beginning of your search for private money. This will be the most important thing you do in your real estate business. Without money you cannot buy many properties. The bank will only let you buy so many properties and the climate we are in today (December 2008), they may not qualify you for any loans let alone one for a property that can be sold for a profit or has a positive cash flow. From your list you made yesterday, call one person and either let them know about the opportunity you have for them to make a higher rate of return on the phone or over lunch (in person). I tend to do it in person that way I can gauge their reaction and tailor my presentation of the opportunity. If they say no do not cross them off your list a No now does not mean a No later it just means they cannot at the moment.
Next you need to purchase a list of homeowners in your identified farm area. You can do this at www.listsource.com or www.melissadata.com. Both have search criteria you can use to shrink your direct mail to target a specific group of homeowners and sellers in the group. One of the cardinal rules in marketing is to hit the prospect multiple times before you move on. Your budget for your marketing campaign should be large enough to allow you to mail to the home owner at least five times. That will be enough times to give the prospective seller the opportunity to hear your offer.
Now that you have your list and your budget it is time to open your www.USPS.com account. This is a fantastic Web site. You can put together your marketing message on a postcard and mail it to your list of homeowners. In fact, within the span of a couple of hours, you can have a mailing going out to a 1,000 homeowners, amazing. You can also set that mailing to happen again in a month or 60 days or rotate it with another list or two and send it every 90 days. You can also use a virtual marketing company like SalesTeamLive. This company will buy the list in the target area you want and the budget you want and will send out the mailings without fail every month. Send as much or as little as you want, it is “Done for You Marketing.” Just visit www.salesteamlive.com and look at the opportunity.
- Talk to one person everyday about your private money program
- Buy a list of property owners
- Open USPS.com account
Day five is the beginning of your search for private money. This will be the most important thing you do in your real estate business. Without money you cannot buy many properties. The bank will only let you buy so many properties and the climate we are in today (December 2008), they may not qualify you for any loans let alone one for a property that can be sold for a profit or has a positive cash flow. From your list you made yesterday, call one person and either let them know about the opportunity you have for them to make a higher rate of return on the phone or over lunch (in person). I tend to do it in person that way I can gauge their reaction and tailor my presentation of the opportunity. If they say no do not cross them off your list a No now does not mean a No later it just means they cannot at the moment.
Next you need to purchase a list of homeowners in your identified farm area. You can do this at www.listsource.com or www.melissadata.com. Both have search criteria you can use to shrink your direct mail to target a specific group of homeowners and sellers in the group. One of the cardinal rules in marketing is to hit the prospect multiple times before you move on. Your budget for your marketing campaign should be large enough to allow you to mail to the home owner at least five times. That will be enough times to give the prospective seller the opportunity to hear your offer.
Now that you have your list and your budget it is time to open your www.USPS.com account. This is a fantastic Web site. You can put together your marketing message on a postcard and mail it to your list of homeowners. In fact, within the span of a couple of hours, you can have a mailing going out to a 1,000 homeowners, amazing. You can also set that mailing to happen again in a month or 60 days or rotate it with another list or two and send it every 90 days. You can also use a virtual marketing company like SalesTeamLive. This company will buy the list in the target area you want and the budget you want and will send out the mailings without fail every month. Send as much or as little as you want, it is “Done for You Marketing.” Just visit www.salesteamlive.com and look at the opportunity.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Real Estate Course: Day Three of 30 Day Action Plan
Day Three
1. Marketing, Marketing, Marketing
This is the day you start laying the groundwork for all those motivated sellers who will be calling you and the systems that will handle them. The big name in this game is MARKETING. You want sellers calling you. Sure you could call people in the paper who are advertising their house for sale, but so can everyone else. That road leads to lots of competition. You want sellers who get a mailer from you and call. Even that does not guarantee they are motivated to sell their home, but it does show more interest in selling than someone in the paper with less competition. And how you reach them is through marketing. Marketing is every piece that has your name or your company’s name on it. It is your business cards you hand out to everyone. These cards should say you buy houses. It is bandit signs that say “I Buy Houses” and a phone number. It is a Web site you drive traffic to. It is Internet listings (craigslist.org), fliers and best of all, direct mailings asking if they want to sell their home. So you need to decide how you are going to run your business – under your own name or through a company? You need to discuss this with your lawyer and accountant and we do not presume to know all the ramifications of your company entity choice, but it most likely will be through a company like a corporation or a LLC (Limited Liability Company). These two entities will provide personal protection of your assets (like your home), consult a lawyer and account before deciding.
So you have set up a market program so what do you do when you have calls coming in from motivated sellers? How are you going to handle them? What number are you going to use? Is it a cell number (OK); your home number (never); an indirect number (i.e. RingCentral.com) or don’t put any number on your marketing pieces (not advisable). Research an Internet phone number that can be answered 24 hours a day with a recorded message or be routed to your cell. You can decide to answer the call or not. But why spend all the money on having motivated sellers call you and not pick-up the phone. We use Ringcentral.com for our phone system. It answers and routes all calls to different extensions in our office. We can redirect that call at anytime. It is extremely flexible. For more information go to: http://www.ringcentral.com. It is however expensive, well at least more expense than just a cell phone since you have to have the cell or office phone anyway. So by far the simplest and most direct is a cell phone that you answer all the time. You can carry it around with you at all times. As you grow you can add systems to your business.
1. Marketing, Marketing, Marketing
- Business cards
- Bandit signs
- Web sites
- Internet listings (i.e. craigslist)
- Fliers
- Cell Number
- Ringcentral.com
This is the day you start laying the groundwork for all those motivated sellers who will be calling you and the systems that will handle them. The big name in this game is MARKETING. You want sellers calling you. Sure you could call people in the paper who are advertising their house for sale, but so can everyone else. That road leads to lots of competition. You want sellers who get a mailer from you and call. Even that does not guarantee they are motivated to sell their home, but it does show more interest in selling than someone in the paper with less competition. And how you reach them is through marketing. Marketing is every piece that has your name or your company’s name on it. It is your business cards you hand out to everyone. These cards should say you buy houses. It is bandit signs that say “I Buy Houses” and a phone number. It is a Web site you drive traffic to. It is Internet listings (craigslist.org), fliers and best of all, direct mailings asking if they want to sell their home. So you need to decide how you are going to run your business – under your own name or through a company? You need to discuss this with your lawyer and accountant and we do not presume to know all the ramifications of your company entity choice, but it most likely will be through a company like a corporation or a LLC (Limited Liability Company). These two entities will provide personal protection of your assets (like your home), consult a lawyer and account before deciding.
So you have set up a market program so what do you do when you have calls coming in from motivated sellers? How are you going to handle them? What number are you going to use? Is it a cell number (OK); your home number (never); an indirect number (i.e. RingCentral.com) or don’t put any number on your marketing pieces (not advisable). Research an Internet phone number that can be answered 24 hours a day with a recorded message or be routed to your cell. You can decide to answer the call or not. But why spend all the money on having motivated sellers call you and not pick-up the phone. We use Ringcentral.com for our phone system. It answers and routes all calls to different extensions in our office. We can redirect that call at anytime. It is extremely flexible. For more information go to: http://www.ringcentral.com. It is however expensive, well at least more expense than just a cell phone since you have to have the cell or office phone anyway. So by far the simplest and most direct is a cell phone that you answer all the time. You can carry it around with you at all times. As you grow you can add systems to your business.
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