How do you find these deals???? I look for them myself, I SHOW UP to everything-- every www.nareia.org meeting, every www.ccia-info.com meeting, and I started my own network www.wcrt.org with monthly meetings, and we're now up to 5 area sub-groups with 8 meetings a months between them; and I tell anyone and everyone I know that I'm a real estate investor, let them know what I'm looking for, and tell them I pay referral fees for closed leads. I FOLLOW UP on everything, and I MAKE DECISIONS QUICKLY-- that is, I know that I've got a network behind me so I can put a property under contract immediately and then if I can't close, I've got 100 + people in my rolodex who will right behind me. I'm very aggressive and ambitious myself, but I also realize that some of all is better than all of none. Just today I was online (Yahoo IM) and another investor saw me and said, hey what do you think of this deal. In one minute I was on the horn with the seller, and talking with a contractor to inspect the place a few minutes later. We're set up to see it now and I will go PREPARED to make an offer and get a contract on the property. I dropped a few clues to success in anything throughout this thread. I think the biggest mistake RE investors make is not getting the word out. Is there any doubt in anyone's mind that Donald Trump is a real estate investor? Now, before all of you flip out and start thinking I'm comparing myself to Trump-- get over your own insecurities and get the message: Trump is a PROMOTER and a MARKETER. Do you think he has to hunt down deals, or do you think he spends his day sifting through deals that are BROUGHT TO HIM on a silver platter daily, if not hourly? The fact that I'm an RE investor is the worst kept secret in town. EVERYONE knows what I do. If you're going to succeed-- you have to start thinking the same way. If you're in business, everyone needs to know it-- and they need to know what you do, and if possible-- they need to know what's in it for them. I have a way to benefit EVERYONE. If you're a lender-- I'm an investor and I have a network of investors. If you're a contractor, I do rehabs-- and I have a large network of rehabbers. If you're an investor of any kind-- I have deals of every kind for you. Every person I meet I have two questions for and it's all I think about every day: 1. What do YOU need? I'm not interested in TELLING people what I need because they don't care. I want to know what THEY need-- because you can rest assured people care about what they need. 2. How can I help YOU with that? They don't care how they can help me. They're all asking what can I do for them? So, I'm straight forward about saying I'm interested in what you need, and in helping you get it. The result of four and a half years of aggressive "golden rule" application has been that I no longer worry about what I need-- that sort of takes care of itself. I'm in the business of helping others get what they need. It keeps me up at night. I have a daily list not of "things to do" but of people to help. I know who needs what, and I know how to get it. And that, dear friends, is how I find deals. People care mainly about themselves, and if you get into their revenue stream in a major way-- as in you're a big part of it-- then all of the sudden they start caring about YOU...
