option8

You are welcome, Gary and Gene, Keep up the calls and the talley. Everyone who jumps in on the challenge is taking action and making things happen. I can't wait to hear more results... option8

Lydia, BE ENCOURAGED! It is always darkest before the sun comes out and you are taking action which is the first step toward success. Something just may come from these leads. All the things you are doing will generate some leads. I'm with Michael, though...Concentrate on one simple strategy that pays and work it over and over. CAs are a great start, simple to implement and very easy to provide the seller, buyer and you with WINs. You have knowledge to do other types of LO like sandwiches, but they take longer and require more energy. Save those strategies (and your precious energy) for the deal where the seller wants to be "hands-off". I'd be happy to look over your marketing materials to see if we can't punch it up a bit to elicit those elusive responses to your efforts. Send me a private email if you'd like to take me up on this. Finally, I'm not so certain that more money is the answer. Let's see if we can't maximize the money you have to spend for the greatest return. I still use the inexpensive, freebie stuff. We can look over your budget and see how to maximize those dollars, too. My best leads come from free advertising. [As an aside... Michael, you are the best, most generous mentor on the planet! This is the sort of stuff that makes me love this board!] option8

Lydia, I actually use 2 800 systems for voice mail. I wouldn't trade the 800 #s for anything because you get the caller ID from all phone callers whether they leave a message or not. One is my direct personal number with a fax capability. This system allows me to monitor the messages as they are being left. I love this for dealing directly with sellers and buyers calling my generic ads for RTO homes and WBHs. The other system is a marketing system for advertising specific RTO homes with one mailbox for each property. This is the one you use. This one is great for telling people about available properties particularly when you are marketing more than one. We also keep a "Press 9 to leave a message for office manager." option to handling our existing tenant needs. Of course, as advertised---NO T&T, we almost never get calls on this extension. We don't get many messages on the info boxes for this line. The calls are almost exclusively for advertised properties or from the few people who don't want to put info about their property on our website. The best thing I can say is the activity on the system is directly proportionate to your advertising. Hope this helps...feel free to ask any more question. option8

Exactly! (sorry I missed this?) option8

It's Accountability Time!!! It's been almost 30 days since I issued this challenge. Does anyone care to share the statistics on the following: How many calls did you make? How many answering machines did you speak into? How many possible deals did you unearthed and begin to pursue? How many deals did you actually close? How many possible deals are still pending? Are you willing to tell us how you feel about cold calling now? option8

Recently, I sold a property for an investor with a closing of that deal at the end of last week. This investor had another property that they thought was lease optioned, but the deal fell thru. Their deal was $70K in 2 years, $675/mo, $25.00 rent credits...not great, but sufficient to get make the property cash flow. They have plans to put in all new doors and new windows. I just so happened that I have this extremely valuable list of buyers, so on Monday, I suggested I take a crack at filling this for them and told them I could do it quickly. I called the buyer I had in mind on Monday evening and told them "I have just the house for you." We agreed to meet at the property yesterday (Wed) at 4:00pm. (Mind you, I'd never been in this property...) We walked in the front door and before we passed the entry way, the husband said "I want this house". At that point, I knew we had a deal---all I had to do was go thru the process...explain how my Rent to Own program works, go thru the buyer benefits, present the alternative pricing scenarios and ask which they prefer. I was able to get $69,900 for the property in 2 years, $3500 up front option payment, $ 700/month with no rent credits. In a couple of months they want to start paying an additional $100 / mo for $125.00 rent credits. I came home yesterday with the money for credit check and a plan to get the deal consumated in time for them to have the keys before the 1st of June. All of this took exactly 30 minutes! The investor was so pleased, he agreed to install new carpet throughout the home before we turn over keys. (...adding that he would like to go find more homes and have me repeat the process) What is working here? First of all (and most importantly), I have a ready list of buyers with whom I have established a good working relationship. We've formed a partnership to help them locate their next home. These buyers are actively looking for a new residence and ready to leap when we find "the home". Their lease applications are already in hand, so I know exactly what I'm dealing with. I know who has money and how much they have to work with. With all of this in hand, I can honestly tell any home seller "I have buyers for houses!" and "You can get top dollar!" Secondly, with this list of buyers, I can let the investors know where my buyers want to live so they can target their property purchases in those areas of town. Thirdly, my list of buyers self-select themselves thru the process...the cream rises to the top. If they provide me with everything I need, they increase their likelihood of getting a home. I actively/agressively look for houses for the ones who play by my rules. I'm not kissing any frogs and not dealing with many tire-kickers. They may look at a few properties, but that's okay with me. Each time they look, I get to further build that rapport with them. This group of buyers is also out looking for FSBOs too, so they are also birddogging. It has taken a little time to refine the process and to develop the pool of buyers, but now it is time to "plug and play" Buyers into Houses---I keep the option fee. Hey, I just realized that maybe this is why I'm called option8 (there's a good goal...do this 8 times per month!) happy investing! I'm off to draw up the latest contracts... option8

Great job, Pete! Ain't life Grand! (make that 5 Grand!) option8

You could add to your marketing efforts the phrases: Handiman Special! Below Market Value! option8

I put a property in that meets the criteria. Let's see what happens. I'll report back. option8

Looks Great! option8

Steve, You say you want to place newspaper ads with other We Buy Houses ads and this is a great start. I think it is fine to put in the Lease Purchase line, however you want to consider a few things. 1) How are you going to make your ad stand out from all the other WBH ads? Bigger print, reverse type, Bold headlines. Say something other than WBHs 2) How can you connect emotionally with your target audience? I'm not sure WBHs is and emotional enough tug... 3) Run your ad consistently. One time will not be enough. We do other types of deals, also...What ever makes sense...retail, wholesale, L/P and more. Go for it and keep us posted on how it goes. option8

Here's another way to get your feet wet in Creative Real Estate Investing. I stumbled upon a National Birddog Opportunity. While you are looking for properties to Lease Option or take subject to, you will stumble on those folks who need cash today. Here's a place to submit these properties (within their parameters, of course). This is new, free and could just be an additional income stream for you while you grow your business. Remember, there are slow quarters and fast nickels in this business! I've already submitted a few properties. Let's see how it works. Click this link: Happy investing... option8

Expedex pricing was for bulk purchases ordered from the factory--- Go to the local office supply store and look for Royal Brights Colored posterboard option8

Doug, here's my 0.02 Think about being not only a big fish, but a big LOUD fish... Choose your colors carefully---the louder the better----NEON! option8

We are glad you agree!!! Way to take action! option8

Good Job, Adam... What is your next target? Under 12 hours? You set some pretty high hurdles for the rest of us... option8

CoNgRaTuLaTiOnS, Kurt! Way to get going... option8

Great job, Pete! Are we all begininning to see what a valuable resource the phone can be? option8

Kimberly makes a good point, so... Here are a couple of internet resources with links to state codes: Full-text State Statutes and Legislation on the Internet and this one looks even better (contains links by subject) American Law Sources Online (ALSO) Hope this helps someone study up on the landlord/tenant laws in your state option8

Way to go, Doug! I just knew there was a motivated seller up there! option8

So everyone... It's now time for the accountability check! How did you do? Did you actually pick up the phone and make your calls? How many answering machines did you get? Did you leave a message? How many people did you talk to? Did you find any motivated sellers? If you didn't get thru the calls, no problem...Keep dialing until you finish and post the results. option8

Gary (MO) EXACTLY!!! We are still thrilled to pieces....I think this week we had 2 more this week, 5 total last month---these are seller leads option8

-Tony- I have to admit that you may have made a correct assessment of your market and your ad is funny. I apologize if I seem insensitive to the unique challenges in your market...I really don't mean to minimize the tough market you are in. I will say to you that there ARE people out there who have no equity, bought and have to sell fast, are being transferred or just had a death in the family, etc. We just have to figure out a way to unearth them. How big is your market? Can you go to the fringes where the activity isn't so great? How about to the area of town that is exactly opposite to the hottest market? We'll figure it out... option8

I received an email that prompted me to post this message... Do you have an Elevator Pitch? I'm sure many of you will ask "What is an Elevator Pitch?" This is your Unique Business Proposition stated simply and clearly in a short amount of time. If you entered an elevator and encountered the most influential person in your market...this is the person you really wanted to get to because they were liquidating 1000 properties OR they have deep pockets OR they had the phone number of every motivated seller in your farm area... Can you state what you do in a clear and concise manner and convey your message in the time it takes to ride up to the 10th floor? Can you state it in 2 sentences? (okay, maybe 3!) Can you state it with enough information and enthusiasm to get the listener to say "What a great business!" and immediately think of 2 people who need your services? What do you say when asked "What is it you do?"? just getting us thinking... option8

puls1234, You are right, mailing is a valuable way to reach motivated sellers. New investors don't seem to have too much difficulty with the relatively anonymous task of stuffing an envelope. This very valid marketing method doesn't cause us too much discomfort. I want to motivate us to move out of our comfort zones and get the practice of speaking with lots of sellers, make the word "ours", the phrase-ology second nature, get comfortable handling the objections and answering the questions. This is purely a numbers game! Here's an analogy...If you want to win the lottery, you have to play--- this mean going to the corner store and playing. If you really want to win the lottery and your first ticket isn't a winner, don't you have to go back to the store and play over and over again. The odds of hitting the lottery aren't remotely close to the odds of finding a deal by calling FS and FRBOs. It's true that we have to have several productive lead sources if we are going to be successful. The least expensive, most proactive avenue to take is "dialing for houses". Here's another thought for you. It costs in both money and time to mail with no assurance of having a motivated seller on the phone. By picking up the phone and calling that ads that say "must sell" or "relocating" or any ad that indicates motivation, you can ascertain very quickly---within 2 minutes or less, for free, if there is a possible deal worth pursuing. Hope this helps... option8 P.S. I'll issue more challenges later.