Steve

Amy, Yes I Put up Bandit signs at all the major intersections in the area and the highway off ramps. The flyers were put in bus shelters, and are colour photos of the house with a description of it and the terms. I also added a $200 reward for anyone who can bring me a buyer as well. At least this way if they're not interested in the house for themselves, they may know somebody who is, and this cash may motivate them to bring me a buyer. My Bandit signs are simple Rent To Own! 905-593-0251 www.sdkproperties.com At least this way when the house is sold, I can take the signs down and keep them for my next RTO as well. The signs are also hand written, and I don't have the neatest writing, but that doesn't seem to bother people I added a voice message about the house so I don't have to call back every Tom, Dick, and Harry who think they're interested but want to check with their pastor before getting back to me. Steve

So after setting up a new voice message to screen out the unwanted, I've been phoning back all the interested parties. Now I know not to name your option payment, and ask them what they can come up with, however, when I ask them, they come right back to me and ask how much I'm looking for. I eventually cave and say 6-7k, and I've had a few people say "no problem." Is there another way to phrase this question, so they're telling me what they can afford and I'm not telling them what I need? Also, I'm telling people to drive by and have a look at the house first before I show it to them. However, this house is a bit of a fixer upper, should I be telling them this upfront? If people aren't calling after they drive by, should I try to set appointments with anyone whose interested, so I can get them inside and point out the good things? (I'd bring everyone at the same time as well to create the sense of scarcity) Thanks Steve

Yesterday I put up about 15 bandit signs in the area of my RTO house, and flyers in all the bus shelters. By the time I got home I already had 4 messages, I know have 10 messages, and have had 23 people call me in 24hours. I put an ad in the paper, but so far I think the majority of calls are from the signs. Currently I just have a regular voice message that's not geared towards REI, but I think that needs to change so tire kickers aren't leaving me messages, and people who really are interested aren't hanging up when the machine answers. Does anybody have a good voice mail script I can use to screen these callers? When I call them back, how would I prequalify them as well? Thanks Steve

That must be my Canadian shining through Thanks for all the kind words folks, yeah it's been a bit of a struggle finding someone to sign up, but I knew this wouldn't be easy when I got into it. The good thing being the lady brought her boyfriend when we signed the papers, and he's really interested in doing an RTO with his rental property as well. If all goes smoothly, then I have another property lined up! I'm hoping to receive between 5-7k, the seller wants a cut, but I told her we can negotiate that when I know how much option money I'm getting, at least that way I'm not committing myself to anything, and have a little more power to negotiate since I'll have a buyer waiting to move in. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress. Steve

Hi Everybody Just signed my first CA with a seller last night! I was surprised at how quickly everything went. I first called her FRBO ad Wednesday, met on Thursday, I signed the contracts last night (I celebrated with a few mooseheads toasting to Doug, Michael, and everyone else who contributes to this forum). However, I haven't cashed in yet, so I need some help moving this puppy, here's my marketing plan so far, please feel free to add anything I may have missed. 1. Put a rent to own sign in the ground (I'm going to get this one professionally made) 2. Bandit signs in the area 3. Newspaper ads in the for rent and for sale section 4. Talk to realtors and mortgage brokers in the area and find if anyone couldn't get a mortgage for a home who had been looking in the area. 5. Flyers to the houses in the neighbourhood, since a lot of people are renters in this community. 6 Flyers in the grocery stores, laundromats, and bus shelters in the area as well. The monthly is $1400.00 with a 20% rent credit, and a purchase price of $286,720.00 in two years. Any suggestions for what my ads and bandit signs should say? Thanks for all your help Steve

Hey Bev! I'm from the far north, Mississauga, Ontario to be exact. I have my fellow beaver hunter, Doug to thank for getting me in on this! Just in from another meeting, and the sellers interested, he's looking for a 3 year term and wants to know what kind of price I can get for him in 3 years. I'm gonna call my realtor friend and see what the prices are now. I think they're around the high 300,000s to low 400,000s, we'll see what he says. Now this is a new home, and the market for new homes here is hot, and I think they're appreciating about 10% a year. Should I stick with this 10%/year or come in with something lower to make sure the buyer is able to get financing? Thanks Steve

Michael, I tried getting them together but they're both quite busy, the realtor tells me she has a hard enough time just talking to him on the phone. I just went through another round of calling, no good leads, but I spoke with a property manager who thinks an RTO is a good way to sell a home. So he's keeping my information in case one his clients wants to sell. So in addition to calling the rentals, I'm also going to call on property management companies, and let them know what I do, hopefully I can get a lead that way. Steve

Thanks for the advice, I guess it really comes down to numbers game. Some people, no matter how hard you try will not want to do an RTO no matter what you tell them. Anyway, I do have a meeting with a seller tomorrow night, I probably should have just sent him too my website since he doesn't sound to motivated and saved my gas, but he lives near my girlfriend so I guess it gives me an excuse to go see her I also met with a lady last week whose very interested in an RTO, but I also had to speak with her partner. He's also interested but doesn't really understand that I can't advertise and bring people to the house without being a principle in the deal. He's telling me if we can get a good deal and buyer, he owns 20 other properties that I can RTO as well. Weird thing is the lady I met with is a realtor, and she understands this so hopefully she can explain it to him better than I can. Steve

Hello all, I've been calling lots of FRBO lately, and ask them for a long term lease, and then ask if they would consider selling at the end of the lease. I'm talking to a lot of people who are interested but just don't want to make that commitment up front. They say we'll have to wait to see what's the market like etc... I tell them about the advantages of selling by RTO but it seems they want to wait for the end of the lease to determine the price. Is there anything I can be saying to these people to change their minds and set a price now and get a deal done? Or should I not waste my time and move on? Thanks, Steve

I haven't done this, but you can give it a try. Somebody once told me you can have your credit bureau send you a copy of your report, and then get it notarized by a lawyer, after that it should be good for a month, and people won't need to "pull' your score since you can hand it right to them. Is there any brokers out there who would accept this? Steve

You should also be telling sellers that realtors who are offering such low commissions are in the volume game. Their goal is to get as many listings as possible, and won't spend the time necessary to sell the house. Also, how much money do you think they can spend on marketing? Probably not that much since the commission is so low. That means the sellers house will sit longer, creating a more motivated seller, perhaps this can actually help us? Don't forget the seller has to pay for the buyer's agent commission as well, so this can bring the total cost back up to around 5% Steve

I remember when I was younger, every halloween, a realtor would come riding along in a horse drawn carriage and hand out pumpkins to every house in the neighbourhood. It was such a big production that some of us looked forward to it even more than going trick or treating. Needless to say that whenever a house went on the market in my area this realtor had his name on the sign. Everyone knew this man's name, so this is just a testament to what personal contact can do for your reputation. So Doug, have you ever ridden a horse before? Steve

Pete, How do you convince the sellers not to split the option money with you? It seems whenever I talk to sellers, they want a part of that money as well. Perhaps it gives them an added sense of security if things don't work out. Or maybe they're just not motivated enough right now, and are trying to get as much as possible? Thanks Steve

Thanks Alan, I like how you go right into the benefits of what a lease purchase is before giving them the chance to say no, that way they have a little bit more understanding before shooting you down. Here's a perfect example of why I need to fine tune my pitch; I called on a FRBO, and asked if she wanted to do a rent to own, and she said "why would I want to rent to own? I already own 2 properties".... Click. Obviously, I'm not coming across as clearly as I need to be. Steve

Just wondering if you guys call every single add in the rental section or are more selective. Is there much point to calling on ads that only have the upper level available, but no basement? Has anyone done CA's where the buyer just lives in the top level, but would purchase the entire house at the end of the term? I would imagine this to be a harder sell to the buyer as well. Also, when talking to landlords for CA's does anybody have a quick short pitch to explain what it's all about? Maybe because I'm relatively new, I don't have it down to a science yet, but I find myself stumbling along about what to say , even though I've read through the manual and know the material fairly well. Maybe it's just a confidence thing that experience can only help me with. Thanks Steve

Hello everyone! I've been speaking to a seller about doing a lease purchase, and explained all the advantages of doing one, but he also would like to know what the disadvantages are as well. I guess, the buyer may not exercise the option to purchase, and if the seller wants to get cashed out rather than put it on the market again, this could be a disadvantage. Anyone else with some ideas? Steve

After reading Michael's manual, a couple of questions came to mind. When making an offer to somebody (whether a CA or SLO) do you offer the seller's asking price plus appreciation? I've spoken to some sellers who want their asking price plus whatever the appreciation is in that area. Am I just not dealing with motivated sellers? Should I be walking away from these people? If I were to give them the appreciated price, would I add the rent credits on top of that as well? Or would this make it too difficult for the buyer to purchase the property? Thanks for any help Steve

Thanks for pointing that one out, just when I thought I was infallible (hope that's spelled right!) Steve, BTW, I got the manual on Friday, and have gone through it once so far. Going to squeeze in another reading tonight between "warm calls."

I just ordered 1000 cards from Vista print, cost me $55.00 total, and no, I didn't go with their ad on the back. I also went with Bev's idea of a "Rent to Own Professioanl" Thanks for the help Steve

I'm going to get some business cards printed up, but was wondering how we would describe what we do on the cards, ie. property management, lease purchasing specialist, and what would our title be? I know "real estate investor" conjures up images of someone trying to buy your cow for some magical beans. Also, does anyone know of online businesses that can print them up cheap? thanks Steve

Hi Adem I'm sure you'll fall into the black whole we call Toronto. I was out in St. John's last summer and it seems like everyone and their lobster lived out in Toronto at one point in their life. Did you have some luck showing the tenant buyer the house? Steve

Krusty, check out today's business section of the Star, it's got appreciation rates for all of the GTA, much more detailed than the Royal lepage website Steve

Michael, Unfortunately, no blubber right now, but it is baby seal hunting season, so I might be able to get you some pelts! I'm not too worried about the manual, you shipped it right beofre the long weekend, so I'll give it a few more days before panicking. Krusty, I'm just down in Mississauga, not too far from you.

Hello all! I thought it time to stop lurking around and introduce myself to the group. My name is Steve, and I'm from the arctic tundra commonly known as Canada (more specifically, the Toronto region). I've actually been working with Doug on my first CA and I'm doing okay so far. I've met with four sellers, the last one seems quite interested, but is in no hurry to do anything now since he won't be moving till August or September. I'm still waiting to recieive Michael's manual in the mail, but we've had a recent problem of Polar bears eating the mailmen, so I can understand the delay. In the meantime, I'm reading as many posts as I can to get up to speed. I look forward to chatting with everyone. Steve