Author: Kathy Kennebrook

Developing your team to help you get your business off the ground is one of the most important things you can do for your business. Your dream team is going to consist of the people who can help you get your deals closed and sold quickly.

Your dream team needs to include first and foremost a title agent and/or a real estate attorney. This person is going to help to make sure your deals close quickly with a clear title. A real estate attorney can also help you to solve a lot of problems that can arise during a closing, such as a title gliche, a survey problem, or estate and probate problems, just to name a few.

Some of the other people you need to have on your team include a surveyor, a pest control company (for those states that have termite inspections) private or hard money lenders, and an insurance agent. These are all people you need to have in place to help you get your deals closed quickly.

Your ability to close a deal quickly may make or break a deal for you. There have been many times where I was able to work with a seller instead of another investor because I was able to close within days instead of weeks.

Another reason you want to have your dream team in place is because they will work together for you without you having to be involved in any of the headaches of a closing. It is rare that I am even involved in any of the details until the closing date.

You’ll also want to have your dream team in place to help you to sell quickly. The members of this part of your team may include a realtor, a sales person of your choosing, a mortgage broker to get people qualified for you, and a good rehab crew to get your properties ready for sale. Other members of your team may also include wholesale buyers who will purchase properties from you without you having to do any of the rehab. This is a good way to make money quickly in the real estate business.

Once you Have your dream team in place, you will be able to do more deals more quickly and easily than you ever imagined. For more information on building your dream team, visit us at marketingmagiclady.com.

There are several rather unusual ways that I like to use to locate motivated sellers. One of these is to contact auction houses and work with them on purchasing homes. Many times an auction house will be contacted by an heir to sell items remaining in a property to settle an estate or to simply get rid of things remaining in the property after they inherit it. The next item of business to get the property sold as well. You can make a deal with the auction house to contact you when these situations arise. If you offer a fair price and the auction house gets paid a commission, this is a good way to buy houses no one else knows about.

Another unique way to buy houses that no one thinks about is to contact local attorneys in your area who handle estate, probate, family, and business law. Quite often someone will come to them with a probate situation or a divorce situation or a bankruptcy situation that they need handled. Very often, these cases also include the need to sell a property quickly in order to liquidate assets. If you do what you say you are going to do and offer a fair price, these attorneys will continue to send you leads. This is one of the ways that I use in my business to bring in new leads.

Another way to find motivated sellers is to contact mortgage brokers who deal with private lenders. I have personally purchased several foreclosure properties this way. A private lender would just as soon sell a property they have had to foreclose on to you as they would rehab it themselves or sell it conventionally. This is an excellent way for you to get leads coming into your business, especially if you are just getting started. Very often the same private lender who had to foreclose will finance the same property for you if they see that you are going to get it sold and get them paid off.

As a real estate investor, you always want to be finding new ways to locate properties no one else knows about. For all you marketing solutions, visit us at marketingmagiclady.com.

Wholesaling properties is one of the best ways I know to make a fortune quickly and easily in the real estate business without using a single dollar of your own money. If you need to make money quickly to pay bills today or you are just getting started in the real estate business, then wholesaling is the quickest and safest way to do it.What we mean by wholesaling is putting a property under contract significantly under its’ value and then reselling the contract to someone else for a profit. They then close on the property instead of you. There are a lot of great reasons to wholesale a property and a lot of great reasons to buy a property from someone wholesaling it.

Generally speaking, when you wholesale a property, it usually needs a lot of work. If you still have a job or you don’t have contractors to do work for you, wholesaling a property is the ideal opportunity for you to still buy ugly properties and make money. If you wholesale a property to someone and you leave them enough room to make money, this is an ideal way for a rehabber to buy properties also. They don’t have to do any marketing to get them but they still get a great deal.

One of the ways for you to find lots of motivated sellers who have ugly properties to sell is to simply drive around and find vacant, ugly houses. I will tell you that the harder the seller is to find, the better deal you’re going to make. Generally speaking, there is no competition for these properties whatsoever. A lot of the time, these are properties that are part of an estate, or maybe a land lord who is tired of having his property trashed so he just gives up altogether. Another reason you’ll find vacant ugly properties is because they are in foreclosure or behind on taxes. These situations are all opportunities for you to buy properties way below their value.

One of the best ways I know to find buyers for these properties is to simply bring your deals to your local real estate club or you can run an ad in the newspaper that says
“Handy man special-CHEAP- Cash and your phone number.” Your phone will ring off the hook! The first couple of times I ran this ad I created a buyer’s list for future deals. Now I use the same people to wholesale properties to over and over. As you become good at finding these properties, this becomes a money making machine.

Another great way to find these properties is to use friends and family to help you find them. Tell them to be on the lookout for vacant properties any time they are out driving. Then offer to pay a fee when you close on one of their properties. Or you can pay them by the lead. Either way, this is a great way to find more properties than you’ll be able to handle.

Once you get your wholesaling machine in place, this is a great way to find motivated sellers and make a lot of money in real estate without using any of your own!!
For more information on finding motivated sellers, visit my website at marketingmagiclady.com.

While I personally do not use a lot of post card mailings in my real estate business, they definitely have their place. One of the main uses for a post card is to either test a new list before spending a lot of money mailing from and also to canvas large areas at very little cost.

If you are going to use post card mailings, there are several different ways to do this effectively. On my web site at marketingmagiclady.com, I give you resources on how to find list brokers. One thing you can do is to create the list you want to mail to, download it to usps.com and let them do the mailing for you for around .24 cents per post card including printing. The post card is simply black and white, no frills, but can be used to canvas specific areas or large areas.

When using post cards be sure to make sure you have a “kick butt” headline to catch your reader’s attention immediately. Remember, you only have seconds before your reader decides to throw your post card in the trash. One of my personal favorite headlines is “Sell Your Home On The Date Of Your Choice For A Fair Price Without Doing Any Repairs”. This is a benefit driven headline that lets your potential seller know exactly what you can do for them. Then follow that up by telling the seller exactly what it is you want them to do. For example, are you going to send them to a pre-recorded 24 hour message? Are you going to have them call an answering service or you directly or are you going to send them to a web site where they can give you all of their information. These are all options when using a post card mailing to reach possibly motivated sellers.

While a post card is not necessarily the best means to reach truly motivated sellers, it certainly is an inexpensive way for the beginner investor to get started in the real estate business.

The other primary use I personally have for post cards is two-fold. One is to test a new list. If I have purchased a list and I’m not sure how current it is, a post card is an inexpensive way to test it. You can send out 300-500 pieces and see how many are returned to you for bad addresses. This should never be more than about five percent of your total mailing if you are using a good list.

The other way I use post cards is to build a buyers list. I send a post card mailing to areas with a high number of duplexes and apartment complexes. I use a headline which goes something like this-“Tired of Paying Rent Every Month? Would You Like To Own Your Own Home?”, or Are You Tired of Paying Off Someone Elses Mortgage?. You can get very creative with your headline and then use a benefit driven message to get potential buyers to call you. Once again, you have to tell your potential buyers exactly what you want them to do.

While I prefer to use letter campaigns to reach very motivated sellers, post cards can also be used in your business in a variety of ways. Take a look at marketingmagiclady.com and check out some of the post cards samples offered by Plan It Promo. They are probably the best in the business at what they do and that’s helping you to locate more leads than you can deal with.

One of the great ways to get positive exposure for your business and give back to your community is to sponsor events or teams. There are lots of great ways to do this.

You can sponsor sports teams such as soccer, softball, bowling or track. You can also participate in a local golf tournament for charity. One of the ways to do this is to provide uniforms or shirts which of course have your company information on them. Walk-a-thons are another great way to achieve this goal. This is a good way to get advertising out for your business and support your community at the same time.

Another way to do this is to sponsor events or take part in local functions by donating promotional items. For example, if your community is having a local fair or parade, you could donate balloons to be given out to the children which have your company name and logo on them. These are always appreciated and it’s a good way to get your company information out to the public. These events usually get press or television coverage as well. Imagine a news shot of a parade where every child is holding a balloon with your message on it! Or, imagine the winning team getting their picture in the paper wearing shirts with your message on them. What better advertising could you ask for!

Another way to participate in public events is by donating items for events where bags of free gifts are given out such as a health fair. There are lots of inexpensive items you can donate that have your company information on them such as pens, post it note pads, key rings, or mugs. Local associations are always looking for items they can give away.

You can also sponsor community classes on “How To Sell Your Home Quickly” and invite the public to attend. You could also do this through the chamber of commerce or local associations. Through these free classes, you can educate the public as to what your business is all about.

During the holidays your company could host a toy drive or a food drive for local associations. Not only are you getting great positive advertising for your company, but you’re doing something to help those who are less fortunate.

Another way to get your company name into the public eye with a short message is to use candy. The wrappers have your company name, logo and a short message on them such as “Let us help you get a sweet deal”. These are usually welcomed in the lobbies of your local paper, mortgage brokers, large employers, realty associations, the unemployment office, restaurants, or relocation services. You can even put a bowl of your candy on the registration table at your local real estate club or another club you belong to.

Get creative and take a look at your own community to find ways to get your company’s message out to the public. There are lots of ways to do this if you just look.