Marketing Strategies for Beginners

[Kyle B.]

Hello everyone. I'm new to real estate investing and am in the process of putting together a business strategy to begin wholesaling in Chicago/Chicagoland area. I want to put most of my efforts into marketing to motivated sellers and am interested in hearing what marketing methods other investors used when first getting into the business.

Many of us planning to take the first step into RE investing would really benefit from hearing what marketing methods were successful for investors when they first began and other methods that ended up not panning out. I would really be interested in hearing about people's experiences regarding this aspect of investing. As of now, I'm somewhat at a loss in determing how to get started. The only thing I could really do at this point would be to drive around looking for homes that seem in disrepair/with an absent owner - not the most well thought out strategy to get started.

Also, I have a full time job as I'm sure many other investors do as well. I would also be interested in learning how investors have successfully balanced their current jobs with starting a RE investing business.

Thanks in advance and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to the BP community.

Kyle

[Account Closed]

Hi Kyle,

I have recently started wholesaling in the OKC area, pretty much for the same reasons as you. I think wholesalers get a bad rap on here because there are TONS of ebooks and courses out there from "gurus" that don't really go into enough detail (mostly around the ARV and repairs area, the two most important things to know how to get numbers for) and they get bombarded with bad deals.

Anyway, I've done a couple of deals here. I'm still definitely a "nubie" but the way I have started is by driving my home town, looking for "distressed" houses (houses that obviously need work, overgrown yards, mail/newspapers piling up, etc.) take down the address, look up the owner info on your county assessor's website, then direct mailing these people that I want to buy their house. This is typically called "driving for dollars" and then using direct mail to market to these people. I'd focus on that one first, because you'll get to know your area really well and it's very effective. Eventually you can move on to bandit signs, websites, etc.

The biggest thing that helped me was joining my local REIA and finding a mentor. I met some people who were successful wholesalers in my area and took them to lunch. I worked out a deal with one of them so that they would mentor me through my first deal for half of the profit.

Hope this helps!
- E