most successful to cold call? REALTOR

[Devin Mann]

i am really struggling as a new agent. it is my first month and it now going to be entering the winter time.  i am almost broke and need to lead generate to get some quick money.

Who should i cold call? should i open up a phone book and call every single person? should i call expires? should i call FSBO? any other lists that i can purchase?

what should i do?

Ideally, if i could find some rentals thatw ould be nice so i could generate some quick income

[Darrell Lee]

WHERE IS YOUR BROKER? He's suppose to train and guide you. Vermont seems to have different rules than the Los Angeles market where I was a broker many years ago. How I found success is I held open house every chance I got. When I was a newbie, I asked the top producer in the office if I could hold open houses on her listings. She was delighted and we became good friends. Before that, she wouldn't give me the time of day, lol. Once I achieved some success, I focused on brand new houses and got permission of the owners to setup office in their vacant house and would hold open house every day and work out of the office. I'd turn on the utilities in my name and have a phone line installed into the house. This was the 80's before cell phones. Stick in a desk and my portable computer was a svelte 41 lbs (pre IBM PC).

If I was a Realtor today, in an office with lots of listings, I'd pick a high traffic location to do a similar thing. Buy 3 folding chairs and a 6-8 foot folding table, my 3lb notebook pc and my cell phone. A dozen flags and A frame open house signs and I'd be in business. You don't meet prospects, sitting in your office wondering what to do next. I would buy a 24 pack of bottled waters and few packages of cookies. I'd pick houses with power and water so you have a working bathroom/kitchen. If you are a cook, buy some cookie dough and make fresh cookies so the house smells great and get some great coffee and all the fixins. Don't skimp. Hot coffee and fresh baked cookies, buyers will love the smell and feel obligated to talk to you... In Vt, are you allowed to hold other companies open houses with their permission?

I've bought over 10 properties in the last 6 month and the agents in general have been pretty terrible. I'd usually find my own deals, make the deal and email an agent that I've never had contact with before and email them congrats, you just sold me a house. LOL. That's because I usually buy properties without seeing them... I had been choosing top agents in the past... Realtors of the year... 20+ yrs experience or agents who have either construction or investment experience. But some of them have been so busy, they don't have time for me as I buy bank REO's and usually under $50k. So the commissions are small. But they fail to realize that I'll be selling after 12 months and the properties are usually 3-4x what I paid for them so they should be decent priced listings worth having. Especially since I pay cash and can carry a second or be creative with the financing.

If I was to become a new agent, I'd be holding open house every day and pouring over all the MLS listings and finding the bargains in various price points. Run cost of ownership in those price points so if you found some great deals on $150k houses you can tell them how much will be the mo payment and the after tax mo pmt. I guarantee, it will be less than renting a comparable home! Find the deals in the ski areas, million dollar estates, starter homes, REO deals, Super Deals, 2-4 units. Run the numbers on everything until you can guesstimate them pretty close without needing to use a computer to figure it out.

There's a ton of super bargains in Vt right now and sellers will become desperate once the snow hits and the prospect of heating a vacant house is not very appealing. You won't make money sitting in your office waiting for the phone to ring on floor time. You gotta get out there and make it happen. I just wish I had a few extra million to keep buying but I have so many renovations going on right now, I'm super picky on what I will buy...

Cold calling? Yuck... 99% rejection... not many people can handle such a high rejection rate. People entering open houses are either buyers or neighbors who might be possible listing prospects. Zero rejection!