What Is My Next Actionable Step

Question

I am looking for advice and feedback from the community on what actionable steps I can take to help improve our results and meet our real estate goals.  We have only done one rehab so far, which was sold in January.  My goal was to do 4 more deals this year (either rehabs or wholesales), but we have not done any.  Part of me wants to believe that this is due to the current state of the real estate market and the competitive southern California market but another part of me thinks that is only an excuse.  Below is a summary of the current state of our real estate "business."  If anyone would like to share their ideas on what our next actionable step should be to help grow our business, I'm all ears.

Direct mail:  We send out approximately 2000 letters/postcards a month.  This is a budget that we can sustain, so I don't really want to increase that amount until we can do so comfortably.  Our current response rate is below 1% (about 0.5%). We mail to a combination of lists (absentee owner, inherited, probate, divorce, bankruptcy, eviction, and NOD) and fulfill the mailings totally in-house.

Pay-per-click:  I started a couple of Google AdWords campaigns about a month ago.  I'm starting with a small budget for now while I collect the data and see which campaigns are working and which aren't.  Eventually, I would like to get to a budget of $300 a month on this and then grow this as we start to get leads from this effort.

Organic SEO:I write blog posts to try and increase our web presence.  Right now I'm only putting out about one a week, which is a shame.  I don't know if I'll get to the point anytime soon where I can put out one a day, but there is no reason that I shouldn't be doing at least two a week (if not three). This should be something relatively easy that I can improve on.

MLS:  We don't look at MLS properties anymore. We were for a short while, but then it became disheartening when our offers are constantly 100K - 150K below the accepted offers (no exaggeration).  I don't know how anyone is making money paying the prices that are being paid, but some of it has to do with our lack of experience and not having solid relationships with contractors to get the best pricing.  Also, we don't do any of the rehab ourselves, so maybe that's money we have to pay that other investors who do the work themselves don't have to pay.  Even if we weren't getting outbid by such a large amount, it's hard for me to view properties quickly and make fast offers while still working a 9-5.  Until this is something I can do consistently, I feel like my time is better spent with direct mail and our online efforts.

Networking:  We attend most of the REIAs in our county that I'm aware of.  We are pretty consistent with this.  Where we are lacking is the one-on-one networking. Since I can't guarantee what time I can get off of work during the week, it's hard for me to do anything on the weekdays.  Most of my weekends are open, so my hope is to start doing some one-on-one networking with experienced investors on weekends.

Wife:  My wife is a full time real estate agent.  Since she is still fairly new, most of her time is spent growing her retail business as opposed to investing.  Since we are not getting many leads from the investing side, I don't think there is much of an issue with this.  Luckily, we have been able to turn a few of the leads we have gotten from our direct mail that would not work for investments into listings for her.

That's about it in a nutshell.  This was a little longer than I had hoped, but maybe that will help generate some ideas that I might be able to implement.  Thanks in advance.

Rick H. · Answer

You don't mention what geographic market(s) you are targeting. You ought to meet my friend (and Oxnard native) Ellis San Jose, now in Thousand Oaks WLV area.

It sounds like you are really getting more serious about lead generation. Your choices are to either generate your own leads via direct marketing, buy off MLS or get on the lists of well-vetted wholesalers.

Many if the REIA meetings are, like BP, filled with starters, newbies and wantrapreneurs. However, there are some good clubs. Try the FIBI club in Pasadena and the LA&Asian REIA that meets in Arcadia, run by Bill Tan.

When you get even more serious about your marketing, try Dan Kennedy, Jay Abraham and others.

Cornelius Charles · Answer

Account Closed

If I understand your question correctly, we are finding that foreclosures and REOs are selling for a lot higher than we can pay for them. Our own marketing hasn't generated any deals from our NOD campaigns.

As Rick mentioned below you, 80% of the people who attend our local REIAs are newbies.  And most of those with experience either invested over a decade ago and are trying to get back into it or do buy and holds out of state. I have a feeling the experienced fix and flippers are out doing deals and not attending the REIAs.

I'm not sure if I should forget about writing the blogs, as the studying I've done points to that being one of the best ways to grow your online presence.  My goal is to climb up the google rankings so that motivated sellers start finding us vice us trying to find them.  I love your suggestion about meeting up with investors.  My plan was to actually do that one day a week during my lunch break, but since I switched positions at work last year, my schedule doesn't allow me to do that.  I can make time for that on the weekends though.

Account Closed · Answer

If you want to do rehab, what are you finding in HUD or foreclosure or REO markets? Define your goals and step up the networking at the REI meetings. Find a mentor/partner who has done what you want to do and offer to work for nothing if you have to while learning the business and making connections. Forget writing a blog once-a-week, commit to meeting an investor once-a-week instead. Sincerely wishing you good luck in this venture.

Ethan Summers · Answer

@Cornelius Charles

Direct mail success for myself and my business partner has been non existent. I am still receiving mail that has been returned from last year. This hurts us because we still see our dollars from last years campaigns going down the drain. The average response rate we saw from direct mail was 1%. This wasn't very sustainable for us knowing that you have to mail a seller at least 5 times before you're taken serious.

I began to see a true return on investment when i began farming phone numbers with multiple skip tracing tools and then cold calling my direct mail list in its entirety. This saved us precious marketing dollars and gave me a leg up on the competition. I have also begun farming phone numbers and cold calling for other investors and realtors that are not seeing a true ROI with direct mail. The system I've deployed has worked wonders and is focused around 5-12 cold calls along with followup sequences. Good luck with everything and feel free to send me a personal message if you have any questions.

Cornelius Charles · Answer

@Rick H.

My wife and I met up with Ellis last week. Thank you for the suggestion.  He offered up some great information regarding our direct mail approach. He is also currently looking at a lead we got for a property in La Conchita to see if there is anything that can be done with it that we didn't think of. if you're ever in the 805, please allow us to take you to your favorite Sushi restaurant in Ventura to show our appreciation.

Cornelius Charles · Answer

@Rick H.

Thank you for all of the suggestions. I'm going to see if there is any way that i can adjust my work schedule to be able to make it out to the Pasadena and Arcadia meetups.

Rick H. · Answer

It's largely about your priorities.

If lead generation is your focus, you need to do what's necessary to make the phone ring with the right prospects. If you can't hit the road running then find wholesalers who can supply what you need in the sweet spot.

I suggest you track down Mic Blackwell at his Tuesday lunch group in Phillips Ranch/Pomona. They meet every week at the Grand Buffet.

Ellis is a close friend and the Co-founder of the FIBI groups nationally.

Go to Bill Tan's LAREIA meeting in Arcadia. I'm a member, too.

Buy my friend Perry Marshall's book, "80/20 Sales and Marketing."

If you're going to be a contender you MUST. Become a serious marketer.

Cornelius Charles · Answer

@Rick H.

Good point. I failed to mention that we are currently targeting Ventura County in California.

You are 100% correct about our REIAs.  We try to attend REIAs outside of Ventura County when they occur on the weekends.  It is very difficult to attend any meetings outside of Ventura County on weekdays due to my work schedule and then the traffic to get to LA.  I have heard very good things about the Pasadena FIBI though.

I have never heard of Dan Kennedy or Jay Abraham, but I will look them up. Thanks for the suggestion.

Is Ellis a member of this site?  If not, do you think you could PM me his info?

What Is My Next Actionable Step

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