Website Setup

[E. Jacobs]

Hi all I'm in the process of drawing up my wholesaling website. Originally, I wanted to have one tab where sellers can enter their contact and property info so that I could get in touch with them after they provide the lead. I would also have a separate tab for investors looking to view my listings and sign up on my buyer's list. Recently I've been thinking that it might be better to keep these as two completely separate websites. I really want to focus on customer service, and want the potential sellers to think I will do everything I can to make this a pleasant experience and get them the best price possible by really taking care of them. I want it to feel personalized. Therefore, I'm afraid of sellers gaining access to the investor side of my site and seeing how much money I am trying to make off of them and seeing their house listed where I'm advertising dirt cheap deals to investors. This might send mixed messages to the sellers about how much I'm really on their side, so I am thinking about having one website that deals entirely with motivated seller leads and a completely separate URL that I will post properties on and advertise to investors about my great deals. This way I won't be afraid of the sellers seeing what I'm doing and thinking they are being ripped off, and I won't have to worry about what I write about the property either. I mean, I know by the time I list the property there's nothing the seller's can do about it because we have already signed a contract, but I still want them to leave the deal being happy with my services so they will refer me to others and leave a positive review. How do you all handle this?

[Hazel L]

I have basically two separate websites: one for homeowners and a portal with a login for my partner network. Homeowners will tend to get suspicious if there's something they can't understand; however, the investors are there to help but it's hard to explain merely on the site. I would recommend if your site is CAwholesaler.com that you promote your investor site as CAwholesaler.com/investors so you won't have to pay for a separate domain name.

I'd recommend google docs or jotform to keep track of your customer reviews (google docs actually automatically stores them in a database). Also, check out smashingmagazine.com or thebestdesigns.com to get user interface ideas--I cannot tell you how many people in real estate approach their website like the king in the story "The Emperor's New Clothes." It is not enough just to have a website, it has to be well designed, properly worded, and easy to use to give you legitimacy. You wouldn't go meet clients in your pajamas, and it's similarly embarassing to give clients access to a site that looks like it came from the 90's and appears like a scam (no local phone number, no address, and an aol.com or hotmail email).