​So your're ready to invesnt? Now where do you find the properties?

The short and sweet definition of a real estate investor is someone who is doing deals.If you’re not doing deals, you’re not an investor.In order to be doing deals you need to have access to deals, and in order to have access to deals you need to have lead generation.Just like a construction business can’t operate without leads to build new projects, an investor cannot operate without leads to properties to invest in.

So what do you need to do to start generating leads?And not just any leads, but the right leads for your investing strategy. Well, this can be a bit of a tricky/complicated subject at times but luckily there are some smart people in the world with lots of experience who have a way of breaking things down easily to bring you more clarity.Like the great Gary Keller for instance.In Gary Keller’s “The Millionaire Rea Estate Investor” book (if you haven’t read it yet, go out and buy it, it’s a great book on investing) he talks about his lead generation model.It’s a simple and brilliant model that once you learn and take action you can start doing deals.

The lead generation model breaks down to (4) main areas.If you can master these (4) areas, you will have no choice but to start doing deals and be on your way to becoming and investor.Let’s look at the nutshell versions of each area.

What am I looking for? This needs to be the first thing you do. No one knows what you are looking for but you.You need to have a clear and definite criteria for the type of property you are looking for.The more particular the better.You need to know your criteria down to every little detail including, location/market, type, size, year built, risk threshold, features and amenities (and more).Without knowing all of these fine details you cannot possibly filter down and sift through all of the potential deals that are out there.You need be able to quickly qualify initial leads and discard anything that doesn’t meet your criteria.As you build on your criteria over time it will become more precise and effective.An exceptional criteria will lead to exceptional leads.Saying you are looking for a multi-family in the Northeast is not a criteria.Saying you are looking for (3) unit building in Portland, MEbuilt after 1990, in B areas with value play opportunities with full occupancy, vinyl siding, shingle roof within ½ mile of a major highway between 300K-350K is the start of a precise criteria.See the difference?

Who can help me find it?Real estate is team sport and you definitely can’t/won’t find properties on your own.It’s important to build teams and networks of professionals that can help you find potential properties.They are all around you it’s just a matter of connecting with them.You’re going to want to connect with property owners/sellers, builders, landlords, attorneys, brokers, Town Hall officials, courthouse clerks and other real estate associated professionals.The internet is also a vehicle that can act as scout for finding deals but typically there are less deals to be found there since they are available to everyone with an internet connection.Once you have an extended network of team members that are helping you locate and identify deals you are one step closer to doing deals.

How will I find the property?Here are (5) ways to look for properties.Direct mail/cold calling, newspaper/online marketing, driving for dollars, local networking/investment meetups and courthouse/town hall listings.There are so many different ways to find properties.Master the (5) ways to find properties listed above and start there.Once you have systems in place to find deals you can streamline these searches and spend more time thinking of even more creative ways to find properties.The important thing is taking action and being consistent.If you mail (500) direct mail letters you may only hear back on 2 or 3 of them and only one of them may be a potential deal.If you go to (35) networking events a year you may only get connected to one or two deals but those deals may be the ones that make you a fortune.Consistency, consistency, consistency.

Which properties are the real opportunities?Ok, your leads are working for you, you have lot of “prospect” deals in front of you, now it’s time to dive in even further and figure out which prospects have the potential to be the real opportunity’s.Remember to always be conservative and don’t move off of your investing criteria, and remember you make your money going into a deal not on the back end.These property’s that pass your initial qualifier questions are the potential deals you want to spend most of your time on taking them to the next level of analysis (this is where your hard work up from designing your criteria starts to pay dividends).Now is when you want to start asking yourself questions like, “Am I getting this deal for below market” and “do the bank statements tell the same story as financials I was provided from the seller”?You need to do you financial, legal and physical due diligence and determine is the property is in fact a deal!

Like I said before, master this lead generation model after the great Gary Keller and you’ll be doing deals in no time.For more on lead generation please visit www.snacap.com