All Forum Posts by: Brian L.

Gary Parker, I'm of the opinion that you will fare better getting a real live person to talk to on the phone. If they look at your website and don't call, then you have no ability to get over their objections. Then again, I'm a newbie, so what the heck do i know? :)

Tony Khuu, thanks for the feedback. I'm having a lot of difficulties with the site. It's a wix site that is hosted on godaddy. Not sure why it is so slow. Also, my email addresses are completely blown up. Not sure what's going on, but I'm certainly no technologist.

My thought is that if given a chance between calling or checking out a website, most will check a website. Be willing to bet that most that check the website do nothing other than just check it out. Calls are much warmer leads and conversion rates will be higher.

Hey Tim G..

Few comments:
1. YL frequency: I am probably going to hit them for once/month for the 1st 5 months, then back off a bit. Thinking a little less frequently after that. Mainly because I've read here that you should try and hit them every 4-6 weeks. Jerry Puckett is handling my DM campaign and will defer to him.

2. Website: My DM campaign will not contain my website. I figure after I've met them, they want to see if I'm legitimate and will look for a website. Will definitely not give it up prior.

3. My market: My market is large. There's about 1200 out of state absentee owners in a 30 minute drive from me that bought prior to 7 years ago. If I expand that to an hour drive, there's about 6k. If I added in-state absentee owners, the numbers get very large. I want to prove my negotiating and business processes first to effectively manage and work my leads. Once I do that, I plan on expanding quickly in a large way. Thinking of adding a VA down the road, but there's a lot of wood to chop before that happens.

4. Buyers: When I went to the RE meetup last week, it was clear to me that there are a ton of buyers. It was also clear that they all want pocket wholesalers. There are simply not enough decent (let alone good) deals to go around. I think you are right about the difference between 3k and 20k fees. While I don;t want to always push bad deals, I also don't want to think on behalf of my buyers.

Thanks Brandon Turner

One of the reasons I haven't been focusing on my squeeze page is that my first mailing went out yesterday and I've been setting up and reviewing my call script and VM (in the off chance I can't get every call). I have about 300 YL's going out weekly (list is 1200). WIll hit the same list every month. Looking to ramp up marketing to 3-4k once I can work the leads effectively.

Also, I figure that the leads will want to check out my business website to validate that I'm not fly by night. First draft of my website is done.

Check it out here: [REMOVED]

All feedback welcome. I am using Godaddy for hosting and I gotta say that their email sucks. I tried switching it to go directly to my gmail, but in the process screwed it up. So, if anyone sends me anything on my [REMOVED] email address, I won't get it. Will spend the afternoon sorting the issues out.

I am also looking at how to directly import the contact forms into my CRM (Zoho) as new leads automatically. That way, I can automatically get these leads (both buyers and sellers) into my marketing funnel. From a marketing perspective, there isn't one thing that works with everyone all the time. So, I am planning on hitting all of these in a multitude of ways: Direct mail, email, text. I want to have constant contact with them.

A bit of advice from a newbie (so take it for what it is worth): I've seen tons of threads about new wholesalers starting with buyers lists. I can tell you from my limited experience that there seems to be no shortage of buyers, at least in my market, for even halfway decent deals. Get a good deal and buyers will be 5 deep. I had a conversation with a rehabber recently that is somewhat "starved" for deals. He is willing to pay for the marketing for a wholesaler. Obviously, he isn't doling out cash to everyone, but rather to someone he thinks will get him a steady stream of deals. Since he is higher volume in terms of rehabs (7 this month), he has no time to source deals. My advice? Find deals. Good deals. Spend your time marketing and then figure out what to do with the deals. I am betting/hoping that I won't have an issue moving a good deal.

That's about it. A little nervous about my first calls this week, but looking forward to cutting my teeth.

As I mentioned prior, it isn't launched yet. I'm not happy with the copy and layout yet. Once I finish, I will put the phone #. Been focused on a few more pressing matters first

Thanks Steve Babiak.

So last night, I attended a local real estate meetup. This was certainly not a typical REI Club meeting. It was much smaller (50-60ish people), there was absolutely nothing being pushed on me to buy and it was very informative. The focus was NOT a lecture but rather much more focused on networking, as opposed to the many REI clubs around here. It was a panel of 6 or so investors who live and breathe REI. How was it? Fantastic.

The topic was how to locate deals and each contributor gave their opinion. Long story short: everything works to varying degrees, but not surprisingly you have to get started and not give up. There were a variety of new to very seasoned investors in the audience and many of the newer members were involved with deals with the more seasoned investors.

So, how did I do? I got a number of buyers on my buyers list. I also spoke to a few buyers that are willing to hold my hand through deals after I prequalify them. They will help me with rehab costs, which is very much out of my comfort zone. I think I can learn rehab costs over time, but as a wholesaler, one of the things that seems difficult to gauge is that every rehabber has a different level of finish. Compound that with my limited knowledge of rehab costs and I will likely come across as a wholesaler trying to pull the wool over a rehabbers eyes. So, with the help of a couple rehabbers, I can partner up with them without risking reputation.

Also, I have been studying ARV/comps, but one of the rehabbers last night suggested that I partner up with a realtor. I can offer them potential short sale leads in return for running comps for me. Can anyone recommend other advice as to what else I can offer a realtor in return for comps?

Gil, how are you sourcing your deals?

Spent a few hours at Home Depot yesterday trying to figure out material costs. This is going to be a big task and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed. I bought @jscott's estimating rehab cost book and it seems very methodical. I need to apply it to my area. While I know that I'll need to learn rehab costs accurately, I will probably need to lean on a mentor or paid "mentor" for my first few/several deals. Especially considering that my 1st mailing goes out next week and I am very much focused on how to field calls right now.

Also for ARV, I know that many people without MLS access use Zillow (not Zestimate). Still trying to figure out how to comp properties accurately. I picked a few houses from my listsource mailing list and tried comping them for practice against Zillow. Generally speaking, I found it hard to comp as prices seemed to fluctuate largely for seemingly very similar homes that have sold in the last 6 months, are within 1/2 mile and have similar size/lot. Will keep trying, but was a little dismayed as I figured ARV was pretty straightforward as there would be a lot of data points.

How many are you buying a month with 4k? Also, postcards or yellow letters?

Thanks for the feedback. I just threw some copy quickly up there. It isn't live yet and is a work in progress.