All Forum Posts by: Jason Fraser

Here is a great related discussion that will probably answer many of your question.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/48/topics/72884-clasisfication-of-class-a-b-c-d-mfh-and-apartments

congrats

• Do you have any tips or advice to get me started?

     Develop a social media plan. This will help you maximize your time and resources. You can google social media plan template to help guide you through the process.

Keep in mind managing multiple social media channels takes a lot of time. You want to make sure your using considering the audience.

• Since online in not as targeted as direct mail, how have you guys found success through online marketing? What works and what doesn't?

With any type of marketing just about everything works but you do want to test different things to see what sticks. For example, you can try text based postings vs image based posting over 60 day period on Facebook to see which one gets people to call you.

• Where do you find the content? (My only exprience comes from the posts on BP and REIA meetings I've attended)

Local real estate stories

Articles on finance, marketing, and other general business areas are good sources.

Testimonials from people you've done business is another source

Creating your content either video or blog writing is another source

• How frequently do you post content?

Focus on consistency. Can you post content once a week? Then stick with once a week. Think of it like your favorite tv show. You know every every Tuesday at 9pm your favorite  airs. Chances are you're going to be consistent in watching that show at the same day and time. Now imagine that show aired one week on Tuesday at 9pm, then next week it aired Sunday at 3pm, then the next week it aired Friday at 7am. Are you going to keep up with that show with that type schedule? Thing of you social media and regular marketing in that same manner.

I'll let you know when I've earned enough from real estate to fill up a swimming pool and can swim in the money like Scrooge McDuck.

Yellow legal pads and pens from the dollar store. Hand writing letters isn't  fun but you have to start somewhere. 

Google voice because it's free and you read the transcript of the voicemail.

Vista prints for affordable business cards, door magnets (more advertising).

Go Daddy for domain name and website hosting for seller website to capture information.

IFTTT.com to automate FSBO and For Rent listing to be sent to my gmail account. Less time sorting and shifting on Craigslist.

Google drive to manage my spreadsheets to track my marketing efforts, docs for letters, etc.

ZohoCRM to manage seller, investor, and other RE professional contacts. There's others but I prefer Zohocrm because it works similar to Salesforce which is what I use for my full time job so it reduced my learning resources.

My personal rule for online tools is that I have to be able to use it fluidly  between my laptop, iPad, android phone, or samsung tab.

I believe a $90k house in Beverly Hills is called a pool house.

there's app folio. From their website it looks like they cover everything you need.  Personally, unless your a pro website builder, I would outsource the building of the final website. Learn the basics so you know what your purchasing, but I building it all yourself may not be the best use of your time.

here's maybe a more cost effective way to drive for dollars. Take a different route every time you go to work or run errands and drive down three streets. You still have to drive from home to work, the supermarket etc and vice versa. Except your combining looking for property as part of your trip. You can use google map to get a feel for the area before you drive through it...ie.e is there nice houses or are they not so nice. Google maps street view will be behind at least 6 months or much longer. So a house that has been vacant for 3 months may have a car in the drive way outside decor that was a captured a year ago. Again using Google maps is to give you a rough idea of the area to plan.

A couple of other free to low cost ideas.

Contact landlords and FSBO from Craigslist and other local classified sites.

I found at my local dollar store a window marker. You can write on the back window "I buy houses 555-1234. Just make sure you're not blocking your view and your not violating any local laws.

Put flyers around town on annoucement boards at supermarkets, laundrymats ecs. Black and white copies are about .05 and color is around .10- .20. Depending where you get copies made.

You can get business cards from vista print from free (plus shipping) to $10 plus shipping. Those you can leave few at dry cleaners, auto repair shops, hair salons etc.

With the exception of contacting FSBO And for rents, when you're doing free to low budget marketing it's mostly letting people know you're out there and what you do and essentially waiting for the phone to ring. Direct marketing to the home owner is going to get you a response much faster.

If you're starting out stick with 3 lead generating strategies for easier execution management, and financing.

Keep track of your miles for IRS purposes.

Bring a camera or if you have a smart phone with a camera then you're good to go.

Have a dedicated notebook to write down addresses.

Laying out a new marketing plan  including brand development.