All Forum Posts by: Jason Gray

Dudes,

There IS a great Fresno REIA club...

Hit me up with a colleague request and we'll talk shop. Great group of people...I've not been there in a couple months as I'm doing my THANG in Detroit, but I know the guy that runs it real well.

Call or email me-contact info on the site.

Jay Gray
Holding & Gray Investments, LLC
[WEB SITE REMOVED]

We started in Detroit about 8 weeks ago.
Spent some time building a team, interviewing contractors etc...

I've got to say, I'm more excited about detroit than any other city (for rentals) than anywhere else...

I'm taking down about 10 homes from a bulk REO tape I just got in. all the homes are 5K each with no liens, taxes etc.

My cashflow will be about 4-500 a month on my Rent 2 Own deals after PITI is paid...

do the math on 10 of those and figure out how long until I have free and clear cash cows....

the key is to build your buyers list first...

then go shopping. People will tell you where they want to live, that way you dont have to buy blind and get stuck with a lemon.

email or call me if you want to talk shop.
contact info on my contact page of site.

Jay Gray, Mgr.
Holding & Gray Investments, LLC
[WEB SITE REMOVED]

Regardless of his "affiliate" attempts, you do have to give it to him...

His post seems to be spot on...


Jason Gray, Manager
Holding & Gray Investments, LLC
[REMOVED]

I felt Twitter was a fad, and I'm still not convinced of its usefullness, but a funny story...

I signed up for one of thos "get 10,000 twitter followers" sites...just cause I didn't know what was up with the thing in the first place...

Well, that site started sending out Twitter (text messages) to my followers...so one day I get a text message from one of them saying she thought something was wrong with my site...

Turns out the twitter account was bombarding them with spam and I was unaware of it at the time.

I fixed it, apologized and offered to take her name off my list, but she said NO!

She said she liked getting the little updates on what I'm doing in investing, and the house deals that I post up there.

She felt that I was giving her quality info in a easy to digest format.

You can't get "bored" with 140 characters.

Twitter is a way to have your own "NEWS" channel where you can't send big stories, just little nibbles of info. Send a link on the "tweet" (Twitter text msg) and if they're interested, they'll click...

Its not driving much traffic now, so I'm not too into it, but who knows... one day...

Jason Gray, Manager
Holding & Gray Investments, LLC

Hi Group, (warning LONG post)
I read the Web Marketing forums and thought I'd give my two cents worth on driving traffic to your site... (warning LONG post)

I've found one thing to be true and has EVERYTHING to do with how successful your site is, and thats driving traffic to your site; but not just any traffic.

Traffic: You can get tons of traffic, just go out a buy google adwords "investment property" you'll probably blow $500 overnight an get little return for it.

Quality traffic may be defined as: the Right person, with the Right Problem, getting just the right answer to that question ON YOUR SITE!



The "goal" for ALL web traffic is to convert Traffic to Leads; Leads to Prospects; Prospects to Calls; and Calls to Sales




If your not "meeting the wavelength" of the person who just landed on your site, or a better way to say it...

If you're not answering the question that your prospect seeks an answer to, then your site is just eye candy and a click trap.

The typical client goes to google, or your site with the anticipation that your site will answer the question(s) that they had when they searched for you.

When they landed on your site, they expected you/your company to take care of their issue, either by way of educating them, or causing them to take action on what you can do FOR them.

At the end of the day, you need quality traffic where YOU are the one SOLVING the problem FOR the client who just visited.

Anything less than that is just a hobby.

Ok...so follow me on this logic...

1. I want new "quality" traffic
2. Where does that come from?
3. Sites, or search terms (keywords, or key phrases) that are "pushing" the traffic to your site...which answers a question
4. I.e. "sell my house"
5. On your site you had better get them answers to their question on how to "sell my house"
6. If not...POOF, adios, they're gone


Take my site for example: I "push" certain types of key words to my site via
Blogs,
Articles
Posts in other blogs
Youtube
Twitter
Google Adwords
Etc...

I'm successful with this because many other people look for the answers to their questions and I know the questions they are asking, and I provide the answers to those few questions.

It takes time and testing to know whats going on.

On to "quality traffic" I've often wondered how I could "drive" quality traffic to my site contently, while also maintaining the quality type of client that I can solve problems for.

Say I want Investment Property to popup...

I need to know what national sites are the "authority" on this and match their current abilities, and perhaps "push" some of that quality traffic to my site by "mirroring" their successes.

Remember, all this stuff is just a "hammer" in your tool box to build your site. Don't rely on one product or service to "get it done"

If you want more info, just shoot me a quick email. I don't think the moderators will allow me to post it here, but you can quickly visit my site and "contact us" there.

Thanks,

Jason Gray, Manager
Holding & Gray Investments, LLC

I don't know Heather...

Tim Mai was the first person I ever heard about doing flex options (the derivatives market for RE).

I learned a ton from that guy...

And he had some pretty nice spreadsheet lists that got me off to a good start..

Like every hotdog or slice of bacon (no matter how bad it may be) there's a little nutrition in every little piece...

Renae, shoot me an email. I've got tons of stuff you can use (old personal notes and materials) from SELF teaching on RE...

I won't sent you copywrited materials, but you can have access to 4GB of my "library" from my early days of investing.

Without a doubt it was the one book that took me from back woods oakey living in a mobile home to comfortably secure with real estate. I'll never forget how far I went with the 6 inches between my ears...

Kiyosaki for Pres...

Kidding...

Good stuff in the books, not sure about the training...

Joseph has it nailed: know your area.

Some people get squeamish when they hear detroit, but we've looked at all the markets and I still can't figure out why people don't invest in Detroit.

My rentals will be paid in full in 24 months based on the cashflow we're getting in a couple of neighborhoods.

The thing that made this happen so successfully: build a solid team first, then the properties will flow like crazy.

We've got two realtors working full time on our deals and we're buying as fast as possible. Its tough to find something wrong when one ad on craigslist for a certain zip code gets 25 responses immediately and the renters all want to see the house NOW so they can move asap.

Its about having two things under control:

1. A good team who can drive street to street and put eyes (camera and video) on the target

2. Make sure you know (by researching in advance) your neighborhood, home supply, rent comps, etc.

good luck,

P.s if someone is looking for good rentals we've got the complete workup on rentals in upper Detroit 28-40K each and each is bringing in $800-950 each. Fully rehabbed Section 8 homes.

Jason Gray, Manager
Holding & Gray Investments, LLC

I agree with what someone mentioned about " the property is its own best comp"

Once a property is purchased for "big discount" what do you think the next forclosure or REO may sell for (or below) if the market is soft?

We're picking up lots of homes in one little pocket of detroit for 15-23K cash and renting out. We got three last week for that range and already have renters lined up 4 deep for this section of town. The areas are clean, not blighted like most of Motor City, and most of the renters are upper middle class engineers, cops and teachers.

The trick is to ask yourself the worst case scenario:

IF you can't sell it tomorrow, would it be that bad to rent it out or sell on a land contract, wrap or something similar.

We're taking a couple of our homes and rehabbing them (when needed) to resell to out of state buyers. Its hard to fall in love with This part of Detroit until you do your home work then it hits you like "could of had a V8".

Its all about understanding your risk and the reward you get from it.

Jay Gray
Holding & Gray Investments, LLC

p.s. some of these Detroit neighborhoods still have solid sales (non foreclosure) up around 75-95K so you do the math if you're picking up minor repair homes for 15K and they bring in $800-$1025 a month.

Hi Group,

Simple is better. The more "sensitive" info you require from your new "walk in" customer the less likely they'll be willing to continue the conversation.

When a person walks into a restaurant does the host ask name, phone, city, state, zip, kids first names??

No...here's the progression in the clients head:

Hm...site looks nice. Whats this about. (they read your copy) mmm, food smells good.

Looks clean, simple...they take care of the restaurant and so it must be safe (appearance and appeal is important)

After I take in the 3-10 seconds of "first impression" then see what your about...

THEN the host greets them:

Hello (how can i help you) "fill in your first name"

How can we help you in the future "fillin your phone or email"

You then begin the hard task for converting them from "new clients" into trusting customers using your autoresponders, stories, atmosphere and experience in the future AFTER you have captured their name and email.

They may never come back or become a "fan" of your company, but first impressions mean everything.

check out my squeeze pages to see what you think. Clean, simple, call to action, and "reward" for giving me their names and email.

[REMOVED - See Signature]

Yes, I do know that I need to make the splash on "page1" of my site.

Jason Gray