All Forum Posts by: Ben Wilson

Ed - we put out about 20-25 we buy houses type signs just about every Saturday morning - they get nailed 9-10 feet high up on a telephone pole, so they stay up for awhile - I still occasionally see our signs that we put up 3+ months ago.

When we have a house to sell - we will put up another 20-25 signs in the area our house is in.

We average about 10 calls a week from sellers on our signs - so 40 calls a month on 100 signs. Not our best source of leads (direct mail is) but it generates enough calls to justify. In 2010, we did 4 deals that we bought off our signs that we netted $22k on total. Total time invested about 200 hours for the year between making the signs and putting them up, say $500 in gas and another $650 for the signs. So, we'll keep putting them up...

Sal - that thing looks great - you can 'em put up so high they'll never get 'em down...

One other thought - we also have a guy that helps us putting out flyers and signs who was looking for a little extra work. We pay him to find vacant/uglies in the neighborhoods we buy in, so that keeps our list growing too.

Another way to build this list if you get tired of doing it yourself...

That's great if you can keep that up. Looking for vacants/uglies is a great way to start wholesaling when you don't have the budget for direct mail. If you can find 'em and call 'em - that's great. We put all the addresses in a spreadsheet, look up the owners, and mail to that list once a month and keep mailing to them until we know it's been sold.

It's my favorite list to work from because it doesn't cost anything to produce (ok, a little gas) and it can yield some great deals. We don't do include FSBOs or For rents in our list - curious to hear how that works out for you.

Good luck

A friend has one and it doesn't work very well. We use a Sign Hammer - works great. We put up on telephone polls about 25 every Saturday morning starting at 5 am.

Driving through an area we haven't been in awhile and seeing one of your signs from about 3 months ago - priceless!

Sal - yes, Google Voice virtual numbers can keep you a little more anonymous with the city. We try to put signs up only where we see other signs, just so we don't stick out too much. As others have mentioned, busy streets near shopping areas for sellers. The neighborhood our houses are in for buyers...

We luv signs!

That's how we do it Jovan - about once a year I go on Listsource and find out the number of absentee owner purchases for the last 6 months by zip code in the county we work in and we'll focus on those zips (actually parts of those zips) with lots of AO purchases. btw, it rarely changes when I update the list but I usually do make some small adjustments...

Ed - there's no consistent amount from the wholesalers that I talk to. Many are just getting started and don't have the budget for direct mail. I tell people that direct mail requires a commitment to sending out an entire series of at least 5 or 6 postcards to a list, so if it's going to be a one time thing, I suggest other methods until you can commit to sending out mailings consistently.

I tell people to start with signs and build from there. 25 signs every Saturday morning keeps our phone ringing. Not as good as the leads we get from direct mail, but better than no calls at all.

No doubt - should be very easy to do with that system ;)

Interesting thread - should be required reading for ALL new wholesalers.

I talk fairly often to new wholesalers and unfortunately this is a common theme. Most people don't want to talk to lots of sellers to find good deals. They want to talk to a few and then TRY to make a wholesale deal out of something that clearly isn't. I think it is possible for people to make a good living wholesaling, but you've got to talk to a lot of sellers and get good at it so you can find real deals. Buyers are busy and the quickest way to lose them is to present a deal like this one...

Bryan - I've done this before with mixed results. As others have mentioned, lots of pitfalls. On the plus side, I've done this with people who were referred to me by people I trust and I've gotten a couple of great long term tenants this way.