All Forum Posts by: Matthew Berry

Friends,

I'm looking for some insight regarding marketing in this extremely strong seller's market that we're experiencing right now in the Twin Cities. 

I've been doing direct mail for quite some time. My observations have been that leads have been less profitable than what I've heard of in the past. There are a good number of people calling, but demanding more than what I can offer in order to make a profit. Sellers know that they can throw a sign in their yard and make a premium in this market. The MLS also has few deals right now.

So this is my question, do you pause marketing and wait until the market shifts?

Fortunately, I have a well-paying job so I can afford to put investing on hold. However, I'd prefer not to be throwing a big chunk of chain on direct mail.

Thoughts?

Also, I mentioned this at the BP meetup last week, but here's a link to the "Monthly Skinny: July" posted by the MinneapolisRealtors group on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cCyw7J4LOM

Looking forward to meeting you, @Shannon Liborio!

Hey locals,

I've been getting Mike Jacka's emails for quite some time about MNREIA. For those of you who don't know, MNREIA stands for "Minnesota Real Estate Investors Association."

As of yet, I haven't been able to attend a meeting. I know the first meeting is free, but the association really encourages people to pay the monthly/annual dues in order to join.

Is anyone on this site a member of MNREIA? I'd like to get some feedback from those who are members and live in Minneapolis or St. Paul. 

Is it worth the investment?

Just want to jump in here and ask a follow-up question.

For those of you who use bandit signs, do you have any numbers you can provide to back up the value of using them? I'm not disputing the fact that they're valuable, just interested in (a) response rate and (b) close rate.

I wouldn't praise getting 100 calls a week if all of them had no equity or no motivation.

I agree with @Derek Faller on this one. Most agents will not want to shoot out low ball offers on homes that will net them only a few $1000s if you close. You also might have to see if you're even allowed to assign a contract using the template that a realtor usually uses.

We have a friendly realtor we use for finding distressed properties. However, she charges a minimum commission for homes we buy. If the buyer's agent only nets $2,000 but she requires $3,000 then we have to pay the additional $1,000 at closing.

Welcome @Steve Bauer!

I'm going to follow this post because I'd like to know the same thing. 

I'm going to go on a tiny rant here.

I was driving around town the other day and came across this kind of bandit sign that was on every corner in my area. It read: 

Real estate investor seeks students
Make 10% on deals CA$H! 
Call or Text 555-555-5555

So I reached out to the number to get an idea of who I was dealing with. I assumed they were looking for bird dogs. It took me sending four texts over the period of 36 hours for them to reply. There was no hustle. Seemed pretty unprofessional to me.

I wonder how many of these "investors" actually have experience. I'll be the first to admit I'm not a long-time pro, but I do actually have money to buy properties.

@Clayton Smith, if you can provide a quality service then more power to you! It's just amazing to me, though, how low the bar has been set for people working in this field.

Seems like so many people call themselves experts, market all over town, but when it's time to actually deliver they fall short. 

You'll have to go down to the Ramsey County Sheriff's office to get the auction notices. That only gets you part of the way there. After that, you'll need to track down each property, determine ARVs, and then try to get in touch with the owner. Looks like in this situation you've already gotten in touch with the owner which is a good thing.

You can work with a title company to do an initial title search, but you may need to be careful there. If you have them running a bunch of searches but never actually close on a deal and give them business, you may find that source dries up quickly.

Welcome @Ash Alam! I'm not on the multi-family side but we are in the same area. Feel free to reach out if you'd like to connect and talk more.

@Account Closed, would you mind passing his information on to me as well? I'm looking for a good contractor for rehab items I don't handle myself or through my current network of subs.