All Forum Posts by: Phil Reames

@Charles Parrish You're welcome.  I loved your ideas of going to the courthouse.  I can see how getting kicked in the teeth by the judicial system could quickly create a motivated seller.  Being there at the moment of maximum pain is brilliant!  

I am a financial planner who is adding real estate investing to my interests.  I built my financial planning practice on seminar marketing which uses direct mail to fill the seats.  As I have been reading the different threads on marketing I am struck by the similarities between the marketing of the two industries.

The larger point I will make right here.  Marketing is marketing.  Slight variations by industry but for the most part the fundamentals and the numbers cross industry lines.  Here is what I mean.

@Brandon Turner has talked repeatedly about the funnel.  In the financial planning industry it went something like this.  Send out 10,000 postcards to mailing list.  From that you get about 1% response rate ( sound familiar?).  100 people, usually about 65 buying units.  Do the seminars and you book a certain number of appointments from the seminar.  Meet with those people and close a certain number of those cases.  

Real Estate.  Send out a certain number of cards and/or letters......you all know the drill.  My point is the process is the same.  Trust The Process!

I also find that the points of contention and the reasons are almost all the same.  Post cards or letters?  We have the same discussion in the financial planning industry and for pretty much the same reasons.  Postcards-people see the message even as they are throwing it away vs. letters are more professional.  Handwritten vs mass mail.  Again same discussion.  

And in the financial planning profession everyone is always looking for the "perfect or magic wording" for their postcards and their mailers.  Just like I see people posting here all the time looking for the same thing.  

And you know what?  The answer is the same in the financial planning industry as it is here.  Just get some **** going out in the mail!!!  Take action!  The exact or perfect wording isn't nearly as important as taking action!  Taking action is the single most important thing.  You can refine it as you go along but nobody else' numbers matter.  What works one place doesn't mean it will work in another.  Where have we heard that before?  :)

Trust the process and commit to a long term plan because guess what?  The multiple touch theory holds just as true in the financial planning arena as it does in the Real Estate arena.  Just this morning I got a call from a guy that attended one of my seminars years ago and he is finally ready for some help.  Because he kept hearing from me guess who he came to?  :)

Find a good mailing house to work with and trust their guidance.  They are the professionals.  They aren't just trying to take your money and sell you another mailing.  Share your results with them and let them guide you.  From reading the threads on this board I know that there are several good companies around here to choose from.  My next step is to do my due diligence on the three that I think would be good to work with and narrow it down to one so I can get my campaign started.  

Anyway, I hope this didn't sound preachy because I don't mean it be be.  I just wanted to get the message out....trust the process!

Why do you need a broker or an agent to submit an offer?  I live in Kalamazoo MI and bought my first home without an agent.  I submitted an offer directly to the owner.  

@Mark Nolan  

Thanks for saying hi Mark!

@Josh Bloomquist, @Brian Elliot, @Josiah Swartz, @Devin McGowan, @Bill Leonard

Thank you all for the feedback. 

Gail and I will be at both meetings in the Kalamazoo area and look forward to meeting you all there. 

With the exception of Bill that is.  Doubt that you are going to make the commute from California for the meetings.  :) 

Thank you Ramon.  Could you point me in the right direction of our local RE group?  I would love to get connected.

Aaron, Brian, and Donna,

Thanks all for saying hello!

I have actually already read the Bigger Pockets Ultimate Beginner Guide.  As far as goals etc, I guess I am looking to take a two pronged approach.  

I love the excitement of the deal and the big checks.  In my profession I have made as much as $45,000 in commissions in one sale and have made $15,000+ so many times I have lost count.  So flipping and wholesaling seem like a natural fit.  

But I realize that I also need to take some of that money and use it to purchase some income properties for long term income.  If all I do is flips and wholesaling it seems to me I all I have done is create another job for myself.  :)

If you don't mind sharing, how did you each get started in RE?

I am a financial professional who has a personal interest in real estate investing.  My wife and I would like to build a real estate investment business for retirement.  Looking to start with some general education so that I can ask intelligent questions.  Then we will look to narrow down our interests.

If you were starting out today, where would you focus your efforts?