Real estate can be a rewarding career, allowing these professionals the ability to make their work schedule and the pay to make ends meet. Over the years, the real estate industry has attracted many investors, realtors, and other professionals. Hence, being creative when contacting homeowners about potentially selling their houses is vital. There are numerous ways to receive real estate leads; some methods have been around since the start of real estate, while others are relatively new, such as acquiring property leads through the Internet. When conducting real estate marketing, it’s essential to consider and at least try every method to earn a contract, including the internet, mailers, word of mouth, Yellow Pages, Yelp, or posters.
Using the Internet for Real Estate
The internet can be a beneficial tool for education and business, allowing individuals to connect worldwide. Within the last few years, many home investors have shifted from acquiring properties through newspaper ads or sending the homeowner direct mail to using the internet and online platforms to gain property leads. Specific paid platforms like Propstream generate leads from expired listings and court documents. The platform prop-stream is gaining vast popularity within the real estate industry since it creates potential leads and skips tracing the homeowner’s contact information. An all-in-one service saves investors time, money, and resources.
Real Estate Marketing Through Social Media
Utilizing social media for your business can be highly beneficial and also, most social media platforms are entirely free to start and operate an account. Most investors don’t realize but creating a social media account and placing your websites url on your home page can grow a natural website backlink. Outside of MLS, social media will be the best way of using the internet to find real estate leads and clients.
A popular method property investors use to acquire real estate is by running Google ads; when running ads it allows the investor to promote directly to potential clients. Google ads seem to be the most successful way to get properties but it is far from cheap and with a low budget the amount of leads may be slim. Also, running social media ads or Google ads increases website traffic, strengthening the websites algorithm.
Drive for Dollars for Real Estate Investors
The term “drive for dollars” refers to investors walking or driving around a neighborhood looking for desired properties that fits their criteria. The investor will document or write down the addresses of potential properties, which is a cost efficient way to gather leads. An investor will then skip trace the information of the homeowners, calling each homeowner to see if there’s any interest in selling the house.
Driving for dollars can be overwhelming if there’s no instant results and also time-consuming but for new investors with a low budget, this method may be the most apprioperate. Most of the time investors will search for distressed properties, the signs for these distressed homes will be overgrown grass, deteriorating exterior, and boarded-up windows. Lastly, another positive aspect of driving-for-dollars will be the tax benefits; the investor can deduct the expense of gas and mileage.
For Sale By Owner Signs
A great way to locate potential investment properties will be to locate homeowners with “for rent” signs or “for sale by owner” signs on the front lawn. These FSBO signs indict the homeowners desire to sell their home while avoiding the hassle of using the traditional route of listing the house on-the-market with a licensed real estate agent. Selling a house with a realtor can be time-consuming while requiring house repairs and inspections. Using an agent also can be costly, with most agents charging roughly six percent of the salers price.
It seems like “for sale by owner” properties are excellent for investors; many times these properties may require repairs which leaves room for profit and fsbo homes usually have motivated sellers. The aspect of focusing on properties with for rent signs is that these landlords usually aren’t tech savvy so these homes are not posted on online platforms such as Zillow. It never hurts to have multiple methods to acquire real estate properties including the obvious routes of for sale by the owner. If a homeowner wants to avoid the time-consuming process of the traditional sale or fsbo sale, it’s recommended to type specific keywords like “Sell my home fast Philadelphia” into the Google search bar.
Referrals Are a Great Method to Acquire Property
In any professional industry, referrals seem to be the best way to generate business. The trust factor is applied on referral based jobs, which is the best start to building a work relationship in the real estate industry. Any experienced investor knows that some of the most simple transactions come from referrals. As an investor offering a cash referral can help generate leads, provide a few hundred dollars and it’ll motivate individuals in spreading the word of mouth of the investor searching for potential properties to purchase.
Using an Agent to Acquire Property
If an investor is looking for a proven route to acquire a house, use a real estate agent. There are pros and cons to using an agent, the pros are mainly the ability to maximize profit and to minimize the stress. The only con to utilizing a realtor is the fees and commissions, but without prior investing experience we recommend using an agent simply because their knowledge of the market and connections within the industry. Another benefit of using an agent is that during a traditional sale, the seller must disclose any property issues and the ability to conduct inspections.
There are many proven ways to acquire real estate but without proper knowledge, experience, and resources the purchase of property can be a nightmare. If an investor cannot run comps, the numbers will be off and can cost the home investor a lot of money. It’s recommended to find proper guidance, connect with an experienced mentor or realtor. Use the internet to locate rental properties or investment opportinuies and as a new investor put in the hard work. There’s resources at our finger tips that can help become a successfully investor.
