Is Social Media Over Rated?

August 8th, 2010 Posted in Real Estate, Social Media, tips
Aug, 08 2010
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Well hello it’s been awhile but I have had major technical issues that prevented me from posting for a few weeks, but I’m back!!!

So as far as my question a lot of the big name guys are really pushing this whole social media for building your buyers list and selling properties thing, and well I have to kindly disagree to a point.

Facebook is huge which I’m sure all of you know already. A few months ago it passed Google as the most viewed website on the entire internet. (FYI the internet is a huge freaking place) Now can you find buyers on Facebook probably so, but its not in the typical manner where you take some info and shoot them properties that fit their criteria. In my opinion which matters to few people you can find people in groups who buy houses and build a relationship with them via Facebook and eventually do some deals with them, but that is probably the best you can do with it. It may actually work better with other wholesalers who just want to put out their deals to as many people as possible.  I  have actually added a few people I was Facebook friends with to my buyers list before, but they came from Open Road 3 oddly enough.

Twitter is almost in an identical boat, but with a much bigger hole in it! At least with Facebook you can go back and forth with emails, wall posts, and the chat feature, but with Twitter you have 140 characters and thats it! Which actually means you are forced to build a better relationship with someone before you do anything together. For example some of the best friends, business advisors, and partners I have came from twitter, but we built or relationships up from emailing and talking on the phone with each other.

LinkedIn may be promising once more than twelve real estate investors on the planet know how to use it properly!

Now as far as actually selling a property I have never heard of someone getting a sale off of either of them. To that effect I have never seen someone post a property and get it retweeted (at least in my stream) or commented on via Facebook.

So yes I think social media has a big place in real estate investing especially a place like Bigger Pockets , but I also don’t think it’s the  end all be all, game changer, or saving grace for your business either.

Also on a side note if anyone has some solid Memphis contacts hit me up.

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Really Again? F**k Them Too

July 20th, 2010 Posted in Real Estate, tips
Jul, 20 2010
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I have decided to ignore any tweet with the word list in it, because I’m tired of all of these ratings people who base all of their criteria off of not a  damn thing. The real estate business isn’t rocket science is there plenty to write about? Yes yes there is if you are in the business for real doing the correct things everyday you should have an infinite supply of stories to tell as well as giving good advice.

Between twitter, facebook, talking to aspiring real estate investors and other blogs you will see and/ or hear the seeds for failure every 4.3 seconds. I almost did this, I didn’t have time for that, I don’t like this, I don’t know how to…, I’m too tired, I was sick…, my dog had bad gas, Zillow says its worth…, I was gonna but didn’t, I missed that goal… again, I am creating…These are all  the very reasons people are failing except at getting e-cred and blogosphere love. You know how much all of those statements put in your pocket… $0.00 every second for the rest of your life.  Why am I writing a blog post at 2:00 am central standard time, because I have been busy doing things that create income. Like making offers, doing marketing campaigns, placing ads and talking to buyers. You see lead conversion is the most important thing in wholesaling, real estate investing as a whole, or any business for that matter. All of you people who bought that one thing last week are in for  a rude awakening whether you are doing it yourself or paid extra for them to do it all for you… If you are going to make a dime one from those leads you have to convert them!

Here is your free big money tip if you made it to the end… Do the things that make money and forget the things that are for your leisure. Building relationships with people is a great thing to do with your time. They don’t have to be the most authentic relationships with a Realtor or other investor, but don’t completely fake it either. You don’t have to become fifteen Realtor kids’ god-parent by any means, but be real. Build a team or dare I even say a network of people you can work with or at the very least kick some ideas back and forth. I have a contact page if you want to see if we can get along. Unlike some people I don’t play “favorites” with my lists, or blow smoke up anybody’s ass so we can be “pals.”

The next post will be the second in the Ninja Marketing series. I actually will even throw in a case study post from the latest deal in the 50 in 52 challenge. To get back to what I do at a high level regardless of what some people “see” (I’m tired of the borderline “bitching” and electronic ass chewing posts myself… almost)

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The Protest Ends!!!

July 13th, 2010 Posted in Real Estate, Software, tips
Jul, 13 2010
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After my 2 week protest…. I’m  back. I went back and forth over whether or not to just quit blogging all together after the atrocity that took place but f@$k it. It doesn’t even matter it’s not like 7,897 people could be that far off base as opposed to one who is just confused.

Now on to the advice. I am all for people investing in real estate education, but in about one hour your email inbox will indeed be touched like Arnold Drummond on that creepy 2 part episode of Different Strokes… I don’t even know how much it costs just yet, but don’t just invest in something because you think it’s going to create a booming business for you while you are just floating in a pool or whatever.

It’s your money that you worked hard for or stood in front of a bus and got a check for either way be smart with it! If you are at stage one of real estate investing you can’t go to stage five overnight I don’t care what or who you buy (slavery isn’t legal) bottom line!

Side note I really enjoy SellPoint and after having found out it’s exact inner workings it makes me realize I was a little too hard on Open Road 3 in review. It actually removed probably my biggest of two complaints. So if you ever get an invitation to it you should at least check it out. Back to Sellpoint though the way it simplifies putting out properties is amazing! You post a property to 40 plus sites and then copy a piece of code and paste it on the bigger sites that are supporting it like craigslist and ebay. It removes the excuse that your piss poor deal just didn’t get seen which is why no one bought it. Yes indeed not every deal is a deal or anything close to one at times.

With all that said I’m going to watch a SIMS 2.o webinar.

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Baby’s First Steps For Ninja Marketing 101

June 28th, 2010 Posted in Real Estate, marketing
Jun, 28 2010
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One of the most overlooked however important aspects of building a successful real estate investing business is organization. Now I realize the title of the article mentions marketing and that’s what this is about so just keep reading and chill it’s not polite to interrupt! Everyone hopefully knows that they need leads to even have a business, and unless you  live in some yet to be discovered by science dimension where they have lead clouds that produce lead showers you are going to have to market for those buyer and seller leads to come in.

Here is where the organizational skills come in to play; when you decide to start marketing and you are doing more than one campaign whether it’s direct mail, online marketing campaigns, or dropping parachuting naked midgets stamped with your contact information into people’s front yards you are going to need a way to track how each method is  performing response rate wise.

Why would you want to know where the calls are coming from? So that you aren’t wasting your marketing dollars or time on something that isn’t working! How do I know where the calls are coming from? By A. Having multiple phone numbers (no that’s not expensive either!) B. Having a phone system that has the ability to set up multiple extensions. C. By putting your exes number on the midgets, or I suppose by having friends/family help take calls.

Where do you get these numbers? Skype, google voice (just opened to the public so you don’t need an invite any more), evoice has 800#’s you can try for 6 months or 1000 minutes for free (and is really cheap but solid after that), Adtracker (which is pricey), and then I am sure an internet search would turn up hundreds more options.

It’s imperative that you have some alternative numbers before you even acquire your first or next list that you intend to experiment with or post your next online ad. Also you should set up a spread sheet to track your response rate which you figure on direct mail by dividing the number of different phone callers you received by the number of the pieces of mail that you sent out. The effectiveness of your marketing increases exponentially by knowing exactly what is working and how well. Doing things that are unproductive are just a waste of time and money that will also cripple your wholesaling or real estate investing business.

P.S. Shae Bynes of Good Faith Investing always refers to my Ninja Marketing techniques so she can have half credit for the title haha.

P.P.S. I have added threaded comments to help promote actual discussion and it does look kinda lame to respond to four people in one message.

P.P.P.S If Justin McClelland’s and this aren’t top 20 REI Blog’s you aren’t paying close enough attention no bullshit. See I had made it all the way through without cussing and then I seen the list more fucked up than the MMA pound for pound list after Fedor’s loss Saturday.

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Time To Stop Thursday!

June 24th, 2010 Posted in Humor, Real Estate
Jun, 24 2010
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So I just had another entertaining conversation with a seller that went so great I’m just stopping for the day. I don’t want to talk to any body I don’t know at all the rest of the day hell maybe the week after this crap.

She calls in to the nifty new 800 number (1-877-918-9559) I let my son answer since he is “helping” while he doesn’t have school and has been begging to take a call he’s been practicing for 3 weeks we’ll pick it up from there keep in mind I can hear the entire conversation on the other phone …

Child: You’ve reached the offices of the Wholesale Knockout King this is the Prince speaking (yes he takes the king thing literally he’s six so it’s okay right? haha) how may we help you?

Psycho: Um what the f$ck are you doing on the phone haven’t ya’ll heard of child labor laws…

Me (jumping in): Take it easy ma’am he is six and just answering the phone

Lunatic: What the f*ck ever…

Me: Okay ma’am how may I help you?

Ms. Potty Mouth: Yes I submitted a property to you via email I’m ______   it’s been over 2 hours (yes she really said that) and I haven’t received my offer yet.

Me: Via email? May I ask why you didn’t just use the submit a property page and if you were at my site you would have seen within 24 hours ma’am.

Ignorant Lady (using this term loosely): I didn’t pay attention to that Mr. Smart Ass, all I want to know how much you’ll give me.

Me: Hang one minute and I’ll check it out and give you a ballpark figure (and the finger through the phone). I see that you sent pictures that will help a lot with speeding this up.

Annoying Bitch: Could you hurry your f#%kin ass up and stop trying to trick me with your business man mannerisms genistures and verniculabry (you won’t see this word in Webster’s)

Me: Those are manners, gestures which you can’t see because we are on the phone, and vernacular and vocabulary are two separate words ma’am.

Stank Bitch: College n$gger you ain’t smarter than me.

…….. ( angry silence)

Me: okay my looking at the pictures and comps this isn’t anything I will be able to work with

Now Irate Piece of Trash:  WTF do you mean can’t work with it you buy houses in any condition dammit  you can’t tell me this is thirty thousand dollars like I know it is.

Me: You’re right I can’t tell you that because that would be a lie it’s worth five bucks maybe, there are no walls and half of the roof is missing, and on top of that no house has sold for more than ten thousand in the last year at least.

Upset Worthless C#$t: I hope your dick gets cancer!

Me: Talk to you hopefully never bye… click.

This is pure insanity people yet weirdly funny to me. You never know what you are gonna get when you are in real estate investing, but it always seems to be crazier for the wholesaler.

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Product Reviews

June 24th, 2010 Posted in Real Estate, Uncategorized, marketing
Jun, 24 2010
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So one reason for the complete silence has been trying out some new things. First things first for the people with newsletter subscriptions there are some issues with Mail Chimp that are still being ironed out I haven’t forgotten your gifts.

Number 2 I used Open Road 3 extensively for the last week of my trial period. I can’t justify the minimum $97 a month expense to even Bill Gates. It is a 2 trick software and one of which you can get for free in 2 days as a special “blast cap” for the SIMS 2-3 or whichever one. Sellpoint is cool and all but like I said free in 2 days! Hammerpoint on the other hand can only be gotten in one place and is very good but with a weekend on the Home Depot website you can do the same thing yourself. Hammerpoint is an excellent feature I will give them that though. The idea of the whole system is actually a great concept but the actual execution pretty much turns out that this would be more aptly named “Dead End Road” Between all of the broken features and shoddy customer service Open Road is a pass unless you are lazy and don’t care what you do with your money.

Number 3 and product 2 is the wholesaling course from the Godfather himself and I’m not talking about James Brown or Marlon Brando. Ron Legrand’s new wholesaling course it’s absolutely phenomenal for a beginning guide to  the entire process and there are plenty of things in there for the more advanced wholesalers.  Plus to top it off you can’t beat the price trust me on that one it’s a dollar! There is a banner link over to the right where you can pick it up. I’m not really big on the whole product shilling thing, but it’s a great buy and something I actually approve of. I’m not saying it’s 100 percent perfect but then again what is? It’s also not the complete over night success course either (those don’t exist) So there it is.

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It’s Not Nice To Keep Secrets…

June 16th, 2010 Posted in Negotiation, Real Estate
Jun, 16 2010
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People have always told me it’s not nice to keep secrets, but at the same time why should you have to tell everyone everything? If anyone has a good answer for that I will send you a free book signed by absolutely no one…

What’s the point of the question? ———————————–>

If you want to know my super secret negotiation line that drives even the most hard headed sellers down in price via newsletter in exactly 24 hours! Which is now highly visible and there is no reason for you to not sign up. All current and new subscribers will get  digital copies of my 2 favorite books no less. Join the list or get the fist! (Well at the very least not get any of the cool shit)

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How Do I Do More Deals?

June 9th, 2010 Posted in Wholesaling, tips
Jun, 09 2010
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That’s the question I get asked more than any other except how do I know what to offer. Point blank period you have to put more houses under contract that suit your buyers criteria. Easier said than done right? Not exactly. They all like to say well my buyers don’t  have a set criteria or it could change month to month but they don’t really know. If you are a wholesaler with a list of  hundreds or even thousands yet only do a deal once a month or less you are missing the big picture!

There is a saying “that the money is in your list”, which is a true statement to a point. The money really is in knowing what your list wants and then going out and getting it. I know what you’re gonna say to that already “well they don’t have a criteria I’ve sent out a mass email and hardly anyone answered.” Well no freaking kidding they know you sent the same empty ass message to everyone. Ask them to get on the phone with you  for a ten or fifteen minute chat to talk about it at their convenience and see what kind of response you get. Don’t even say “well I have to talk to 500 people on the phone” no genius not all at once you are good with maybe at the most 50 to start doing more deals!

Knowing exactly what a small segment of your “list” wants is significantly more profitable than throwing shit against the wall and seeing what sticks! Be a wholesaler/ real estate investor not a collector of email addresses and useless phone numbers. You aren’t a rolodex or craigslist spammer (by the way I hate those ass clowns) so don’t just hold information and not put it to good use! Connecting with your buyers and getting the houses they want is the best way to do more deals!

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Big Dogs Start As Pups!

June 7th, 2010 Posted in Real Estate, Time Management
Jun, 07 2010
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Every big dog at one point in time or another started as a pup! Name anybody doing big things at anything let alone real estate they have one thing in common. They paid their dues! People just starting out see all of these guys and gals doing huge numbers and think if they are doing it I can to exactly the same way they are. It’s true you can become a top producer in any field with some effort! You absolutely have to do the little things first there is no way around it. It’s perfectly fine that you have people you look up to, but you can’t repeat can not just pick up doing the same things the big producers are!

One thing I see a lot of people trying to do is automation and outsourcing which is okay except for the fact you can’t automate a business you don’t have yet that’s the bottom line point blank period! If you truly want to have the grand life not working for someone else you need to put in the work needed to get there. That means putting out your own signs, calling every lead you get whether you think it’s good or bad, answer your own phone calls or at the very least return them, and remember exactly where you are in the pecking order.

No matter what stage of the game you are at realize that time is of the essence in a multitude of ways. You can’t wait at any point in business in the beginning it’s important to be putting in time to learn your chosen profession inside and out. The best way to learn is by talking to sellers, buyers, other investors, and mentors. As you move forwards you still have to be conscious of time you can’t take your sweet time on deals, because one of the hungry young pups who gets it will step in and snatch it up.

You don’t want to be the baby in the game shooting themselves in the foot by trying to play big shot and just throwing away leads for chump change or the guy who used to be the top real estate investor that got passed by being comfortable let alone lazy!

That doesn’t mean that you can’t help people along the way or wholesalers have to hate each other it’s about establishing and protecting your bottom line. Which will actually get bigger if you learn to work with other wholesalers I kid you not on that one. You are in real estate investing to make money as an entrepreneur and stop being just an employee for someone else! Realize though it’s gotta be done the right way.

2 Quick tips before I sign off when doing ads for craigslist or whatever make 2 versions one in English and one in Spanish! Just use google translate if you don’t know it.

Tip 2 learn about other forms of investing or at least meet other investors who are doing different things so you can do something with every lead you get.

PS be sure to check out the new fan page!

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A Quick Tip

June 3rd, 2010 Posted in Real Estate, tips
Jun, 03 2010
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Here is a quick yet useful tip for wholesale real estate investors. Sign up for other wholesalers property buyer lists especially when you are just getting started! Why you ask? Because they do a lot of legwork for you for free without even knowing it. About half of them that you sign up for don’t know how to really send a bulk email… What this means for you is a free buyers list! Check the to and cc section of the email for other people receiving the emails and voila a free buyers list for spending a few seconds to sign up.

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