Featured

Be a Real Matchmaker!

Now that the push for real estate matchmaking software has ended again for now… There is more to being a real estate matchmaker other than getting a buyer and seller and putting them together. I

Read More
Be a Real Matchmaker!

209 Days of Silence Ended by 209 Gurus&#

Well it’s been 209 days since my last post this one will be short the next one won’t be nor will it be in 209 more days! I guarantee it won’t even be another 209 hours before the nex

Read More
209 Days of Silence Ended by 209 Gurus…

Howdy It’s Been A Minute!

So it has been awhile, but every time I had a post I wanted to write the flavor of the month would come out with an email that all of his large list of friends would send you also that was close to th

Read More
Howdy It’s Been A Minute!

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Questions&

I know several people have asked me about doing deals in other markets what’s my best tip? This is a good tip for doing deals in your own  market also though… There is an old saying that

Read More
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Questions…?!?

Yeah Buddy!

So I’m just gonna say something real quick like… Be careful what you ask for you just might get it is a powerful old ass saying… I’m gonna have start digitally bitch slapping p

Read More
Yeah Buddy!

209 Days of Silence Ended by 209 Gurus…

0
by on January 25, 2012 at 9:33 pm

Well it’s been 209 days since my last post this one will be short the next one won’t be nor will it be in 209 more days! I guarantee it won’t even be another 209 hours before the next post… I will say this and this only flat out lying is a terrible marketing technique!

I started with no money for marketing but then one day… I got this magic thingy that allowed me to really get going even though it’s only been around for 2 years and I’ve been doing this for 8 years or more the math somehow works out to be dead on…

Here’s some math that does work out… If you were to buy the magic doohickey they highly “suggest” (i.e. make anything less darn near useless) it’s $197 a month (which you know even absolutely broke people can afford) or you can send a mail out to 209 home sellers, buyers or what ever for $186.01…

But then again why would we want to let something silly like that math garbage get in the way of a good story about real estate matchmaking software with Freedomsoft or Freedom$oft or the miracle money machine for wholesaling real estate or (insert not real catchy term here)… That will be gone forever soon for 5 or 6 weeks… Sad part is I actually use it myself just don’t like the route they have chosen to go with the marketing of this thing!

Share
in marketing, Software, Wholesaling

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Read More

Where Will the Most Eyes See My Property?

2
by on March 11, 2011 at 12:30 pm

Where will the most eyes see your property? It doesn’t really matter but the answer is the internet obviously but wouldn’t you rather get your wholesale real estate deals in front of quality eyes instead? Start getting some property management companies on your team, on your email list/ phone book or in your network whichever terminology you prefer to use!

Now I know some of you are thinking exactly why would I do that and what good is that gonna do me? Maybe even perhaps why would they help me?

Well here are a few reasons why you should do it and why they will help you!

1. They have landlord buyers in place!

You see the thing is you can’t be a property management company without properties… Obviously the people who own these are landlords! Get to know a few of these companies and you could very well get your deals in front of literally hundreds of people active in today’s market!

2. They will help you sell your deals!

One way they can help you is by telling you what your house will rent for! This is a necessity when trying to figure accurate numbers for figuring numbers for cash on cash returns or any return on investment numbers you choose!

Two they don’t mind putting your good deals out to their clients because if and when they do buy one that’s immediately more money in their pockets!

3. More properties for you to wholesale!

Yes when they have landlords or clients who want to liquidate their portfolio they will start sending them to you their new bestest (that’s totally a  real word dammit) real estate wholesaler friend!

So this is indeed one way to improve your business on multiple fronts and once you get to know what each of your property managers buyers wants from a property you can throw together a spreadsheet and see which of your deals meets their criteria to go along with pictures and the normal everyday stuff. The spreadsheet has all of the things they actually care about first and foremost the money!

Here is the one I use personally as a free download to all of you (that are on the mailing list that is!)

Share
in marketing, Real Estate, tips, Wholesaling

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Read More

Someone Needs To Say It… Why Not Me!?

1
by on November 21, 2010 at 11:18 pm

This is my open letter to the product pushers in the real estate investing game.

1. I understand affiliate marketing is a way to have another income source, but people get serious everyone damn well knows that 98.2 percent of these guys and gals  shit you are hocking (on a weekly basis seemingly) aren’t your friends! So that tired ass email format needs to go ASAP!

2. If I watch a “content” webinar it doesn’t mean that you can call me to sell some horse shit product you snuck into that hour of vague hints and concepts you talked about.

2a. Preston Ely and you other guys your call centers are extra annoying don’t call me repeatedly and don’t play a recorded message of you leaving a voicemail when I answered the damn phone you fucking morons!

3. The word miracle has nothing to do with anything, and I repeat nothing to do with anything related to a real estate investing  product!

4. I also think too many people are allowed to sell these products and you also have no business giving my email address to whoever wants to be an affiliate for your product! 14 of the same email in a 3 minute span is annoying excessive and flat out bullshit!

5. I don’t want an email from your assistant or your wife! If I barely  know who you are and I’m not really sure how I got on your list or for what… Then honestly I can say I don’t give a fuck what “Mrs. A”has to say!

P.S.

I’m not just saying something to get on your good side for my own product launch like someone else did!

Share
in marketing, Real Estate, Software

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Read More

Baby’s First Steps For Ninja Marketing 101

20
by on June 28, 2010 at 11:44 am

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.

Share
in marketing, Real Estate

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Read More

Product Reviews

2
by on June 24, 2010 at 2:31 am

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.

Share
in marketing, Real Estate, Uncategorized

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Read More

Who Are You? Get Over It!

21
by on May 31, 2010 at 8:07 pm

What or who are you? I know some people who have a problem seeing either themselves or other people as real estate investors, especially people who are just into wholesaling houses. Some say that wholesalers are investors because the rarely put their own money into deals, and because they aren’t holding onto properties. Wholesalers are just marketers blah blah bla f’n blah. Every body has heard the same tired ass b.s. from somewhere whether it be a landlord, rehabber or just some jackass on bigger pockets (which I highly recommend you checking out… go ahead click it I’ll be here when you get back). Yet all those things that are said about people who wholesale the real “big dogs” are exactly the same things also. They are just brave, rich, stupid,ballsy or whatever enough to invest with their own money also (f.y.i. I don’t think its stupid never have actually) . Except they don’t do one thing quite as fast as wholesalers do. Get to motivated sellers with ______ ( I’m not going to tell them haha.)

Anyways lets wrap up this holiday post with the answer everyone wants yes wholesalers are real estate investors no matter how people try to argue it gets shut down with the dictionary. You can’t f#$% with the word of Webster!

Invest-

1. to put (money) to use, by purchase or expenditure, in something offering potential profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.

2. to use (money), as in accumulating something: to invest large sums in books.

3. to use, give, or devote (time, talent, etc.), as for a purpose or to achieve something.
So there it is in just plain black and white indisputable evidence. So now some final words of encouragement get over it whether its a hurdle preventing you from having confidence to say it or just the fact you are a stuck up jackass get over it! You’re all really entrepreneurs on top of it all. Now all sides and innocent bystanders even go invest in some real estate dammit!
Share
in marketing, Negotiation, Real Estate

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Read More

Are You Negotiating?

5
by on March 30, 2010 at 8:35 am

Okay your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you I am really blogging 2 days in a row, and this one is even about real estate! I have been busy with lots of different things including talking to some of you via email, phone, twitter, google chat, and Facebook. In the hospital, making movies, et cetera (yeah that’s how you actually spell etc.) and on  down the line! Yet I haven’t forgotten any of you or wholesaling real estate during any of all this craziness!

In talking to so many of you it has once again been brought to my attention that for some reason there are investors out there that don’t realize that it’s pretty much mandatory to negotiate. I’m not saying that everyone should take my approach and negotiate everything business related, but you could learn a few things from some tips I use day-to-day. (Personally I use alibaba.com to negotiate prices on everything I use from pens and pencils to the paper for my printer.)

Tip # 1- Every seller you talk to is essentially after the most money they can get.

As a real estate investor when you go to “buy” a house the seller wants as much as they think they can get! Whether you are a wholesaler or whatever this is a fact. They want the most cash out of this asset that they are selling to you. It’s not rocket science! If they realize it’s run down they will say hey I’m “giving it at this price” sometimes that may be the case, but even still negotiate! It doesn’t matter if you only end up squeezing a mere thousand dollars off the asking price that’s where the difference in your bottom line comes from. If you do one house a month which isn’t big time by any means a grand more on your profit each deal is 120 thousand extra in your pocket over the next ten years!

Tip #2- Make sure you pay attention to others negotiations!

Here is something I have noticed throughout my dealings with buyers the one’s that don’t negotiate from your asking price any are usually the one’s who don’t end up buying! I don’t care if you have an in demand “perfectly priced” property and getting your asking price isn’t a problem they shouldn’t just accept your price as the gospel. If this keeps happening and you actually do close them like this regularly then your asking price is too low! It’s not greedy for me to say this the important part of entrepreneurship is having a grasp of the concept that you making money is just as important as anything else! The “freedom” of working for yourself doesn’t mean anything if you can’t afford to pay your bills.

Tip #3- The fear of speaking up will kill your business!

I know anyone who tries to do even part-time investing is actually trying to bring as many leads as they can in. The way I look at is don’t waste any of your marketing efforts! If a seller contacts you and their price is just outrageous try to do a quick negotiation anyways! You have them on the phone or are emailing them anyways why not just “Speak Up” and ask for something more favorable! Even if you hear no at least you heard something! This is actually a scientifically based thing here. For every rebuttal someone hears there will be a reaction and in more cases than you realize that reaction will be the seller caving in quickly to get some actual favorable terms out there!

Share
in marketing, Negotiation, Real Estate, Wholesaling

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Read More

1st Deal Disaster

4
by on February 18, 2010 at 11:39 am

[tweetmeme source= 'GregHarris66720' only_single=false]

Since some one asked to hear the story of my first deal here it is! After much debate I’ve decided to go with the uncensored version.

Back Story

I was having some doubts about continuing my fighting career after some bullshit promoters fucked me over.  So I decided to look for a job that could match up to me, my personality, and financial expectations. There was a job posted in the newspaper for real estate agents wanted in my area. I gave it a call to find out what it was all about had the interview and this guy told me I would be great in the business after talking to me for 2 minutes. Yet he drove 4 hours to do this interview so he wanted to hang out for awhile I wasn’t gonna say no since he was gonna teach me everything I needed to know. Fast forward 3 hours since nobody wants to hear about drunken wildness by middle aged men, he lets me in on this secret the real money is in investing.  I paused to tell him to put his wrinkled genitals back in his pants and to leave the waitress alone, and then asked him to continue. He had spent all day talking about being over the biggest brokerage in California for 25 years which in my mind was complete bullshit and I told him so he was drunk not like he was gonna remember. He then says all of his money comes from investing what he was doing isn’t legal by the way.

The Deal

After this interview and all that wonderful back story I started researching the different variations of investing and picked wholesaling to get started. I then decided to go for it and bought “free” bandit signs using 15 different email addresses and friends houses. There is that whole cheapness thing again. I drove out of town put the signs up 6 weeks in a row and got my first buyers calling in and the police. Week six though I got my first seller lead using craigslist negotiated absolutely none, which is  something I do now even if it’s a better than perfect asking price.

Everything is rolling I then use more bandit signs to sell the house and craigslist. I had a price that I thought was nice and easy for the quick close. Which was the truth everything was good until the buyer went and looked at the house and discovered a foundation problem. Whacked 3500 off of the asking price and I still took it because he was buying with cash and knew he would be back for more houses.

So now we have 1500 left in profit not so fast the closing costs last minute are to be split so I end up paying 300 bucks of my share to shut the seller up and get the close. It was the most disastrous deal I’ve ever done until this week. Which I might elaborate on further it just depends on what happens.

Share
in marketing, Negotiation, Real Estate, tips

, , , , , , , ,

Read More

Ready 4 Takeoff?

2
by on February 16, 2010 at 2:07 pm

[tweetmeme source= 'GregHarris66720' only_single=false]

So who wants to strap a rocket to the ass of their real estate investing business? I see all of these ideas that various people have and some of them are great, but most of them are usually just ridiculous. Why would someone spend thousands on a no money down investment marketing campaign? If you had been investing successfully for a little while I could see it, however spending some bank to get your first deal is a stupid move.

First I am a tight wad and will admit it. I can track the R.O.I. of every marketing dollar I have ever spent. I can also tell you that the R.O.I. works out into the thousands/ hr on an hourly wage on time I have spent doing free marketing. The first deal I did cost me 180 dollars in marketing plus about 4 hours and I brought in $1200. The second I spent 2 hours and 17 minutes of my time to make 3000. Now which one do you think caught my attention the fact that for every dollar spent I got $6.67 in return or that I made $1315.79 an hour the second time? Initially I looked at the 1315.79 and ran with it, but as I went along realized it was more the inexperience that threw my numbers off. My point is if you don’t have money to spend then do not spend it. You shouldn’t starve yourself to get a business going. Eat now and wait until you can feast later.

Secondly buying everything that somebody suggests or tries to sell you on isn’t gonna get you to where you want to be any faster. Unless where you want to be is frustrated and starving. Did you know that making an offer is essentially free? Try that one for starters if you make the right offer and get stuck with it you still won’t lose anything.

Fact/tip 1 I have never lost a dime from a contract expiring. What part of no money down investing doesn’t make sense? The part where people put money down. Seriously it’s a 3 word term and people still screw it up. The big reason most people get into no money down or wholesale investing is because they don’t have a lot of money. Keep what little you have!

Fact/tip 2 I love to make offers. The catch to that is I am sure I can complete the deal. Making a bunch of low ball offers is cool and all, until your rent is due and bills need to be paid. Make a decent offer so you actually have properties to move to your unnecessarily large buyers list. Other wise you are wasting your time! There are a lot more fun things to “waste” time on than real estate.

Fact/tip 3 Don’t break your routine. Most people I see get a house under contract and stop looking for more deals. I find that to be a huge mistake. True it’s not gonna sell itself, but if you bought right it won’t take that much extra time out of your day to move it! You don’t have to sell it the first day unless you created the 48 hour option contract.

Share
in marketing, Real Estate, tips

, , , , , , , ,

Read More

Q and A responses

4
by on February 3, 2010 at 9:34 am

[tweetmeme source= 'gregharris66720' only_single=false]
The other day I promised that if you asked questions I would either answer them myself, or find someone who knew the answer. Even though I am pretty sure one of you knew who I was going to get to respond to your question when you typed it. I actually tried to reach out to a different source, but apparently he got too busy sending out his follow Friday’s! I realize it was Monday he doesn’t care 24/7 #FF is my passion. F*** that! Whenever follow Friday starts generating money then maybe I will go non stop with it too, until then I will stick to connecting with the 27 of 703 followers that actually interact.

Question 1

From Nick J. of Subject2.com

I’m interested in knowing the difference between Revocable Trusts and Irrevocable Trusts in how they protect your assets and their tax implications.

Well Nick I wasn’t comfortable giving you an answer from my knowledge, which is why I have great friends to help out when needed. So here is what Mr. Bill Walston (resherpa on twitter) a real estate and tax specialist had to say:

The main difference between a revocable trust and an irrevocable trust (also called a “living” trust) is the control retained by the grantor (i.e. trust creator).  In a revocable trust,  the assets are still within the reach and control of the trust creator.  The grantor may change his/her mind about a provision of the trust, a beneficiary, or even the trustee, and may amend, modify, or revoke the entire trust at any time.  This means that the revocable trust offers no ceditor protection if you are sued, income generated by the trust assets will be taxed to the grantor, and the value of the trust will be included in the grantors estate for federal and state estate tax purposes.

Also for those of you haven’t check out my latest guest blog on Nick’s site 6 Steps to Craigslist Perfection

Question 2

Scott Costello ask:

My ?: You seem to be doing pretty well with marketing. How do you test out your marketing pieces in order to give you the best idea of which works best? and do you find that what works best changes over time?

Well first I look at what other people are doing and see what type of results they are getting. Then I look and see what is missing from the puzzle. I come up with some ideas and then if they are low-cost ideas I just give them a shot. If they require some spending on my part though I run them past my little sister. She just graduated in May with a degree in marketing and advertising. Then if and when they get sent out if there are campaigns overlapping they have a different number or a guiding phrase so that you can tell who is calling what piece. If you still can’t tell they won’t get upset if you just ask them. There is a little bit of a change I’m noticing that the “We Buy Houses Cash” guys have all started to turn in to “we buy houses if you are willing to owner finance it guys.” I prefer to not just say how I’m willing to buy until I’ve talked with the seller to see what kind of terms best fit the situation. Also it’s easier to target marketing to certain levels of homes. The hoods will always have people in their houses, because McDonald’s and the crack house don’t have layoffs. But some of those borderline upper middle class homes are really easy to get a hold of now. Just because they can’t pay for the house they bought for or 5 years ago, since they lost their job.

Question 3

Alex Rodriguez (the cool one, not the baseball ass-clown)

My question (a basic one from a basically n00b guy): What steps do you take to avoid errors in how you value your properties?

First thing you must have are good comps unless you are dealing in a rural area then you start to get a feel, on a per neighborhood basis for the the price of houses. An example of a bad comp. You have a 3/2/2 that’s in an alley, with no backyard, and all you can see is the building behind you. You can’t compare that with the house across the street that sits on 3 quarters of an acre on the beach, regardless of it also being a 3/2/2.  Also be sure to take advantage of the lower comps brought in by all the foreclosures. Use them to your advantage when dealing with a private seller, and use the high comps to show the end buyer.

Second be sure you have a decent list of repairs. Also when I talk to a seller if a roof isn’t on the list of repairs I ask how old it is. If it’s an older roof I figure a new one into my offer price and let them know about it. Usually this helps them come to grips with the “wholesale” offer. Most people assume that certain items cost way more than they do which is why they don’t even price them let alone have them done.

Thanks for the questions if you have any more feel free to ask.

Share
in marketing, Negotiation, Real Estate, taxes, tips

, , , , , , , , ,

Read More
1 2