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There are many creative ways to find motivated sellers and promote your business. One of the great ways to get positive exposure for your business and give back to your community is to sponsor events or teams. There are lots of great ways to do this.

You can sponsor sports teams such as soccer, softball, bowling or track. You can also participate in a local golf tournament for charity. One of the ways to do this is to provide uniforms or shirts which of course have your company information on them. Walk-a-thons are another great way to achieve this goal. This is a good way to get advertising out for your real estate investing business and support your community at the same time.

Another way to promote your real estate business in a positive way is to sponsor events or take part in local functions by donating promotional items. For example, if your community is having a local fair or parade, you could donate balloons to be given out to the children which have your company name and logo on them. These are always appreciated and it’s a good way to get your company information out to the public. These events usually get press or television coverage as well. Imagine a news shot of a parade where every child is holding a balloon with your message on it! Or, imagine the winning team getting their picture in the paper wearing shirts with your message on them. What better advertising could you ask for! And what better way to let people know that you buy houses! Read More→

The rental business can be very lucrative for the real estate investor. It can also be a pain in the neck. The trick to an effective rental business is the management. We have many rentals as a part of our real estate investment business and we have always said that managing tenants is like raising another set of children unless you do it correctly.

The first thing you should do is to decide if you are going to manage your properties yourself or if you are going to have someone else do it for you. There are ways to automate these systems either way and I will discuss both. You just need to choose the system that works the best for your own needs.

You can use a property management company and run your rental business pretty much hands-off. Just remember that there are costs involved in doing it this way and you don’t have as much control. If you do choose to work with a property management company check references before doing so. In the beginning, keep a closer tab on what’s going on with your properties. Some property management companies are definitely better than others and some will take better care of your properties than others.

When using a property management company who is going to place tenants in your properties, make sure they are using a reputable tenant check company and make sure you look at the applications and tenant check reports of prospective tenants before they are placed in your property until you are sure that you and the management company are “on the same page” regarding the tenant requirements you want for your properties. Make sure your property management company understands your personal parameters when placing tenants in your properties. Read More→

Signage is an important tool for you to use in your real estate investing business. Using signage is another inexpensive way to draw motivated sellers and deals to you. Many real estate investors find that signage can produce more deals in a year than some of the other methods they use in their businesses. Once again, you need to test and track the results in your own business. There are several different types of signage you can use. Some are permanent, some are temporary. Some are very inexpensive and some will cost more. I will discuss several different types of signage I have used in my own business.

One type of signage you can use is magnetic signs or vinyl lettering that goes on your vehicle. You can also “wrap” a vehicle with signage. Wrapping a vehicle means signage all the way around it. There are sign companies who will design this type of signage for you. This is a little more expensive and a little more permanent; however, it can be easily removed should you decide to sell your vehicle. Magnetic signs work very well, especially if you only own one vehicle. Sometimes you will be working with a seller who doesn’t want their neighbors to know they are selling their house and you will need to remove your signage before going to see that seller. Make sure your message is short and to the point since other drivers have only seconds to see your message unless your vehicle is parked. Read More→

One way a lot of real estate investors use lumpy mail is when they are working the pre-foreclosure market. These people are getting stacks of mail and post cards every day from mortgage companies, attorneys and other investors. There is a lot of competition for these properties so you need to do something to make your mail stand out and look different from the others so it gets opened first. Since there are fewer foreclosures these days getting noticed is even more important to your success.

There are several ways to do this. One is to simply insert something into the envelope if you are mailing a letter. It might be a piece of candy or gum with information about your business with a tag line of “In a sticky situation? Call us first”. Or, if you are using a piece of candy it might say, “Call us first, we can make you a sweet deal”. It just needs to be something that makes your mail piece look different, and makes it stand out from everyone else’s.

You could also use a lumpy mail piece like a penny, then within the body of your letter; say something like “a penny for your thoughts on selling your home”. You just need to be using something that grabs the seller’s attention. Anything that feels different or makes noise will accomplish this for you. Be creative with your mailings and you will create more leads and do more deals. Read More→

One of the best ways I know of to grow personal wealth is by creating multiple streams of income in your life and in your business. In an uncertain economy, it is important not to place “all your eggs in one basket.” In order to protect your income long term you need to consider diversifying your investments so whether in a bad economy or a good economy you still have income from some of your investments.

As a real estate entrepreneur, there are several ways for you to accomplish this goal. One way to create multiple streams of income has to do with the way you purchase properties and structure your deals. You can wholesale properties for immediate income, or you can lease/option properties so you get some money today, some each month and a big chunk of cash at the end. When you do a lease/option with a tenant buyer, just remember to increase the initial asking price of the property by at least ten percent so you realize the gain in property values over the year. If you extend your lease/option for a second year, you get another chunk of cash; you increase the price again and continue to get a monthly income from it.

You can also hold onto rental properties and have someone else manage them for you. This way, you get to go the mailbox, get checks and not have to do any of the work or deal with the tenants. Apartment complexes and storage units are another great stream of income, especially when they are managed by someone else. Not only do you realize the gain on the property long-term but the monthly checks are even bigger. Read More→

So now your tenant is all moved into your unit. When a tenant moves into one of my units, I provide them an inspection sheet that goes over the condition of all parts of the unit (paint, doors, appliances, etc) which they sign off on stating that they agree to the condition of the unit when they moved in. We give our tenants fifteen days to go through the unit to see if there are any repairs needed that may have been missed by my rehab crew. These repairs are done at no charge to the tenant. After fifteen days, the tenant is charged the first sixty five dollars of all repairs. This keeps the tenant from calling us to repair small items like toilet guts for instance.

I actually added this to our lease after a tenant called us at 6:30 one evening to tell us her kitchen sink was stopped up. It turned out that her small child had stuck a cup down into the garbage disposal. It just needed to be removed. The way my lease reads now, that tenant would be charged a fee of $65.00 to have my repair guy go out for something that wasn’t a repair. This one clause will save you from a lot of unnecessary trips to your units for repairs.

I also have someone who checks my rental units every sixty days or so to make sure they are being cared for properly and that the tenant has not added animals that are not on the lease. We also make sure they have not moved in any more people who are not on the lease. This is grounds for immediate eviction. Within the body of our lease, we also cover how long visitors can stay as well so there is a clear definition as to what a visitor is and what an extra tenant is. You can also hire a property management company to handle your units, but I just feel like our units are better handled by my staff. I also send letters to the neighbors surrounding my rental units letting them know that we are interested in any input they may have about my units and my tenants. The neighbors become kind of a watchdog for me to let me know if there are any problems I should know about. Read More→

You’ve all heard the tenant horror stories from people who have had tenants in properties, but being a landlord doesn’t have to be difficult as long as you learn some strategies for handling your tenants. My husband used to say that handling tenants was like having a group of children that you have to train and discipline. But it doesn’t have to be that difficult.

You do have to make some specific rules for your tenants and stick to them. Every time you change the rules you give your tenants the upper hand. You must also have an iron clad lease that specifically addresses the issues that you may have with tenants such as getting your rent paid on time. This is one area in which I am steadfast with the rules. I don’t care what the tenant’s situation is, their responsibility is to pay me on time or they are stealing services from you without paying for them. My tenants are responsible for having the rent in our post office box on or before the date it is due or they are served with a three-day notice the next morning as required by law where I live in order to begin the eviction process. There are no exceptions. We even have tenants who send their checks to me priority mail to make sure they get to me on time.

You must also take the time to pre-qualify your tenants’ right from the beginning so you can avoid some problems right from the start. Don’t just accept a tenant into your rental property because they have the money to move in. Don’t let greed be your guide. Have your tenants fill out a specific rental application. Then you must run a tenant check with a reputable company. Don’t try to do this yourself just by looking at public records. You will miss credit issues and anything that may have occurred out of state. You need to find out the information you need to know about your tenants right from the start before renting them your unit. For example, if the tenant check shows the applicant was just evicted from another premises, this certainly isn’t going to be a tenant you want in your property. Or if your tenant has had recent felony convictions, this isn’t a tenant you want in your rental unit. If your applicant has multiple animals, this is also not someone you want in your rental unit. I will mention however, that I will allow a tenant with a small dog or cat to rent my units. I find that usually a tenant who has a pet that they have had for some time will make a good tenant who will stay longer in your unit. Read More→

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me in the real estate business is how many investors leave hundreds or thousands of dollars on the table at closing due to errors in the closing documents. This is an area where many investors need to be educated. Many times investors get excited about the bottom line and forget to check the figures on the documents.

It is a mistake to assume that the HUD or closing statement is correct or that the closing documents are correct. The person preparing the closing statement can make mistakes. In addition, the person preparing the closing statement and documents is using figures that they have acquired from other people who could also make mistakes, such as the insurance company, the Realtors, the lender, home inspection service, or the surveyor.

You need to take the time to read all the documents carefully before closing on any deal. I have personally seen errors on the HUD at almost every closing I have ever been part of. Many investors only look at the bottom line and think “yes that’s enough money” but they fail to look at the whole closing statement, and in doing so possibly leave thousands at the table. I just had a closing take place recently where there was a mistake of a thousand dollars on the HUD. They put one of the buyer’s expenses on my side of the closing statement. I don’t know about you, but I think a thousand dollars is a lot of money to leave behind when you are entitled to it. Read More→

There are so many easy ways to find motivated buyers for your real estate investing business, no matter what your current market is doing. I have several favorite methods for locating buyers for my properties which I would like to share with you.

The first technique I would suggest is using wholesale buyers for those properties you want to sell quickly. Finding wholesale buyers for your real estate investing business is fairly easy. You can either run a simple ad in the newspaper or on Craigslist advertising properties for sale on a wholesale basis to draw wholesale buyers or you can find wholesale buyers at your local real estate club.

I also suggest finding wholesale buyers through local realtors, especially those who deal with bank REOs or foreclosure properties. Wholesale buyers are always interested in finding properties to grow their real estate investing business and wholesaling properties is a good way for a real estate investor to get cash coming in immediately. Another simple way to find wholesale buyers is to simply call on the signs by the side of the road that say “We Buy Houses”. Read More→

There are several rather unusual ways that I like to use to locate motivated sellers. I’d like to share several of my favorites with you so you can find even more motivated sellers in a non-conventional way. This is absolutely the best time of the year to be locating motivated sellers since property tax bills have just gone out to owners in many states AND the holiday season is upon us. As you know one of my favorite techniques to locate highly motivated sellers is using direct mail and during the holiday season sellers are opening all of their mail since they are getting letters from friends they have not heard from in a year. Here are some of my other favorite albeit unusual techniques to find highly motivated sellers.

The first of these is to contact auction houses in your area and work with them to help you find leads on houses for sale. I’m talking about the auction you go to on Friday or Saturday night to buy “stuff”. Where do you think these auction houses get their merchandise? They get it from homeowners who need to get rid of a household full of items. One way to find these auction houses is to look in the yellow pages or google “Auctions” and find the ads that say “we consign estates”. These are going to be the ones you will want to work with. Many times an auction house will be contacted by an heir to sell items remaining in a property to settle an estate or to simply get rid of things remaining in the property after they inherit it. They may also be working with a widow or widower who wants to get rid of their excess furnishings, sell the home, and move into an assisted living facility or with a relative. The next item of business is to get the property sold as well. You can make a deal with the owner of the auction house to contact you when these situations arise, and they will give you the information about the sellers. If you offer a fair price and the auction house gets paid a commission, this is a good way to buy houses no one else knows about.

Another unique way to buy houses that no one thinks about is to contact local attorneys in your area who handle estate, probate, family, real estate and business law. Quite often they will have clients come to them with a probate situation, a divorce situation or a bankruptcy situation or other situation that they need handled. These clients need to sell a property quickly in order to liquidate assets no matter what condition the property is in. If you are a person of integrity and you do what you say you are going to do and offer a fair price, these attorneys will continue to contact you with potential deals. Interestingly enough, you will find that these attorneys talk to one another and you will find yourself getting referral business from other attorneys. This is one of the ways I use in my own business to bring in new leads on a regular basis.

Another way to find motivated sellers is to contact mortgage brokers who deal with private lenders. I have personally purchased several foreclosure properties this way. A private lender would just as soon sell a property they have had to foreclose on to you as they would rehab it themselves or sell it conventionally. This is an excellent way for you to get leads coming into your business, especially if you are just getting started. Very often the same private lender who had to foreclose will finance the same property for you if they see that you are going to get it sold and get them paid off. In addition, this is a good way for you to bring new private lenders into your own business. This is another technique that most of your competitors just don’t think about.

The fourth unique way I use to find motivated sellers is to check various types of ads in the newspapers and online. For example, you can check the marriage notices to find out who is getting married. If you see older couples, you can pretty much assume that they both already own homes and want to sell one or both to buy a home of their own. You can also check the death notices. When someone dies, there may be an heir who now has a house they need to sell. Tread lightly when following up on these leads, you don’t want to offend a potential seller. Send them a generic type of letter explaining that you are interested in buying some houses in their neighborhood. DO NOT refer to the fact that you know the person has died. You can also watch the paper for public auctions, bank foreclosures, and divorce filings. In divorce cases, you will have situations arise where neither spouse wants the property; therefore they are anxious to sell. Or they need to sell in order to liquidate assets.

Another way I like to locate potential deals is to locate vacant houses. I simply drive around and look for them whenever I am out driving somewhere. I will tell you, the more difficult it is to find the owner of these vacant houses, the better a deal you are likely to make. These houses are sitting empty for a reason. It may be a divorce situation where both parties just walked away, or an estate, or perhaps a pre-foreclosure. These are all good lead possibilities and vacant houses are some of the easiest potential leads to locate. In my personal business I use a skip trace service to find the owners of these vacant houses.

Another unconventional way to find a bargain is to make a friend of someone who owns a junk or disposal service. These folks are an excellent source of leads for you. Think about it. Who do people call when they have just inherited a house loaded with junk? Or maybe a widow or widower who needs to have the attic or basement cleaned out? In these scenarios the junk hauler is often the first person to be aware that a sale of the property is imminent based on their conversation with the owner. I will offer the hauler money for the lead and another fee if I actually purchase the property. This keeps him very interested in finding more properties for me to buy. And, once again these are leads your competition knows nothing about.

Speaking of unconventional ways to find deals, how about working with the owners of storage units? Think about it, if someone is putting things in storage, most likely it’s because they are moving. The owner or office manager of the storage unit is going to know it before anyone else and this is a very good source of leads for you. In addition, inside the offices of storage units there is usually a public board where you can post your business cards or a flyer with pull-tabs. When the person comes in to pay their bill, they will see your information. We have purchased properties using this very strategy.

Another great way to find excellent leads is by going to estate sales and yard sales. I know many of you like to do this on the weekend anyway, so here’s a great opportunity to mix business with pleasure. When you arrive at one of these sales, ask the person running it why they are selling their stuff. It’s that simple. I once bought a house where the owners were trying to sell enough “stuff” to make up a past due mortgage payment and they were in pre-foreclosure. If you see a sign that says “everything must go” this is also a pretty good indicator that they might be selling the house as well. Sometimes in estate situations you will see a sign that says “estate sale”, another good indicator that the home might be for sale. If they don’t want to talk to you just then, leave your business card with them and also try to get a phone number to contact them later as well. These sales can be a very good source of leads for you and another idea that your competitors are simply not thinking of.

And last, but certainly not least are your tenants. What an incredible source of leads for you if you are a landlord. We have a tenant referral program where we offer our tenants a credit of one hundred dollars toward the following month’s rent if they give us a lead and we buy the property. We have purchased multiple houses on the same street using this technique. Your tenants are hearing about situations while talking to their neighbors that you would never know about otherwise. When the tenant knows they can make money from it, they will refer these people to you.

We also put signs in the yard of every rental property that we own which helps our tenants start a conversation with a potential seller. They will give the potential seller our contact information as well as getting their information for us. We have some tenants who are fairly greedy and send us lots of potential leads.

As a real estate investor, you always want to be finding new ways to locate properties no one else knows about, and to have between three and five marketing strategies in place at all times.

Kathy KennebrookKathy Kennebrook is a speaker, author and has been actively investing in real estate since 1999, Kathy currently resides in Bradenton, FL and is known as the “Marketing Magic Lady” because she is the country’s leading real estate marketing expert on finding motivated sellers using direct mail.

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Kathy Kennebrook’s Other Articles >>

When you are looking to become successful in the real estate investing business, implementing a solid marketing plan for your business is going to be one of your first priorities. This will be the main strategy that will separate you from your competition. In addition you need to develop long and short term strategies and goals for your business as you go.

Decide what your focus is going to be regarding the type of properties you would like to purchase in your Real Estate Investing business and create a plan of action that will begin to bring in motivated sellers in droves and create deals for you. If you don’t know what exit strategies to use, make getting educated one of your top priorities. One of the best ways to do that is to work with a Mentor who can help you achieve the goals you have set for yourself.

Getting a good education in the buying and selling of real estate and having someone to hold you accountable will quickly separate you from most of your competition. You can check out my website at www.marketingmagiclady.com for some really powerful tools for your Real Estate Investing business including my personal Mentoring Program.

Don’t be afraid to do what those around you will not. Dare to be different and consistent in your marketing efforts and the results will be amazing. Niche your marketing and become an expert in your market place. Become educated within your market place so you know what your property values are and what your personal target market is going to be. Decide what kinds of deals you like best and go after them. Read More→

The Fast Track to Failure

Posted on October 1, 2014 by

The quickest route I have seen many investors take to failure in the real estate investing business is by quitting before they ever have the chance to see their business succeed. Some obstacle comes along that just feels overwhelming and instead of forging on, they just say “I Quit”. Think about it, it’s easier to just quit than it is to forge ahead and solve the problem even when it’s not the easiest solution at the moment. It’s also easier to blame the market, blame your lack of education, or just adopt the “it doesn’t work where I live” kind of attitude than to take responsibility for the success or failure of your real estate business. I have heard “want to be” investors come up with every excuse imaginable not to get started in this very profitable business, and I have heard every excuse as to why it “just didn’t work for me”.

Believe me when I tell you, I have heard it all, and I feel sorry for the folks who adopt these attitudes. They are missing out on a wonderful opportunity to change their lives forever. If I had listened to that kind of negativity or thought so little of my personal abilities when I got started in this business, I wouldn’t be the wealthy entrepreneur I am today.

There are two critical moments when you must have faith in yourself and in your business; when you first begin your business and when your business is in some kind of trouble. It’s easier to be much more optimistic at the onset, it’s not so easy when you are overwhelmed, feeling like you are being pushed in several directions, or having trouble with cash flow. Sometimes quitting may look really attractive and your friends and family may suggest to you that you quit the real estate business and get a job if things aren’t going along just the way they should. Read More→