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Ulitmate Marketing Plan to Sell a Home Mind Map format
Ulitmate Marketing Plan to Sell a Home PDF format

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Also, don’t miss out on this Wednesday’s Coaching Webinar with Than Merrill and Scott Meyers on “How to Invest in Self Storage Units.”

Self Storage Unit Investing

By Than Merrill

To learn about Real Estate Marketing, look at Marketing For Deals or to attend Than Merrill’s exclusive weekend seminar, check out the Marketing and Wholesale Bootcamp

At my real estate seminars I am often asked by my students what area of the business they should study first. With so much to learn and so many different niches it can sometimes seem overwhelming for many new investors. I see a lot of investors flounder the first couple years because they don’t know where to spend their time. I started buying rental properties and quickly learned this was not the niche to begin with. Likewise, I spent a lot of time studying areas of the business which were meant for year three and four of my development. I strongly urge my students and most investors to start out wholesaling and rehabbing until you build up significant capital reserves. However, whatever your niche of choice is you must understand and spend significant time studying how to find deals. In fact, FINDING DEALS SIGNIFICANTLY BELOW MARKET VALUE is your number one job. In order to do this you must begin to think of yourself as a marketer first and real estate investor second. So congratulations you are NOW A MASTER MARKETER not a real estate investor.

Real Estate Investing Basics Tip #1 – The Best Investors Understand Marketing

Marketing is the first area of the business you should study as a beginning real estate investor. Marketing is what makes the phone ring and generates leads. Leads are the lifeblood of your business. They are the oxygen your business breaths. The more leads you have the more money you will make. If you don’t have leads, then you won’t buy any properties. If you don’t buy any properties then you can’t make any money. If you can’t make any money then you can’t build a business. As a result you should spend the majority of your time figuring out how to get your phone to ring with motivated sellers. (The same thing can be said for dating!)

Successful marketing is an art, and those who understand marketing set themselves apart from other investors. There must be a mindset shift as an investor. You are not in the business of flipping homes. You are in the business of generating leads from people who want to sell their home under market value. If you can do this you will control the market and you will figure out the rest of the business very quickly. If you have a potential $80,000.00 dollar pay day on the other end of the phone believe me you learn quickly. (Ask me how I know this!)

There are many different forms of marketing you can utilize to get your phone ringing. Direct mail, billboards, TV, cold calling, and networking are all marketing strategies you can use to find deals. The key is to narrow down your market and find your target, develop a compelling message with an irresistible offer, and consistently touch these people with multiple marketing mediums. Then you will want to develop marketing systems so you can repeat this process over and over again.

Real Estate Investing Basics Tip #2 – Wholesale Properties to Build Your Cash Cushion

Once you find the deal now you have to find someone who is willing to buy the deal from you at a higher price. This is where wholesaling comes into play. Wholesaling is the business of finding bargains and selling the deals to bargain hunters at a higher price. You are not adding value to the property. Wholesaling properties should be essential part of every real estate investors business. It is a way to generate income with little to no risk. Many times, you never take ownership of the property – you simply are the transaction coordinator. In essence, you are bringing a buyer and a seller together. Through your marketing efforts, you locate deals and then you assign them to other investors that you locate through your various forms of marketing. If your marketing machine is in motion, you should have no problem finding buyers. Successful marketing and networking in the real estate community will enable you to find wholesale buyers.

Real Estate Investing Basics Tip #3 – Rehabbing for Large Profits

Rehabbing is when you redevelop the property yourself instead of wholesaling the property to someone else. This is where the larger profits lie. The reason is you will be selling the property to a retail buyer who will be willing to pay full market value for the property as opposed to a another investor who is looking for a discount.

Rehabbing is an entire business in itself and there is a lot you need to learn about this niche. It is important if you choose to include rehabbing in your business that you spend time educating yourself first. Learning pricing of labor and materials as well as whom are the qualified contractors in your area is essential to rehabbing properties.

Being able to add value to properties through renovations is a not only very profitable, but also very rewarding. You are providing a great service, not only to the city in which you do business, but also to the end buyer of your newly remodeled home. When you become experienced at rehabbing you will have the confidence to be able to take on projects that many people would never even consider. This separates you from the other investors and creates more opportunities for you in that real estate market.

To find out more about our life changing Real Estate Investing Courses and Real Estate Investing Seminars, see them using the corresponding links or email us at info@fortunebuilders.com

To learn about Real Estate Marketing, look at Marketing For Deals or to attend Than Merrill’s exclusive weekend seminar, check out the Marketing and Wholesale Bootcamp

On one of my monthly coaching calls I was speaking about the three core traits of all successful real estate investors and a very interesting question was posed by one of my students. The student inquired about how much time they should spend acquiring knowledge before they take action and buy their first property. The question struck a chord in me and I addressed it immediately because this is a question that many new investors want to know the answer to. This question moved me because this is also one of the biggest mistakes many investors make and that is they take action in a disproportionate amount to the knowledge they have acquired. This is also a mistake I have made in my investing career. (Special Note** When I make mistakes I usually blame them on Paul!)

Knowledge is Your Base

Knowledge is power and the more knowledge you acquire the more successful you will become. However, knowledge without action will result in a lifetime of learning and zero earned income. Likewise, action with minimal knowledge will result in a lifetime of economic peaks, valleys, and moments of self destruction. (If you pass this article on to 10 sub-prime lenders within the next 10 minutes you will have a lifetime of good luck and prosperity.)

The key to becoming a successful real estate investor is to have patience. You must build up a very large knowledge base before you take action and purchase your first investment property. This philosophy is based on my own personal experiences. During my first year in the business, I seriously overleveraged myself and put my business at risk. This was the result of making business decisions without the proper knowledge. For example, I read four books on buying rental properties before I went out and bought my first property. I then acquired three other rental properties within a two month period without any further education. Within months I had transitioned from a student to full time landlord dealing with twelve tenants who seemed to be allergic to paying their rent on time. My business was operating on “E” and I knew there was something I was missing.

Wholesaling Systems Create Stability

Thankfully, at this point in the game I sought further education as Paul and I had a feeling we were operating in the wrong niche of the business. It was at this “tipping point” that we discovered the business of wholesaling properties. We knew wholesaling is where we needed further education because it would take care of our cash flow problems and lack of capital reserves. I have a saying that you must take care of today’s cash needs before you acquire long term assets.

After we wholesaled our first two properties for a $52,000.00 profit we were addicted. We knew we had to create wholesaling systems in order to replicate this result over and over again. We also knew it would take a lot of time to build these systems and we would have to have the patience to do this. We wanted to become wealthy quickly, but we understood the importance of building our business properly. We knew once the systems were built it would it make it much easier to take action with a lot less risk. We also realized we would never be able to remove ourselves from our business without having the proper systems that would run it when we weren’t there. This is why you must spend time more time building business systems in proportion to taking action. Action produces revenue, but without systems you will never remove yourself from a business. (Just ask your local restaurateur)

Action Is The Final Step

When you have properly educated yourself and built business systems then it becomes relatively easy to take action. Knowledge gives you confidence, systems eliminate some of the risk, and action is what produces revenue. It is in the replication process where you will make all of your money. If you don’t understand the importance of building a strong knowledge base, sound business systems, then your business and life will be in a constant state of imbalance.

To find out more about our life changing home study courses and live seminars, see them using the corresponding links or email us at info@fortunebuilders.com

To learn about Real Estate Marketing, look at Marketing For Deals or to attend Than Merrill’s exclusive weekend seminar, check out the Marketing and Wholesale Bootcamp

At many of my real estate seminars I am often asked the question “what does it take to become a successful real estate investor?” More specifically what are the intangibles that separate successful real estate investors from their less successful counterparts? If I had to boil it down to three components it would be knowledge, systems, and action.

Knowledge

Knowledge is power. This statement is paramount in its application to real estate investing. In the real estate game, the most knowledgeable players are always the most successful. (Why do you think Alex Trebek has half of the universe on a 6 month option?) Knowledgeable investors thrive on information and they are consistently seeking and finding resources to improve their knowledge base. The information they seek is specialized knowledge, the finer details you might say, within the niche in which they operate. If you do not continue to acquire knowledge at a rapid pace, you will fall behind the curve. To stay on the cutting edge in any field you must continually seek new information. With the ever changing real estate market, those who are educated will always be in a better position to succeed.

Business Systems

Systems run businesses. When you create a solid system and implement that system in your business, you are setting up the infrastructure to be successful. Truly efficient companies have detailed systems in place. This allows them to insert new people at any time into any position and not skip a beat. By doing this, you can remove yourself from certain responsibilities as well as replace employees whenever the need to do so arises. This allows you to run your business rather than have your business run you. If you are not able to create an effective system, you will always be a prisoner within your own business.

Business Systems allow you to duplicate your business in other markets. All successful franchise operations have detailed business systems that allow them to efficiently and effectively replicate their businesses at new locations. Whether your plan is to open one store or a hundred stores, a solid business system will make this process possible.

Action

Without action, knowledge and business systems will not accomplish anything. You can go out and acquire all the knowledge you wish and create an excellent business system along with that knowledge, but if you do not take action and implement your ideas, they are wasted. This is the step that many people will never accomplish. Action separates those who do from those who only dream of doing. Many people are afraid to take action and as a result never become successful. While taking action is a risk, through education and system development you can minimize that risk. Successful business owners take action everyday and as a result expose themselves to risk and failure. This is inherent in any business, including real estate. With great risk come great rewards.

Happy Halloween Everyone!

To find out more about our life changing home study courses and live seminars, see them using the corresponding links or email us at info@fortunebuilders.com