“It’s tangible, it’s solid, it’s beautiful.
It’s artistic from my standpoint.
I just love real estate.”
Donald Trump

Building relationships with Real Estate agents is vital to any real estate investor’s success. Why?

They bring you buyers.  They bring you sellers.  They bring you leads before they hit the market.  They present you to other realtors for offers.  They teach you how to get your offers accepted.  They are one of the most important members of your “power team”.

Important to work with “Winning Agents”

The old 80/20 rule applies. 20% of Agents will be handling 80% of the best whole sale properties. It’s important that you get out there and meet them! Here are some ideas to get to know who the movers and shakers are in your area:

1.       Join Local Realtor Association

2.       Call  local associations and ask who their REO specialists are

3.       Scan The Internet to see who is putting up the best listings. Examples:

• www.Realtor.com
• www.zillow.com
• www.ziprealty.com
• Google  “MLS online”  in your city to see all properties online

4.       Drive the area you are interested investing in. Look for agents who have signs posted in the areas you want to invest in.

What do you need to say when you meet them?

Most importantly do not make the about what they can do for you, make it about what you can do for them!

• Get Them On Your Team By Meeting Their Needs.
• Ask them questions.
• Get to know them.

If you are not comfortable with approaching new contacts,  you might think about buying the book by Dale Carnegie, ‘ How to Win Friends and Influence People’.  This is the best book on the logistics of how to do just what the title says.

I am going to focus on 2 specific strategies you can work with Realtors to grow both your businesses.

Realtor Partnership Strategy 1: EXPIRING LISTINGS: This one consists of Realtors Contacting agents holding listings that are about to expire.

This marketing is an easy way to discover untapped discount properties.  Do you agree that Realtors and sellers might be much more motivated to accept discounted offers when their listing is about to expire. As you know the Realtor will make no money for all their efforts if this happens. Plus the seller wants to sell the property and it won’t be sold.

• Steps for working with realtors to contact listings about to expire:

1. Contact Realtors looking for those who you can work to support each other’s businesses.  I follow a script when looking to build these most vital contacts.
2. When you meet Realtors excited to support you, set up a system to do the following:
   1. Realtor e-mails you list of all listings expiring in 30 days on a weekly basis. Excel format is best. You just need basic info – address, beds/baths/ sq feet/ notes from MLS.  Most important info is the listing Realtors name and e-mail address
   2. You go through and chose those you would like to make offers on. Make an offer that is sure to include all your costs after buying and make a profit for you.  To be sure your offer is where you need it to be, you would want to run the numbers through The Bottom Line Calculator.  Either your Realtor OR You will e-mail your purchase agreement to the sellers agent along with a cover letter, proof of funds, and copy of your earnest money check.  (Who does it will be up to you both. It’s a lot of work so it would be best if you would encourage your Realtor to allow you to do this tedious task.)

This system is a great free and easy way to reach out to motivated sellers.

Here is a Sample email content/cover letter for your Realtor to send on your behalf to Realtor who has expiring listing:

Hello,

My client has asked me to forward the attached purchase agreement (offer).  Thank you for discussing with your clients their consideration of it. In making this offer, I represent serious investors who have access to cash that will allow them to close on your seller’s property quickly if necessary.   Feel free to call me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Your Realtors Signature and Contact Info

Realtor Partnering Strategy 2 – SHORT SALE LEADS – The Second way to Partner with a Realtor to help them make double their commissions is handling Short Sales for both your “buys”  and your “sales”.

This strategy works great with open-minded Realtors who understand the law and see that this is a creative, but perfectly legal strategy that does not break anything inside the Realtors Code of Ethics. You will occasionally hear from unknowing, negative, close-minded people that when a Realtor is representing a seller, they cannot also represent you, the buyer, and also seller for after you buy it. They may say this is not “legal”.  However, as of the time of this writing, as long as proper paperwork is filed and all is disclosed and agreed to by all parties involved, nothing about this strategy is illegal. However, due to new laws coming out every day, be sure and run this strategy by a qualified attorney prior to using it.  Keep in mind, they do not have to represent you to find buyers, however if they would like, it is just another way they can profit 3 ways with 1 property. If they are not comfortable helping you to find a buyer for a property not yet closed, you will find buyers in other ways. Have you looked at this incredible online system…. www.cashbuyers4flips.com ?

SIDE NOTE: Whenever anyone tells you something is illegal or legal, ask if they can tell you where to find that information in writing.  You will run across many nay-sayers in your walk as a real estate investor.  It’s important you are swayed only by the facts and the law, not by well-meaning, yet unknowing, concerned individuals.

You would want to provide Realtors very easy instructions and explanations to read for how you would want to partner with them on your short sale deals. This information is on my own Easy I Buy Houses Website. (See http://www.tamerabuyshouses.com/ibuyhouses/realtors.php ) BTW! This  17 page website can be customized and used by you too. If you do not have a web presence, go here to get this ready made real estate investors website. (very cheap, hosted and ready to go in minutes). I highly recommend you take a look!  ( target=”_blank”www.EasyIBuyHousesWebsites.com)

Here’s How We Work Together to Create A Win/Win/Win/Win/Win/Win Situation!

1. A WIN for the Seller: Relieve over–leveraged homeowners from the pain of foreclosure and having their credit report badly damaged. They can now start a new chapter in their life.

2. A WIN for the Lender: When I handle the short sale with the bank, our packets go to the lender in perfect order so that they can process and negotiate the short sale in the most streamlined way possible. A successful short sale brings them greater financial return than the alternatives of an auction or REO.

3. A WIN for the Realtor: Collect a FULL commission and do what you do best–buying and selling real estate. By using our services you will not get bogged down with the paperwork, phone calls and interactions coming from overwhelmed loss mitigation departments. Plus – If you bring a new buyer to us, you then receive commissions on both the buy and a sell transaction… 6%

4. A WIN for Us: We might end up purchasing the home ourselves and making a larger profit margin from a subsequent sale.

5. A WIN for the new Buyer when I sell it: Now that the property’s price has been appropriately discounted for the market, it is much easier to attract a new homeowner when you put it on the market for me to sell.

1. First and most important, sellers, lenders, title companies… everyone involved in this transaction, receives full disclosures in writing from the beginning, communicating our intentions to buy and sell this property for a profit should the bank agree to accept our offer.
2. You market to find owners who are behind in payments or in foreclosure and who are interested in a short sale to avoid foreclosure and save their credit.
3. Contact us when you find a solid candidate for the program. If it looks good, we will submit an all cash offer.
4. We will then personally confer with you and the seller to explain the process and coordinate preparation of the required short sale documents. All intentions and plans are disclosed and agreed upon in writing with notary.
5. I , along with my short sale negotiation team,  are available to prepare, submit and negotiate the short sale package, driving the entire process for all involved and request they postpone the foreclosure auction if necessary.  (If the sellers agent would prefer handling short sale directly with bank instead of my team , that is great as long as they have a track record for success in this area).
6. While the short sale is being worked on, you work with me and my company to find a new end-user buyer. You create listing agreement with me as the seller and re-list house at agreed upon price. Full disclosure of entire process disclosed will be in writing up front to current owner.
7. The lender orders an interior BPO or appraisal to obtain an “as is” value.
8. We prepare a repair estimate, a terms and descriptions report along with our own comps to give to the lender’s BPO agent when we meet with them at property. (As an investor, I can let them in the house to assure BPO agent notes all its flaws)
9. We seek to find out what value the BPO agent gave to the house. We negotiate with the lender to find out their bottom-line price.
10. If the price makes sense, we will negotiate as needed and purchase the property with a 30 day close.
11. If the price does not make sense for me or my company to buy; you, as the Realtor still come out way ahead!  The process has given you some very important information in order for you to sell the house to anyone else you choose. By knowing  the lender’s bottom-line  acceptance  price, plus some potential buyers you have reached out to for us,  you are now in a position to sell the property quickly at an attractive price to those buyers or anyone else on the market at a agreed upon price.
12. However, if the price makes sense for us to buy, or we have an offer from an end buyer, as promised we will purchase the property with quick cash closing as promised. Keep in mind, our purchase contract will stipulate that the lender pays buyer’s closing cost, seller concessions and full real estate commission.  No money is ever requested from the seller.

To close the transaction we use title companies that are familiar with the sometimes more complex title and escrow work in transferring our new property to a new homeowner in a short period of time.

You may enjoy a complimentary video training on this strategy here: www.CoachingU2Profits.com )

Expired listings and short sales are just 2 of the many ways in which a good Realtor and you can support each other’s businesses.  There are many other strategies you may learn as well. I have over 24 exit strategies I teach my students in just one part of my 11 part training and coaching program, in addition to how to scripts to follow when calling every member of your much needed investors power team.  If you think you could use a down to earth, step by step plan, to quick profits through real estate investing, go to www.Coachingu2profits.com to see if this is right for you.

In the mean time, the most important thing you can do for your business is Get the Word Out!  Marketing yourself is the key to your success.

Spread the news!

Tamera Aragon
www.TameraAragon.com
Top 10 Marketing Strategies for Real Estate Investors
Part 1 -Aim-Ready-Fire- Talley The Score
Part 2 – Networking
Part 3 -Business Cards



Originally posted 2010-10-11 11:26:28. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

“Without promotion something terrible happens… Nothing!”

P.T. Barnum

In order for you to make money as a Real Estate investor you need your phone ringing off the hook (or your inbox full of leads), each and every day so that you can make offers for properties and cater your offers to your buyers. The great thing is these Motivated Sellers and buyers with cash in their bank accounts are actually looking for you because you can provide solutions to their problems.

But guess what typically happens… They can’t find you. Why? Because You’re not marketing yourself. OR if you are marketing you are not marketing correctly.  Working harder does not always bring the best results unless you are also working smart.

Did you just hear about the investor in your local RE club that closed on a deal netting them $20,000 and they didn’t even have to lay a hand on the property? Or what about the person that just bought that rental house on the same block for 40-60% less than what you paid for yours? Are they just lucky? Or are they working smarter than you?

The best place to be is a little bit of both. Somewhere in between luck and chasing deals is where you should be in finding truly motivated sellers, or rather helping them find you.

Have you ever heard when someone is ready to shoot a gun at a target say, “Ready, Aim, Fire”?

I have. And in shooting a gun, that is appropriate. However for marketing we want to change that line up a bit.  The following goes over some basic Marketing principals following Ready, Aim, Fire, and Talley the Score.

1) Aim……Who is Your Target Market?
The most important element of any marketing to be done is to assure that what you are saying AIMS directly to your target market. Who are you trying to market to? If you are advertising “I buy Houses”, What types of properties and real estate opportunities are you seeking?  If you are advertising that you have houses for sale and are looking for buyers,  what does your advertising say to bring in the most promising prospects for you? The more narrow your focus and marketing efforts, the greater success you will experience.  As an example, I am a REI coach and trainer.  In the past, I had been marketing to “real estate investors” and “real estate investing coaching and training”.   Now you will find my marketing more niche focused – Flipping is my niche.  I focus on turning profits for quick profit. Not that I can’t teach on anything else.  I just decided to pick the niche that  best suits me and go for it.

WHO are you aiming at? Who is your target market? In Aiming, you want to first look at who it is that will bring you in what you are looking for in your business.  You might need a buyers, sellers, a power team, money sources, referrals, etc.  for every ad you place, you will want your marketing message to be, first and foremost, clearly directed at who/what it is that you are attempting to reach/sell/buy.  And you will want to know the ages, gender, nationalities and locations for the majority of your target market.

WHERE are you pointing your gun…. In other words where are you advertising to reach your target market?  The second consideration when Aiming is to assure the type of ad you are placing is they type of medium your target market will see.  Wherever you are advertising, be sure and verify historical numbers for who is paying attention to that medium whether TV, newspaper, online, billboards, etc. Make sure the mediums you use are those that those who are your target market will see.

WHAT ammunition are you using? What are you saying in your ads by the words and graphics used?  Is the copy enticing enough to make you stand out? What is your USP (Your unique selling proposition) What makes you special?  Many people pay copywriters to write their ads, (yes, even individual real estate investors), in order to assure what they are saying is the right way to put the message across.  If writing effective ads is not your cup of tea, you might want to reach out for help. You can have the right medium, pointing to the right target, but you if you don’t say something appealing, then you wasted your time and money.

2) Ready….Your Marketing Plan
Your Marketing Budget: You will want to create a marketing plan starting with a budget. We all have basic living expenses that need to be paid. If you are just getting started and short on cash, could you cut back on the budget anywhere to find a little money to create a small advertising budget?

List the marketing mediums to be used: In addition to the budget, you will want to make a list of the mediums you will use that meets the criteria we have discussed in Aim and Ready sections in this book.

Consistency is Key: You simply DO NOT have to have a large marketing budget to be effective to grow your RE business. One 42 cent letter netted me $70,000.  It’s all about consistency. You will want to be realistic about your monetary constraints to start out and then incrementally build your marketing program as you experience more and more success.  It is vital that you don’t base all your decisions on one attempt. Consistently do marketing to same target market using the same medium for at least 1 month …1 X week.  Often people need to see repetition in order to the idea to call you to sink in to where they take action.

3. Fire…Do your marketing plan!

So many people spend too much time telling themselves all the reasons they haven’t done marketing, mostly revolved around their lack of time and money.  However, to run your real estate investing business effectively and profitable, (or any business for that matter), you must get the word out to let others know what you do.  There are many low cost and limited Fire at the target and see the results!

3) Talley the Score… How many times did you hit your target?
Did you receive a return on your advertising investment, (Often referred to as an ROI)? We miss the boat on this one so much. When you are incorporating bandit signs, direct mail, flyer campaigns, into your marketing etc… it can start to get confusing where and if your success rate justifies the money and time put into the marketing mediums you are using. You will need to mainly pay attention to one thing … was money you profited higher than the money you spent to get the lead to call you. You will want to pay attention to two elements in tracking your responses.

When someone calls, be sure and ask where they found your phone number and track the “response rate”. for each particular form of advertisement.  This will tell you what ads hit the target!  From this information, it is easy to track the return on your investment to see how much money you make from each response and adding those dollars up.  Tracking your responses and closures of deals by how they found you is necessary so that you can identify areas that need to be tweaked or worked on. If you are not getting response, you will want to evaluate if that is the correct medium or if what you are saying is not working. If you are getting response, but not closure, you will want to change your ad to bring in more focused leads.

And when you find out that great mailing list is really working or the flyers in a particular neighborhood is getting tremendous feedback….then increase your marketing in that area! I mean when you are measuring success and can track it effectively, it allows you in full financial confidence to justify any increase in marketing expenditures that is bringing in more than you are spending.

My hope is for you to realize that marketing for the real estate investor is the lifeblood of his/her business. Great deals rarely knock on your door to find you without some kind of influence to do so.  Marketing is key.

Over the next few weeks I will  provide details on several types of marketing I have used in my real estate investing business with some success.  For your marketing plan, you will want to put into place no more than 2 or 3 of these marketing strategies at one time, amending your plan depending on the results.  Watch for more to come!

Most importantly, whatever strategy you use, follow these steps:

Aim, Ready, Fire and Talley the score!

To Your Massive Profits,

Tamera Aragon

Originally posted 2010-08-25 08:54:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Tamera has owned her own businesses since 1982 when, after obtaining her degree in Merchandising, at the age of 20 she founded a business that resulted in a successful multi-million dollar company catering to the needs of elderly in nursing homes.  Since this time, she has expanded upon many different entrepreneurial endeavors creating success while utilizing her outstanding sales, marketing and leadership abilities.

Highlights and Successes:

• Founder & CEO Clothes You-Nique, Inc 1982 – 1992
• Sales Rep Wine Brokerage:  1993-1995
• Iridology and natural health consultant 1995
• Yellow Pages Marketing and Advertising: Management and Top Sales: 
  1995-2000
• Women’s Success Group, Inc- Founder of this Nonprofit: 1997 – Present
• Quick Connect Wireless Outlet – Founder and VP : 2000 – Present
• Real Estate Investor 2003 – Present
• Internet Marketer 2001 – Present
• Success Trainer, Speaker & Coach 2005 – Present
• Author:  Avoid Foreclosure Following the Smart Steps Plan
• Bula Naturals: Hand Made Lip Balms and other products
  …made with 100% Pure Virgin Coconut Oil from Fiji: 2010 – Present
• Mobile Marketing Resources and Tools – Founder: 2011 – Present
• Susan B Anthony Women of Achievement Award – Winner:  2000

Real Estate Investing:

Tamera Aragon has bought and sold over 300 properties, establishing her as an expert in the real estate investing field. Tamera is a professional online entrepreneur providing tools and training for her step by step methods to finding profits in any type of real estate market.
Because Tamera’s true passion is to help others be, do and have more in their life, she immediately took to putting the real estate investing tools and resources she uses on the internet for others to benefit.  Tamera is one of the few trainers and coaches who is really “doing it” successfully in today’s market.  She openly shares her tools, experiences and knowledge with others in hopes they will help to bring financial freedom to their life as well.
Tamera has been inspired to create over 17 websites and several specialized products to support fellow investors throughout the world.  She has personally coached and mentored over 120 others to real estate success since 2008.

Tamera’s experience has earned her a solid reputation in the industry as well as the respect and friendship of many top national real estate investment and internet marketing experts.

Tamera showing off the Fiji dress her new Fijian friend, had just made her.

Recently she has invested outside of the U.S. into Savusavu, Fiji two ways:

• As an investor and promoter for the Fiji Events Center.   She enjoys supporting others by offering a location for life changing “events to remember” in this place called Paradise.
• Tamera has joint ventured with the manager of one of Fiji’s few Botanical gardens, Leba,  and opened Bula Naturals, LLC, the first company to import Fijian Virgin Coconut Oil into the United States, (with the plan for additional Fiji food products to follow).

Taking Marketing to a Whole New Level

MobileMarketingDone4U.com is taking the world by storm offering several products and services to support small business in becoming a part of the mobile revolution:

• Mobile Marketing Done 4U – One Website – Everything Mobile Marketing!
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Personal

Tamera’s home base is in Stockton, CA.  Because she designed her businesses to support flexibility and freedom in her schedule and location,  she is so happy to be able to move freely between Fiji and U.S (and anywhere in between). This freedom also allows her to enjoy more time for her 13 year old daughter, Abigail.  Tamera, who is happily married for 15 years, has also enjoyed raising her 23 year old son, Justin.