Networking is such an important part of your business. You must let everyone know what you are doing. Everyone can be a “bird dog” for you – And you for them.  A great book to read if you are uncomfortable with the idea of attending events to network yourself and your business is ‘How To Win Friends and Influence People’ by Dale Carnegie. It’s a great book that helps you to understand why you need to network with others as well as knowing what to say when you meet with new contacts.

Throughout the 30 years of owning several businesses, I can honestly say this type of marketing has been the most effective … and the most fun!  Of course my belief in the benefits of networking is reflected as I founded a networking group called Women’s Success Group, (a nonprofit networking group since 1998) and now beginning and running an Investors Network in my own town.

For the sake of my audience I am going to focus all marketing strategies discussed over the next few weeks  exclusively to those involved in real estate investing, though the same principals often apply to most other businesses.

I would like to start with suggestions for some places to Network your real estate investing business.

1)      Search Real Estate Investor Clubs in Your Area.
(Mine is www.InvestorCommunityofCentralValley.com)

2)      Check meetings and trainings for local Real Estate Associations.

3)      Check meetings and trainings at local Title Companies.

4)      Check on handyman, builders and contractor associations in your area.

5)      Ask everyone you talk to for referrals for networking events that have worked for them.

6)      Of course chamber events and networking clubs that meet at breakfast and lunch are a general source to get to know the general public.

I know the biggest fear and reason many people don’t attend networking events is they don’t know how to approach or what to say to others when first meeting them. So here is an idea.

For every person you come in contact with at any type of networking meeting, your conversation might go something like this:

• “Hi there, my name’s __________.  What’s your name?”
• “Say their name – What is it that you do?
• “How long have you been doing this?”  (Don’t be surprised most investors are part timers)
• If they ask what you do for a living or about yourself, be prepared!

1)      Hand them your card.

2)      Summarize your business in 30 seconds or less.  This is where spending time writing down how you want to market you and your business is important. You want to be concise and clear in describing what you do and what types of referrals would be most helpful.  Try to incorporate something that differentiates you from the rest?

Here is an example of a 30 Second Commercial

“Hi my name is _________________. I consider myself the real estate investor with a heart. My passion is to work with home owners in jeopardy of losing their homes to foreclosure. If the home owner wants to keep living in their property I might point them direction on how to do that (www.theavoidforeclosurebook.com ) …if they just want out – maybe they lost their job and can’t afford to keep it any longer, then I offer to buy their property. My goal is to create a win-win-win. Win for the home owner/seller, win for me the buyer/ investor and win for the bank when I take the house off their hands.”

If you know anyone that can use my help I pay a $500 referral fee to you when if I end up buying their property.”

Here is my 30 second commercial to everyone:

“I enjoy buying and selling real estate having closed on over 300 properties in the past 5 years.   Some people call me the Flippin’ Queen because as you know, flipping is another term for contracting to buy and then selling real estate quickly for a profit …. Or as I say Flippin’ it.  I look to invest in residential real estate at a discount through pre-foreclosures, short sales, REO’s, bankruptcies, Probate, as these are the usual reasons a seller is motivated to sell a property at a discount. After I am in contract to buy, I will often “flip” or turn the contract or property to an end buyer at a discount too.  Are you interested in buying and/or selling discounted residential real estate?”

Here are some things to consider if your new contact is in an occupation other than an investor:

The important thing is that you are interested in what they do for a living. Don’t talk about yourself until asked. Ask them questions about their occupation and how you can be of support to them in their line of work. If this person is a potential power team member for you, ask if you could contact them in the future. (You would be able to follow your list of questions for power team members and take notes when you called them back)

However, if this person is an investor, you might want to ask some of these questions:

• “Do you buy, fix and sell or do you buy and hold?”

• “How many properties do you own and/or have you sold?”

• “What part of town do you invest in?”

• “Really, why that area?”

• “What do properties cost in that area?

• “Do you pay cash for them or what banks do you use that are investor friendly?”
• “What title company do you enjoy using the most?”

• “Do you know any of the other people here?”

• “Who are the big investors in this area?”

• “If you ever come across some good deals and you don’t want them let me know.”

• “By the way, do you have any property you want to sell?”

• “We sometimes have properties for sale as well, if you’re looking to increase your inventory.”

• “Well, Mr. /Ms. Investor based on what you told me and where you prefer to buy; if anything comes along I’ll make sure to call you first”.

Make sure to collect everyone’s card, email address, fax, cell, and correct spelling of first and last name.   Write a note or 2 on the back of their business card helping you remember the next steps you will want to take with this contact in the future.  Just a “nice meeting you” card in the mail or email is often a memorable gesture encouraging future communication re: each other’s business needs.

Networking should be a part of
everyone’s marketing plan.
ATTEND, JOIN, PARTICIPATE…
…whatever you want to call it…

The important thing is to GET IN FRONT OF PEOPLE!

Top 10 Marketing Strategies for Real Estate Investors
Part 1 -Aim-Ready-Fire- Talley The Score
Part 2 – Networking

Originally posted 2010-09-06 04:00:21. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Definition: The delinquency is added to the loan balance in order to bring your payments up to date. Adding past due loan amounts to your current loan balance increases your loan balance and will also increase your monthly payments. The amount of the payment increase will be smaller if the life of your loan is extended at the same time as well. This is a good option if the reason for your mortgage default was temporary and your future income will support the new payment.

Go here for more Foreclosure Coaching

Originally posted 2008-06-16 13:20:46. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The other night, Virginia from Irving Texas asked on this weeks Massive Profits in Foreclosures call “ Will this change the landscape for investors working with those in Foreclosure?”

The Answer is YES- – -for the better.

You be the good person to help the homeowner make sure they have evaluated all their options.

These are two ways you can help the homeowner take action before foreclosure:

#1 Learn and share all options available to the homeowner if they do not want to sell their house. You can find those in this book, ‘Avoid Foreclosure Following the SMART STEPS Plan’.

#2 Make sure they have done all they can with Project Lifeline.

This project allows you, as the investor, more time to work with homeowners on a plan to buy their house should the bank’s option not meet the homeowner’s needs.

What is Project Lifeline?

The program would let qualified homeowners who are at least 90 days late on their mortgage payments pause the foreclosure process for 30 days. During the extra time provided by the program — called Project Lifeline — lenders and borrowers would try to work out more affordable terms.

“Project Lifeline is aimed at homeowners who face a real risk of losing their home and have not yet addressed the problem,” he told reporters. “Perhaps they are hoping to find a way to get current on their mortgage payments, or perhaps they don’t think any solution is possible. For whatever reason, they have not yet taken action. Our hope is that today’s announcement will reach them, and they will reach out immediately for help.” Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson.

On a pilot basis, the plan involves only six of the largest mortgage lenders, in hopes that more lenders will sign on. The participants are Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Countrywide Financial Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Washington Mutual Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.

“Achieving contact with homeowners to present available options is the biggest obstacle we face in avoiding preventable foreclosure,” said Bank of America’s Floyd Robinson.

You can help the banks biggest obstacle by making sure anyone you talk to in foreclosure knows about Project Lifeline. This means you will be working with those in foreclosures with the “integrity and passion”. Remember to encourage the homeowner to contact you first to buy the property if things are not worked out with the bank. And wish them the best. It’s the right thing to do.

Tamera Aragon
Success Trainer and Coach
Ispiproperties.com

Originally posted 2008-02-14 08:17:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Read this article from The New York Times
and let me know what you think!

DALLAS – When Congress passed an $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers last winter, it was intended as a dose of shock therapy during a crisis. Now the question is becoming whether the housing market can function without it.

As many as 40 percent of all home buyers this year will qualify for the credit. It is on track to cost the government $15 billion, more than twice the amount that was projected when Congress passed the stimulus bill in February.

In the view of the real estate industry and some economists, all that money is well spent. They contend the credit is doing what it was meant to do, encouraging a recovery in the housing market that is gathering steam. Analysts say the credit is directly responsible for several hundred thousand home sales.

Skeptics argue that most of the money is going to people who would have bought a home anyway. And they contend that unless it is allowed to expire on schedule in late November, the tax credit is likely to become one more expensive government program that refuses to die.

The real estate industry, including the powerful 1.1 million-member National Association of Realtors, wants Congress to extend the credit at least through next summer. The group hopes to expand the program to $15,000 and to allow all buyers, not just those who have been out of the market for at least three years, to qualify. The price tag on that plan: $50 billion to $100 billion.

‘A no-brainer’

Joseph and Chassity Myers are among the two million buyers eligible for the credit this year. The newlyweds heard they could get money from the government for something they were tempted to do anyway.

“It was a no-brainer,” said Mr. Myers, a commercial underwriter. “Owning something is the American family dream.”

The couple bought a two-bedroom condominium here in the spring for $171,000 and amended their 2008 taxes immediately, receiving their windfall by direct deposit a few weeks later.

Their home is now a monument to the government’s generosity. They bought a leather couch, a kitchen table, a bed, television stand, china cabinet, kitchen table, coffee table, grill and patio set.

“We did exactly what the government wanted us to do,” said Ms. Myers, a third grade teacher. “We stimulated the economy.”

Expiration of credit looms
Mortgage applications increased nearly 10 percent for the week ending Sept. 3 from late August, the largest gain since early April and the latest of many signs of life in real estate. The upturn can be attributed to several factors: the return of confidence, very low mortgage rates, and prices in some markets that are at decade-low levels.

But the looming expiration of the tax credit on Nov. 30 seems to be playing a role too, particularly in relatively low-cost markets like Phoenix, Las Vegas and Dallas.

The 50-year-old complex that the Myerses live in, grandly named the Lawn at Bluffview, provides a snapshot of the credit’s influence — and limitations. Two years ago, the buildings were converted from apartments to condominiums by their owner, a local developer. In January, before the credit, only 30 of the 70 units had sold.

Since then, another seven units have sold, including the one bought by the Myerses. Brian Denbow, who works for a subprime auto financing firm, also was spurred to action by the credit. He too intends to use the money for furniture. Five of the buyers did not qualify for the credit for various reasons.

The Lawn at Bluffview remains nowhere near full. Potential buyers “just want a deal,” said the sales agent, Beverly Bell. Two weeks ago, the price of the unsold units was cut 10 percent.

The National Association of Realtors estimates that about 350,000 sales this year would not have happened without the lure of the tax credit. Moody’s Economy.com used computer modeling to put the number at 400,000.

The government’s efforts to directly reward home buyers began more than a year ago with a $7,500 tax credit that had to be repaid over 15 years. Last winter, amid fears of another Great Depression, the Senate came up with a much sweeter $15,000 package as part of the stimulus bill. That measure was ultimately reduced to the $8,000 credit.

Now the sponsor of the original Senate bill, Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia, is back with a new bill that would give a maximum $15,000 credit to any buyer who stays in a home for at least two years.

“The problem now is not first-time buyers, it’s the move-up market — the guy transferred from Chicago to Atlanta who can’t sell his house,” said Mr. Isakson, a former real estate agent.

Without a new and more generous credit, he warned, there would be a downward spiral of home sales and more foreclosures, provoking a second recession.

The real estate industry is lobbying heavily for the bill, but acknowledges that in an atmosphere that is less crisis-driven than last winter it will almost certainly have to settle for less.

“There will be a lot of water under the bridge, a lot of compromise, between now” and a final bill, said Richard A. Smith, chairman of the Business Roundtable’s Housing Working Group.

Divided
Economists are sharply split on the merits of another round of government help.

Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Economy.com, favors expanding the credit to all home buyers, even investors, into next summer. “The risks of not doing something like this are too great,” he said. “I don’t think the coast is clear.”

James Glassman of JPMorgan Chase echoed those views but said he favored continuing to restrict the credit to first-time buyers.

On the other side of the issue is the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute. It labeled the original credit as one of the worst provisions of the stimulus package, on the grounds that the money is a bonus for people who would buy a house anyway. The center has an even dimmer view of extending the credit to all buyers.

“Is this the best way to spend money we don’t have?” asked senior fellow Roberton Williams.

Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research called the credit “a questionable redistributive policy” from renters to home buyers, but said that he used it himself when he bought a house.

He wrote on his blog: “Thank you very much, suckers!”

This article, “Fight Looms in Congress on Tax Break for Home Buyers,” first appeared in The New York Times.

Tamera Aragon
REI Success Trainer and Coach

www.CoachingU2Profits.com

Originally posted 2009-09-16 13:28:07. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

In the spirit of Halloween, I’d like to ask you a question…

Are you afraid?… afraid to make the leap into this wild ride called – (Oooh, dare I say it?) …

Real Estate Investing…

Are you avoiding making an offer? Are you thinking you won’t have the money if you did make an offer and it was accepted? Or what if you can’t find a buyer?

Wow – so many things can go wrong!

Well, if you are afraid- you are not alone. I’d like you to read on to see if there is anything I can say to help you move along with that fear to find the success and happiness I have found both financially and personally from real estate investing.

You notice I said move WITH fear…not get rid of the fear. If you wait for the fear to go away – you may never move forward. A lot of us are afraid to try something we have not tried before. What divides those who actually succeed from those that don’t is this… successful people don’t let that fear stop them.

Grab this free gift designed to help you keep moving!

I am typing this article from my customized, comfortable home-office. I love being able to have the flexibility to do this stuff from wherever  I am at….and today I’m at home. I will be here when my 11 year old daughter gets home. I will give her a hug, make her snack, ask about her day and help her settle in to her plans – then head back to my office – right upstairs. (Or maybe I won’t?) I have the flexibility to do what I want to do. This time freedom is one of the biggest reasons I love real estate investing. The flexibility it gives me to be in another state or at home….and my business moves forward. I can do it from anywhere!

I’d like to ask you a question why do you think so many people read articles like this, get on teleconferences, pay a lot of money for trainings and attend seminars about real estate investing?

Answer…
Because we want to learn the safest, quickest, easiest way to make money!

Exactly!

So do you want to make A Little money or A lot of money?

Answer:
A lot of money!

Now – the big question…Why do YOU want to make money?

• To acquire wealth for our retirement (Can’t depend on SSI)
• To accumulate for our children’s education
• To obtain financial independence (Hopefully before retirement)
• To enjoy a more affluent lifestyle – bigger house, cool car, travel, etc
• To give back to others in need

Any one of these could be reasons for wanting to make more money…or maybe you have other reasons.

This is the most important step of all steps you take on your path to profitable real estate investing (or any new endeavor).  You must know your reasons (or your goals) in order to stay on this path called real estate investing!  When you know your “why” you are able to keep your “eye” on the goal as you are doing the stuff it takes to become a wealthy real estate entrepreneur.

If you aren’t clear on your “why”…stop right now and make a list of what you want. Why do you want to profit from real estate investing?

Let your mind go crazy – step out of your comfort zone. If money and time were not an option – what do you really want?

______________________________________________________________________

Write down a list of what you would “DO-BE-HAVE”… if you had more money!

Go Here to grab this form created by Mark Victor Hansen. It will help you to drill down on your reasons… stretch your mind to really dream about what you and those around you will gain when you make money through real estate investing.

Knowing your “why” is the launch pad for your success…  Click Here to grab this form.

Now, Imagine Making Offers for Real Estate with a crystal clear picture of your much anticipated and deserved profits.

Stay tuned for my next few blog posts showing you how….

Click Here to receive an RSS feed to have these posts sent to your reader directly.

Have a safe and happy Halloween Weekend!

Tamera Aragon
http://www.MassiveProfits4REI.com

Originally posted 2009-10-30 16:35:32. Republished by Blog Post Promoter