PRODUCTS & SERVICES
LEAD GENERATION
SPONSORED CONTENT
What the Heck Is Lead Generation, Anyway?
… AND HOW SHOULD INVESTORS REALLY USE IT?
by Suni Goff
or many investors, new and experienced alike, deciding which lead generation source is the best
So how, as an investor, do you find available properties if they’re not listed for sale? This is where the nuances of lead generation come into play.
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option can be a daunting task. There are a few ways to simplify the process and bypass unnecessary headaches. The process begins with a clear understanding of the following: 1 Exactly what lead generation is (and is not ) 2 How to efficiently use lead generation for cherry picking or pinpointing the best opportunities avail- able, according to an investor’s preferred investing strategy 3 The different ways in which lead generation can be used within a deal—from start to finish Educating yourself about these three concepts is nec - essary for streamlining your day-to-day business practic- es and successfully completing deals. WHAT IS LEAD GENERATION? Let’s start by getting down to what lead generation is and why you need it for your investing business. Lead generation is simply the action or process of identifying potential customers for a business’s products or services. In the business of real estate investing, customers fall into one of two main categories: 1 Properties for acquiring, by using one of several investing strategies (sellers) 2 Buyers, either individuals who will purchase or lease option properties to live in or investors you can pass properties to via wholesaling or other investing strategies Although it is certainly possible, investment properties won’t for the most part be found listed for sale with a real estate agent. This is because listed properties generally have less room for investors to profit.
PINPOINTING PROFITABLE OPPORTUNITIES Much like the gold prospectors of old, your job is to filter down and sift through situations with the potential for profit in order to hit paydirt. Back in the “old days” of real estate investing, this was a time-consuming task that involved driving around looking for unlisted vacant or distressed properties, and then heading down to the local county tax assessor’s office to glean information about each property. Property characteristics, the current owner, and their most recent tax bill address was the most information investors could expect. The next step was an old-fashioned search for phone info, sending a letter or postcard, and then hoping for a return call from the owner. With the internet, most county assessor records became available online, but vital information for determining whether a property even had potential for profit before contacting the owner was just not available. This made “blanket (mass) marketing” a costly, time-consuming, but necessary part of everyday business practices. Once a prospective deal was in place, investors were tasked with finding a buyer for the newly acquired property. With the advent of real estate investing software, a completely opposite situation is now the case. Inves- tors have access to almost all the information needed to determine the potential for a deal, with a seemingly endless supply of data available right at their fingertips. Everything from property characteristics, owner con - tact points, mortgage info, estimated values, and area statistics can be found within the platforms of big player software companies. What sets these companies apart from one another is how this mass of data is translated into useful tools for the investor.
76 | think realty magazine :: march – april 2022
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