NUTS & BOLTS MARKETING
STRATEGIES: REITs GROWTH & EXPANSION
company. They are a must for any business because they establish credi- bility. First impressions are important in any business, but especially so in real estate. There is no excuse for not having business cards. You can get them so inex- pensively. There are numerous websites out there that have templates that make it easy to design your own cards and are both fast and inexpensive. Do it now, and you can have your cards in hand in a matter of days. CONFESSION: In January, when my wife and I expanded our real estate investing business from North Carolina into the Jacksonville, Florida, market, we experi- enced the “new-market learning curve” firsthand. The day we moved, we attend- ed the Jacksonville Real Estate Investors Association (JaxREIA) meeting and found ourselves surrounded by about 150 other investors. It was a little overwhelming, but we just started talking to people around us and handing out and collecting busi- ness cards. Adding those names to our always-growing buyers list has already en- abled us to avoid that what-next moment more than once! NO. 2 BE ACTIVE AND GOAL- ORIENTED ON SOCIAL MEDIA Social media is a great way to pro- mote your brand and create interest in your company and your properties. Post pictures of local properties you are re- habbing, you have for sale, or have sold. Before-and-after pictures are great for getting likes and shares on social media [see image on pg. 46]. My wife posts lots of pictures of her rehabs’ progress, and we have found that sometimes as many as 100 people at an open house may say that they are there because they’ve been following her progress on social media. CONFESSION: It’s tempting to everyone to slack off on the pictures. Don’t do it! I have a background as a commercial photographer, and sometimes even I am
tempted to just walk through a property and take a few fast shots. The secret to success- ful before-and-after photos, however, lies in some careful thought and planning. Imagine how a room will look when it is done and then take lots of before photos from different angles. Wait to post until the project is about halfway done, effectively condensing an eight-week flip into
HOW TO MARKET A WHOLESALE DEAL
F or me, it is imperative that a house be empty if I am going to wholesale it to an investor or a cash buyer. Here is the breakdown of my process once I have a wholesale property under contract: • Get permission from the owner to put a lockbox on the house • Take fliers to REIA (real estate investors association) meetings and investor meetups • Send email blasts to investors already in the database It doesn’t take long for the phones to ring and the houses to be sold. Many investors prefer this strat- egy when they are starting out in a new market be- cause there is very little risk and little or no money out of pocket because we are assigning the contract to the new buyer.
three or four weeks. Start off with photos of the dumpsters and demolition, then the roof going on, then kitchen and bath installs, etc. You can also have fun by setting your phone on “time lapse” mode and leaving it mounted on a tripod to show the en- tire kitchen remodel. When you’re finished with the rehab, don’t skimp on the final photos and stag- ing. Take high-quality pictures with the right light and stage if possible. In my experience, staged homes nearly always sell faster and for more money. NO. 3 KNOW YOUR PLAN BEFORE YOU PURCHASE In a new market, you must be partic- ularly clear about your plans for prop- erties before you buy. This will help you communicate with your potential buyers more effectively as well as help you create a game plan for every property. If you are deeply familiar with a market, you may be able to eke out a profit on a deal that your gut tells you is too good to pass up (I don’t recommend this). However, in a new market that is relatively unfamiliar, you must have an action plan. When I am
at the seller’s house, I do not buy unless I know how I am going to sell the property. Usually, I use one of three exit strategies: • Retail Sale • Hybrid Sale or “Wholetail” • Wholesale Retail involves getting financing to purchase the home, installing a new roof, updating HVAC, kitchen, baths, and landscaping, then staging and selling with a real estate agent. Wholetail is a term my wife and I coined to describe the hybrid process of purchasing a home, fixing only the essentials, and then selling at a reduced price with the help of an agent. Wholesaling involves selling our option to buy a property to another investor. For this exit strategy, you simply get a house under contract and then market it to other investors who will use their own investing strategies to profit from the property after they make the purchase.
3 Keys forMaking a Splash in a NewMarket DON’T LET THE LEARNING CURVE IN A NEW MARKET SLOW YOU DOWN.
by John Tesh
hether you are selling your first house or your 500th, nearly every investor fears that “what next?” moment. You’ve been marketing for leads and the process is working. The phones are ringing off the hook. You’ve got a property under contract, but now you’ve got to do something with it. “What next?” you ask W
market there are a few things you must start doing immediately. No matter how difficult it may be to force yourself to do so, make these tasks a priority upon arrival. NO. 1 PRINT BUSINESS CARDS AND USE THEM Business cards are the face of your
yourself as panic sets in. The key to avoiding this unpleasant situation is to have spent the same amount of time you dedicated to creating a steady stream of leads for sellers on creating a steady stream of leads for buyers for your properties. The process can vary from mar- ket to market, so any time you enter a new
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