THE BIG PICTURE
STRATEGIES: REHABBING
Power of Social Media THEY SAY A PICTURE’S WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS. SHOWING THEM VIA SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BE WORTH THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS IN PROFIT, TOO.
by John and Corinne Tesh
n our work as HomeVestors of America franchise owners for the past two years, we’ve found that social media gives us an extra boost. Of course, first, there’s the purchase of the distressed home (with all the calculations that go into the selection) and the hard rehab work. But fix-and-flip investors and renovators know that’s just part of the job – you’ve got to get your rehabs noticed before they can sell. And that’s where social media comes into the mix for us. John is the buyer, and Corinne manages the office and the rehabs. Our focus is on wholesaling 35 to 40 houses a year, but we selectively flip the houses that fit Corinne’s criteria. She looks for a great neighborhood, low days on market, good schools and a floor plan with good bones. When Corinne starts the rehab, John photographs the house in its original state HERE’S HOWWE DIVIDE OUR TEAMWORK:
and then takes “work in progress” photos from the same vantage points, creating a library to choose from. We wait until we are halfway through the project before we start posting the shots. It helps compress an eight- to 10-week project into 30 days. We try to tell the story of the work going on at the property and show that it’s not as easy as the reality shows make it seem. The photo montages typically begin with delivery of the dumpster, landscape cleanup, roofing, demolition, floor coverings, kitchen and bath installs, paint and lastly staging. We regularly show all our hard work on our Facebook page, Citygate Homes LLC. Through social media, we have hundreds
of followers who love to watch the transfor- mations of the properties we acquire. And it really pays off when it’s time to put the house on the market. We do a big push on Facebook the final weeks before the open house, and we typically have more than 100 people attend. John does a “before and after” video for the event, and those alone get 2,000 to 3,000 views. Because of the large turnout, we have multiple offers, and our houses sell quickly. A CASE STUDY IN POINT John was on a buy call this summer, and it was our social media presence that helped him seal the deal to purchase the
46 | think realty magazine march :: april 2017
Made with FlippingBook Online document