Flipping Houses - Marketing To Sellers

Is Step One in flipping houses locating the sellers and properties for house flipping?

No, that's Step Two. Step one is preparing yourself. For example, the Tampa Maestro of wholesale real estate studied with the best, because this is a business like most others, requiring knowledge, tools, resources, and mentoring to do it right. No one can truly go it alone and be highly successful.

Next, you must read a lot - real estate information, personal development and motivational books, marketing tutorials, etc. Don't read much? Get over it and start! Then you must adapt systems to generate a steady stream of leads, and to evaluate the deals from a buyer's standpoint. To be successful, there's no way around these steps.

Before following his passion - coaching and mentoring others for success in flipping houses and life! - The Tampa Maestro followed these same steps. He repeatedly proved that his systems work well over the course of four years of successful house flipping during the housing market bust in Tampa and throughout the country. It works in ANY market!

Flipping houses took him from cubicle slave to abundance... but only because he didn't cut corners. Diligence and perseverence are necessary for house flipping success, but the rewards are worth it!

One key ingredient is having the right motives and ethics - to help distressed sellers out of a real jam and still make good money in the process. Don't take unfair advantage. Never forget that one.

But there are many other house flip tips that are critical to understand, too, if you are to engage in the wholesale real estate investing (arbitrage) known as "house flipping" - and do it fast, with minimal risk, minimum cash, no long term inventory to finance, no draining rehab work, and no bank hassles. These Hubs address some of the individual issues you'll confront if you choose to start flipping houses:

Now, to the topic du jour, SELLERS!

You must have a stream of leads of Seller who absolutely NEED to sell their houses. To find them, it helps first to understand their motivation - how they got into this position in the first place. And why would they choose the house flipper?

1. Hard times are not uncommon due to job loss or over-leverage on mortgages. People keep trying to work out of home delinquencies until they are 90 days delinquent. Then they see your signs, and they call. Banks are their enemy, constantly pressuring and dunning. The real estate wholesaler, on the other hand, is the savior.
2. Some people find themselves stuck with an extra property they cannot afford, a burden they want to shed. It could be due to out-of-state transfer and double mortgages, a nasty divorce, inheritance, or investment property headaches with deadbeat renters trashing the property.

So how do you find these properties?

You don't. They find you. That's the secret. The real estate wholesaler has to be a good marketer, with bright, catchy ads everywhere.

It's a numbers game. This doesn't take a huge budget, but it does take good creatives - copywriting skill doesn't hurt - and it takes systems. The more leads you generate, the more offers you make, then the more contracts you enter into and assign... and the profit is made. 100 leads per month is the ultimate goal.

A real estate wholesaler's marketing plan will get refined over time with experience in a local market.  But certain components are pretty standard everywhere - such as those listed below. Remember, too, that important success factors also include the quality of the marketer's thought process and marketing plan, the design and copy/wording of the marketing pieces, and the volume of marketing pieces you put out in intelligent locations - everywhere your target market goes!

It's not brain surgery, if you just have some guidance, know the resources, and are willing to roll up your shirtsleeves. Yes, it's work... but it's worth it!

There's a great amount of detail on these marketing pieces, what they should say and where to get them, in the digital house flipping book I call "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide To Real Estate Wholesale" [correctly titled: "Quick Flips And Fast Cash"] and it's bonus companion book, "Raining Cash: The Maestro's Advanced Guide to Windfall Profits Flipping Houses Despite Market Conditions."   They also include training material, sample checklists, actual documents, systems and tools, too, for all phases of house flipping. If interested, you can find out more in this Press Report: Tampa Wholesale Real Estate Coach Launches Two Books Exposing How He Makes Money Flipping Houses In Any Market .

It all starts with branding yourself - with a flashy logo, easy-to-remember telephone number, bright cards and banners (fluorescent colors work!), and succinct calls to action. You must be consistent, be seen everywhere, and be memorable - so you're the one who gets the call when the Seller is finally ready to make a deal.

Your marketing arsenal for finding house flipping candidates should include:

Business Cards - Not corporate-stuffy, but bright, with your contact info on one side, and sales message on the other - with invitation to CALL you.  Pass them out to everyone!  Make sure to say you'll buy their house now, today, for cash! That's an attention-grabber. 

Flyers - Stick them where people will see them. There are community bulletin boards in all kinds of places. Where does your target seller live, work, socialize?  Who can you network with who can bring you leads? Offer referral fees to realtors and mortgage brokers for passing your name and number to a homeowner who needs to sell faster than the retail market will allow, or who doesn't qualify for refinance. Give these "team members" a supply of your flyers and business cards.

Bandit Signs - Make sure the marker is permanent and can resist the elements. Put signs on the busiest intersections, where people will be stopped.

Online Classifieds - These ads are usually free and tend to pull nicely. Keep it simple - very similar to your business card.

"Bird Dogs" or Lead Systems - Offer a percentage of profits for any referral you end up flipping. Coach him on what you're looking for.

Newspaper Classified Ads - Frequently you can find highly targeted and free local newspapers that cover a specific section of the city, a section where you want to do business. No reason to pay for the main city newspaper that goes everywhere.

Direct Mail Postcards - Create a custom list of targeted prospects at Realquest.com and download the contact information. Or hire a specialized direct mail company to do it for you. The best ones have tested their letters, postcards and custom lists, so they know what works! They can be a gold mine of leads for your house flipping business.

Other Forms Of Marketing - This list just scratched the surface. There are tons of ways to market your real estate services to bring in streams of seller prospects for houses to flip.

Before you can make an offer, you must evaluate the deal from the Buyer's perspective, and know to whom you will market such a property. Numbers crunching is essential to determine how the Buyer and you will both make money. Then you back into the cash offer to the Seller.

Remember, you are in the wholesale real estate investment business. So you're not talking about selling at retail. The other guy will do the rehab and market the property at retail. So that means your all-cash offer to the Seller is going to be somewhat low.

Therein lies a critical point - How do you get low offers accepted?

Tampa's #1 wholesale real estate coach for beginners addresses this issue and others in a series of Quick Flip Tips on his blog - Andrew Massaro: Flipping Houses For Fast Cash, Tampa FL - and in his free newsletter, "Impact! Wholesale Flips And Real Estate Trends."

But here's one, out of many, house flipping tips from the YouTube Channel of "TheMaestro75" - how The Tampa House Flipping Maestro gets low offers accepted.

Enjoy the show, and start flipping houses for profit the fast way!