I recently posted a comment on LinkedIn that read “I had 12 hours of sleep last night. I was exhausted, but my website was still working. I woke up this morning with 8 motivated seller leads.”  I was surprised at the responses and feedback that I received.  Many people were asking me how did I do it?  I decided to post this article on my website to explain how it happened.  As I assess my business, I realize that it’s going to take more than one article to explain.  So, here is the first article:

Be Consistent With Your Real Estate Investing Marketing

Many newbie investors are lured into the belief that you can jump into real estate investing and start making money without having money.  This may be true.  You can always use other people’s money, commonly referred to as OPM.  You can use the concept of OPM to pay your earnest money deposit.  You can also use it to pay an attorney to look out for your legal interest.  You can also use it to rehab the handyman special.  But before we get to that point, let’s start with finding the deal in the first place through marketing.

When I first started out in real estate investing, I understood the value of marketing.  If no one knows that you’re in the real estate investing business, how are they going to know to contact you when they have a house for sale?  When I first started, I placed ads in the classified ad section of newspapers.  I eventually began to use bandit signs.  When I generated over 300 motivated buyers leads in a 45-day period, I quickly realized that I needed to find a way to use technology to help me to pre-screen the buyers.  They called about one house that I was advertising as a rent-to-own opportunity.  That’s when I started TheRealEstateDealer.com to capture the leads. It helped me immensely.

Now that I had 300 people to find houses for, I began to put out more bandit signs.  I blanketed huge sections of the city with bandit signs.  I also began to send out postcards and letters to expired listings on the local MLS.  I sent postcards and letters to people who were in foreclosure.  I did this fiercely for about two months.  And then something happened– I ran out of money to market.  I’m sure this has happened to many of you.  My marketing generated many motivated seller leads for the buyers that I had on my list.  But when the marketing stopped, my leads stopped.  You can’t make any money without leads, so you know I wasn’t making any.

What did I do?  I made two profound decisions during that time.  The first decision that I made was to not try to market for sellers throughout the whole city.  Chicago is a big city.  I did not have the resources to continue to do that.  So, I decided to market to a much smaller area.  The second decision that I made was to market to a smaller number of people on the various lists that I had.  Both of these adjustments will cost me less money.  I scraped together more money and re-started my marketing.

A wonderful thing happened– I was able to sustain my marketing for a longer period of time.  I never ran out of money for marketing again!

When you are starting out in real estate investing, one of the first things you should do is set aside money for marketing.  Marketing is the lifeline of any business.  The newbie real estate investor must put himself in a position to let the world know that he is in the real estate business.  You definitely want to be able to market to your farm area or a list such as foreclosures or expired listings consistently.  Consistency will bring you more leads.  More leads will give you more deals.  More deals will make you more money!  There’s a rule in marketing that says that the more impressions you give your prospects, the more likely they will respond to your marketing.  I was trying to market to millions of people here in Chicago on a small budget.  I found out it’s better to market to a smaller group several times.

The other thing that the newbie investor should understand is that you should never stop your marketing.  Let me say this again– YOU SHOULD NEVER STOP YOUR MARKETING.  You can turn it up or turn it down, but never stop.  If you are running low in funds, turn it down.  Don’t stop.  If you fail to market, you will fail to make money.

I generate many leads because I market constantly.   I don’t know if the leads I received that morning came from something that I did the day before, the week before, the month before, or the year before, but I do know that I put in the work BEFORE through my marketing.  You may forget the work, but the work will not forget you.  If you understand this basic concept, then you will be able to generate leads.

I will address some of the other aspects in my business that has made me successful.  Be sure to stay tuned into TheRealEstateDealer.com for more information.  Good luck in your real estate business!