In this article, you'll learn how to use inexpensive property search methods that don't require your physical presence in order to be effective, but which allow you to be at the right place at the right time by:
1. Using the Internet.
2. Placing classified property wanted ads in daily newspapers.
3. Mailing letters to owners of vacant properties.
4. Obtaining insider information on properties that aren't advertised from your
own spy network of paid informants, commonly known as bird-dogs.
5. Paying finder's fees to people who tell you about properties that you buy.
Develop an Aggressive Five-Pronged Property Search Plan
In order to beat your competitors to the most profitable properties in your local real estate market, you need to develop an aggressive property search plan that involves the following five property search methods:
1. The Internet.
2. Property Wanted ads.
3. Bird-dogs.
4. Finder's fees.
5. Direct mail.
Use a Property Wanted Web Page to Find Properties Online
First and foremost, use what I commonly refer to as the great equalizer--the Internet--to search online for small, mismanaged rental properties. The most efficient way I know to do this is by having a property wanted Web page on your Web site that uses URL forwarding for a property wanted domain name. If you already have an existing Web site online, for an annual fee of around $50, you can have your property wanted domain name forwarded to a specific Web page on your Web site.
For example, when you use URL forwarding, or domain redirection, you can link your property wanted domain name, directly to a property wanted Web page on your existing Web site. This way, you avoid the cost and aggravation of building an entirely new Web site for your property wanted domain name. As an example, my company, Home Equities Corp, owns the URL or domain name, www.rentalpropertywanted.com, which has URL forwarding to the Property Wanted Web page at www.homeequitiescorp.com.
This means that whenever the domain name, www.rentalpropertywanted.com is typed into a browser, the URL is automatically forwarded to the Home Equities Corp Web site, which is the destination domain.
Link Your Property Wanted Web Page to Other Web Sites
Also, link your property wanted Web page to other Web sites that you, or your friends and business associates own. For example, on my Web site www.floridalandlord.com, there's a Tampa Rental Property Wanted button that's linked to the Home Equities Corp Property Wanted Web page. By doing this, I'm placing an online property wanted ad right under the nose of all of the residential rental property owners in the Tampa Bay Area who visit www.floridalandlord.com and want to sell their property.
All they have to do is click on the Tampa Rental Property Wanted button and follow the instructions to submit their property for consideration.
Use Classified Property Wanted Ads to Find Properties
I've been pretty successful over the years using classified property wanted ads to find non-advertised properties to buy. Most people call me because they don't have the time, desire or money to market their properties themselves. Or they don't want the hassle of listing their property with a real estate broker. Sure, I've received more than my fair share of calls from flakes, loonies and other assorted crazies. But I've been willing to put up with the hassle and inconvenience because I've usually found the type of property that I was looking for.
How to Write a Classified Property Wanted Ad
When writing your classified property wanted ad, use as few words as possible to get your message across. Nowadays, most papers have a four-line minimum with each line consisting of no more than twenty-six characters. To keep your ad right at three lines, write it out on graph paper that comes already divided into small squares. This way, you won't have to waste time dilly-dallying around trying to layout your ad.
The Best Place to List Your Property Wanted Ad
To ensure you get the best possible response from your classified property wanted ad, place it in the classified real estate section under various headings such as:
1. Rental property wanted.
2. Income property wanted.
3. Investment property wanted.
4. Property wanted.
5. Real estate wanted.
When to Run Your Property Wanted Ad
When's the best time to run your classified property wanted ad? You'll have to experiment by running your ad on various days in order to find out what works best in your area. For example, in Tampa, when I run one of my property wanted ads, it's usually only in the Sunday edition of The Tampa Tribune. Why do I run my ad only on Sunday? Because I've found that I get pretty much the same response whether I run the same ad for thirty consecutive days or just on Sundays. Plus, I save a small fortune in advertising costs. The kind of response that you'll get from your classified property wanted ad depends upon four things:
1. How well your ad is written.
2. The classified heading under which it's placed.
3. The size of the paper's circulation.
4. What you say in your ad.
Test Run Your Property Wanted Ad to See Which Ad Pulls the Best Response
I highly recommend that you test run the same property wanted ad for four consecutive weeks, and then change or tweak the ad copy, and run it another four weeks to see what variation of the ad pulls the best response.
Use Bird-Dogs to Find Properties That Aren't Advertised
What's a bird-dog? It's usually someone who comes into frequent contact with problem property owners within a specific neighborhood or area, and is in a position to learn about non-advertised rental properties that are for sale there. These types of hidden properties are never formally advertised as being for sale; their availability is only made known by word-of-mouth. A neighbor, a relative, or an acquaintance may be the only one who knows of a property owner's willingness or need to sell a small rental property.
Once you recruit these type of people into your bird-dog spy network of paid informants, you'll be in a position to receive valuable insider information on non-advertised rental properties without the general public, your competitors, ever knowing of their availability.
How to Recruit Bird-Dogs into Your Spy Network of Paid Informants
The best way to find bird-dogs to join your spy network of paid informants is to tell everyone that you come into frequent contact with, that you're looking to buy small, residential rental properties, and that you're willing to pay your bird-dogs a finder's fee when you buy a property that they've told you about. Here's a listing of the type of people you want to recruit into your network as bird-dogs:
1. Mail carriers
2. Trash collectors
3. Doctors
4. Dentists
5. Employees
6. Fellow club members
7. Fellow church members
8. Door-to-door salespeople
9. Delivery truck drivers
10. Tradesmen
11. Repairmen
12. Business colleagues
13. Co-workers
14. Neighbors
15. Friends
16. Tenants
17. Taxicab drivers
18. Utility meter readers
Offer to Pay a Finder's Fee
The best way I've found to motivate people to contact me with valuable information on non-advertised rental properties, is to offer to pay a finder's fee to anyone who tells me about a property that I buy. For example, my standard finder's fee is $500 cash, payable on the day that I buy the property. Why $500? That's because $500 seems to be the figure that gets the attention of most people.
I use to offer $300, but since I've upped the ante to $500, I've more that doubled the number of leads I get monthly from people calling to tell me about small rental properties. The thing I like best about using finder's fees is that I only have to pay them when I buy a rental property. In the meantime, I've got the benefit of a lot of people looking for small rental properties for me without the cost of a weekly payroll.
Use the Internet to Advertise Your Finder Fee Online
On my real estate investment company's Web site, www.homeequitiescorp.com Property Wanted Web page, there's a $500 Cash Reward button that visitors can click on to learn about how they can earn a finder's fee of $500 in cash by simply contacting me with information that results in the purchase of a dirty, neglected, run-down two to twelve-unit residential rental property in the Tampa Bay Area. I also have my $500 cash reward printed on the backside of my business cards.
Four Reasons Why I Use Direct Mail to Contact Property Owners
Here are four very good reasons why I use direct mail to contact property owners:
1. Direct mail is easy to use. All I have to do is sit at my computer, point and click, hit a couple of keys and it'll crank out one of my standard letters to property owners that just needs to be signed, folded and inserted into an envelope. I use Microsoft Office Word 2003 that can merge names and addresses with letters. And, I use window envelopes so I don't have to fiddle around addressing them.
2. Direct mail is relatively cheap to use. I'm a penny pincher. Direct mail gives me the most bang for my buck. For example, I can mail out one hundred letters first class mail for right around $60. This includes the cost of letterheads, envelopes and postage, the whole shebang.
3. Direct mail is quick. I usually get responses from owners interested in selling within two weeks from the date I mailed the letters out.
4. Direct mail is effective. It allows me to make direct contact with owners of small, mismanaged rental properties without having to go through third parties such as real estate agents.
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