Finding motivated sellers is one of the toughest jobs of any real estate investor. Competition is tough, and you need to work hard and smart to get the leads. Bandit signs have been one of the favorite methods of many investors for getting their phone to ring with motivated sellers. With tougher laws, more competition, and sellers tuning out the signs, you may need to find new methods for generating your leads.
One of the first things to leverage for your business is your car, or truck. If you are driving around the city without signs on your vehicle you are missing out on a great opportunity. These mobile signs will be seen everywhere you park your car, and when you are rolling through neighborhoods looking for properties. One great addition to the sign on your car, but a little more unusual, is adding a business card holder to your car. You can place it on the edge of the back window, allowing interested people to grab a business card to call you later. Often when they are walking through the parking lot and see your sign, they do not have paper and a pen. Being able to grab a card gives you an advantage over your competitors.
One of the most grueling, yet often very productive methods to generating leads is actually walking the streets and knocking on doors. Letting people know you are in the business of helping people out of tough real estate situations can get your name spread, and get the phone ringing.
Getting fliers, business cards, and signs up in pawnshops, laundromats, restaurants, and other businesses around town can be very effective. Make sure your sign includes tear off phone numbers, making it easy for people to take your number home with them. Check on your signs regularly to make sure they are still posted. Your competitors, or even the business owners may have removed them. Restock your business card boxes in all the locations regularly, also.
Purchase signs at sporting events, festivals, and concerts. You can even have fliers put on the windshields of cars. Expect most of the fliers on cars to hit the trash, but you only need a few phone calls and one good lead to make the campaign pay off.
Don’t overlook ads in local newspapers, and other local publications. You may spend more money, but you may find you get more and higher quality leads.
If you really want to step outside the normal techniques, offer a seminar or class at a local library to teach people their options when they are approaching foreclosure, falling behind on their mortgage, or other home ownership risk. You would need to make sure to cover more options than just selling the property to you, but this could be a great opportunity to provide both a community service, and generate a substantial number of leads.
With any form of marketing, you can only know what is going to work by testing the waters. Each community is different. If bandit signs are becoming a burden, try a few of these other techniques to generate leads, and keep your business moving forward.
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