Top Secret Ways to Find Real Estate Deals Way Under Market Value
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TOP SECRET WAYS TO FIND REAL ESTATE DEALS WAY UNDER MARKET VALUE By: Josh Weidman The Bird Dog Investor www.thebirddoginvestor .com All Rights Reserved Dear Real Estate Investor, I have been investing in real estate for the past 6+ years and have located, purchased, wholesaled, lease optioned, rehabbed and assigned hundreds of residential and commercial properties. Through my experiences, I feel I have come across everything imaginable and have inside knowledge on how to find every type of property. The trick is not only to locate properties, but how to locate properties that you can purchase at extreme discounts. My team and I have spent the past 6 years trying hundreds of techniques to determine the best ways to locate discount properties. Although we have purchased properties from many sources, we like to stick with only a few techniques that give us the best results. We work with, as well as act as “Bird Dogs” to find the most profitable real estate deals. These techniques are extremely simple and I wish I would have known about these techniques when I got into the business. It would have saved me thousands of hours and thousands of dollars. First off, what is a Bird Dog? A Real Estate Bird Dog is an individual that scours the supply of housing in an area. When he or she finds a property that's just right, they will point it out to an investor and receive a compensation for their efforts. Most Bird Dogs work with other real estate investors that will then purchase the property they find. By doing this, the Bird Dog does not need to have ANY CASH, ANY CREDIT OR ANY EXPERIENCE. HOW DO I FIND THESE PROPERTIES? There are thousands of books and boot camps designed to teach you 1 Million and 1 ways to construct a deal. Very few people actually teach how to FIND those deals. It is very easy to construct a deal after you already have one, the trick is to find them. Here is a sneak peak of 1 of the best ways to find great deals at extreme discounts with limited or no money. One of my best deal sources is finding vacant properties and then locating the owner www.thebirddoginvestor .com All Rights Reserved How to Identify Vacant Properties What Type of Properties Qualify? The most important part of identifying vacant properties is being able to locate them by their common traits and characteristics. While we use the term “vacant properties” to identify this category of lead, it is possible, even probable, that many non-vacant homes will fit this qualification. It is important to train your eyes to look for homes that fit the criteria. Once your eyes are opened, you will be amazed at the number of properties waiting for someone to buy them. What if your house sat empty for the next six months? What would happen? The pipes might freeze. The grass would grow long. The snow would sit on the sidewalk. There would probably be mountains of news papers and mail lodged in the door or strewn about the front lawn. In some cases, people might break a window or kick down a door to see what you left behind. Most vacant properties are not so distressed that a passer-by would notice them as empty. Unless you are on the lookout! Look over and memorize the following traits. You’ll begin to see them everywhere! 1. Weeks or months of mail jammed in the front mail slot. 2. Overgrown grass, hedges and landscaping. The more vines that cover the house, the better. 3. Free neighborhood newspapers lying on the lawn. 4. Broken or boarded up windows. 5. Signs of fire damage. 6. Excessive flaking paint on the front of the house. 7. Properties in a general state of disrepair. These properties are jewels in the rough. You should be excited when you see them. They equal money in your pocket. Finding Vacant Properties www.thebirddoginvestor .com All Rights Reserved There are a number of strategies you can use to actively find these properties. They range from trolling your area of concentration to having others do the work for you. It’s a good idea to use a number of strategies in order to optimize the time you spend working. You will first want to begin your search by making a conscious effort to look for properties as you run your daily errands. Look for long grass in the summer and snow covered sidewalks in the winter. Search for broken and boarded up windows and doors. Keep an eye out for a build up of mail and newspapers. And when you’ve found all the properties that are vacant along your daily route, take another path. By changing the streets you commonly take, you’ll be exposed to more houses and more prospects. Another way to generate these vacant property leads is by having someone else work for you. The back of your business cards should proudly report that you pay a $500 referral fee for properties that you buy. Do you know anyone that would like to make an extra $500 just by telling you about a vacant property? You should also talk to mailmen, take-out delivery people and utility meter readers that work in your focus area. These people are invaluable resources. I’ll bet you didn’t know that the Postal Service keeps an “unofficial” list of vacant properties for their mail carriers. What a great source. So go out and meet the people that live and work in your focus neighborhood. Put them to work for you. You’ve Found Addresses, What’s Next? So now you have a long list of vacant properties. It’s time to cultivate those leads to get as much preliminary information as possible. The more information you can compile, the faster and easier it will be for your outsourced research team to find the owner. Start by approaching the house. Make notes on any improvements that obviously must be made. If you know the neighborhood (or the type of house), record the number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Be sure that you accurately record the house address and include the zip code. Now talk to the neighbors. Let them know who you are, who you work for, what you are trying to do, and that any help that they give you could help them put money in their pocket if we buy the house. You should use the enclosed script until you are comfortable approaching people. Remember to relax. You are there to help get rid of the ugly, broken-down house that is dragging down the value of their neighborhood. Write down any information they give you. Ask for the name www.thebirddoginvestor .com All Rights Reserved and phone number of the owner. Ask if they know the owner’s relatives or friends. What are their phone numbers? And after you are finished talking to them about the vacant property, ask them if they know anyone else that wants or needs to sell their home. Tell them about your referral fee. Get them on your team and give them a business card. Once you’ve collected all the information you can find, there’s one more step. Make sure you bring a pad of yellow sticky notes. Go up to the door of that vacant property. On a sticky note write the following: “I am trying to contact you. Please call me. YOUR PHONE NUMBER. It works! If you have made any headway in finding the owner (a phone number, a relative, etc.), pursue those avenues. You can find the owner's name by using the tax records for your town. Then try looking up a phone number for anyone with the owner's name. If you are still having trouble locating the property owner, you can outsource your search. Skip tracing is a search used by private investigators, attorneys, landlords and real estate investors (surprise!). Check the affiliates page on the website for a list of competent and cost effective ways to track down those owner. Vacant Property Script KNOCK! KNOCK! BD: Hi Ma’am/Sir, How are you today? Neighbor: I’m okay. What can I do for you? BD: My name is YOUR NAME. You have probably seen our signs all over the area. I am a real estate investor and I specialize in purchasing vacant and distressed properties. The reason I stopped by was that I noticed the property next door, and I am trying to get in touch with the owner. We want to make an offer to purchase the property. I knocked on your door because I need your help to track down the owners. Do you know how I can get in touch with them? Neighbor: Yes I do. They moved to Kentucky. BD: Really! Wow! Well do you know how I can get in touch with them? www.thebirddoginvestor .com All Rights Reserved Neighbor: No. BD: Do you know if they have any family or friends that still live in the area? Neighbor: Yes. She had an aunt that lived over on Rowland Avenue. She stops by every now and then to check on the house. BD: Did she ever give you a phone number or any way to contact her in case of emergency? Neighbor: As a matter of fact she did. Let me see if I can find that number . (Neighbor finds a phone number to the aunt). BD: I really appreciate the help. You really made my life a little easier today.