9 Steps To Uncover Vacant Houses and Off Market Properties In Competitive Markets

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN How I Made $150,000 This Month Fixing And Flipping 2 Houses Why You Need To Know Your Market Better Than Anyone How To Find Vacant Houses How To Find Vacant House Owners My Top Secret Post Card

Step 1: Market Research Market Research is what sets you apart Do it right and you will never struggle to get a deal sold. You need to know your market like the back of your hand. Know exactly what things are selling for in each area.

THE GOAL IN MARKET RESEARCH Find Areas Where there are a lot of Cash Sales or Investor Buyers, Lots of Potential Sellers and a Fair Point (first time home owner areas, good rental areas, working class and middle class) Look for Middle income areas for Huge Profit Flip Deals Our price point we love is to buy between = $50,000 and $110,000 and Sell for $100,000 to $190,000

These neighborhoods are where a lot of first time home buyers go These neighborhoods are where a lot of first time home buyers go. They are a great place for rehabbers and wholesalers. For the beginning investor, I recommend you stay away from high end homes. An experienced investor can make hundreds of thousands flipping a high end home, but there is of course more risk involved. You will want to stay away from war zones. Prices will be very cheap in these areas and you can probably make good money flipping houses in these areas. I will not do business somewhere where I do not feel safe. WAR ZONES: The working class neighborhood is our favorite place to do deals. Homes in this area are affordable, have stable neighborhoods, and are safe. Working class is the best place for rentals; you can usually buy houses cheap enough so they will cash flow. WORKING CLASS: MIDDLE CLASS: HIGH INCOME:

Step 2: Who to Target? The 4 D’s eath D isability D ivorce D istress: Job Loss

Start with list of 1,000 records to 2,000 Records OUT OF TOWN LANDLORDS, FREE AND CLEAR, PROBATES, INHERITANCE LIST and next my Favorite! www.listsource.com Less than $150 bucks FindMotivatedSellersNow.com FlipThisRealEstateList.com FreedomSoft Start with list of 1,000 records to 2,000 Records

WHAT ARE MY FAVORITE SOURCES FOR DEALS? Vacant Houses Pre-foreclosures Absentee owners Designed to show you how to go out and find the most profitable deals in any real estate market (vacant houses) Why are Vacant Houses so Profitable? Easier to sell a vacant house Owners do not want them Usually need work (can get a better deal)

SIGNS A HOUSE IS VACANT Weeds/Grass Tall and Dead Vacant Slip in Mail Box No Cars If Snow – No tracks Notices on the door Nothing Inside the House House is in disrepair Utility shut off notices Boarded up house Broken windows Power Meter and/or Gas Meter gone

8 Highly Targeted Lists To Acquire High Equity Absentee Owners -Find Motivated Sellers NOW, ListSource.com, FlipThisRealEstatelist.com Vacant Houses (next Step how to Find Vacants) Pre-Foreclosures -Local Court house Probate -Local Court House Evictions –Local Court House Tax Liens –Local Court house (ours is online) High Equity Owner occupants - Fire Damaged Properties –Fire Department, newspaper

STEP 3: HOW TO FIND VACANT HOUSES There are several ways to find vacant houses. I am going to be talking about a few ways that I feel are the best. When looking for vacant houses you need to work smart and not hard.

#1 WAY TO FIND VACANT HOUSES Get out in the Field and Search for them

WRITE DOWN AND CREATE A LIST OF VACANTS

Vacant and fixer upper houses Always be searching On your way to work Grocery Store Everywhere Write Down the Address Vacant and fixer upper houses Post Note on the Door (don’t be scared) Post a Bandit Sign in the yard

POSTAL WORKERS They drive around all day and know every house that is vacant Pay them $5 per lead Have a list of vacant houses/ vacant slips Might have forwarding addresses

FORECLOSURE INSPECTORS Drive around all month checking on foreclosures (30 days late until foreclosure) Post vacant notices on doors Independent contractors Pay them $5 per lead To find Post an ad on craigslist Look for their slips on vacant houses

ESTATE SALES AND PROBATE A lot of time the house is vacant Heirs want to sell the property Call up all of the estate sale companies in your area and see if you can get a list of upcoming sales Pull a list of Probate from the court house

Get a list of vacant fire damaged houses FIRE DEPARTMENT Get a list of vacant fire damaged houses

Get a list at the court house LAND LORD EVICTIONS EVICTION NOTICE Get a list at the court house Send a Mailing to these people

STEP 4: MARKETING TO YOUR LIST Marketing is the life blood of your Business Consistent Leads =Consistent Deals = $$$$ Sending out 2,000 letters/post cards to a targeted area should consistently produce 1 to 2 deals Resulting in ($30,000 to $40,000) Learn everything you can about marketing

WHY Direct Mail is one of the Best Strategies! You send your message Directly to the customer It has proven to work over the past 40+ years You can track your results easily

Marketing for Vacant House owners Your List of Houses and Mailing Addresses is Compiled NOW its time to start marketing Marketing is the Foundation of our Business Leads = Deals and Deals = $$$$ Consistency is the KEY Remember to Set up a Phone System to receive the calls Patlive, RingCentral.com, Freedomvoice.com, callfire.com

Step 5: Sending DIRECT MAIL Postcards Yellow Letters* Door Hangers Professional Letters *Some returned mail Research forwarding address and send to forwarding address

SEND THEM A YELLOW LETTER OR POST CARD Here Is The Best Letter I Have Ever Sent Hand Written on Yellow Legal Pad Why does this letter work? Dear Seller, Hi, My Name is Dione Saliba. I’m an Agent with ReMax Realty And I have a cash buyer who wants to buy your vacant house at 1234 Seller Lane Please Call (555)555-5555 (Agents Cell Phone) Thanks, Dione

OUTSOURCE YOUR YELLOW LETTERS YellowLetters.com YellowLettersComplete.com FreedomSoft.com Do it yourself Process Print them Out (hand written font) Hire a Lady to stuff envelopes and hand address the labels and stamp them 20 cents per letter I send them out (bulk mail permit 23 cents per letter, pre-canceled stamps) Material cost around 18 to 20 cents Costs me around 60 cents per letter

Better Quality of Callers Send a Post Card 48 cents to send Easy, sent out 4 days Example Next Page! Response Rate 1 to 3 % Better Quality of Callers

POSTCARD

Step 6: Wait for the Phone to Ring and Pre-Screening Typically Takes around 4 to 7 days using Click2mail to start to receive calls Calls come into a Call Center or your Voice mail Go through a Lead sheet with them and Sort the Good leads from the Bad

Step 7: TRACK RETURNED MAIL Returned could mean Vacant but no forwarding address

Step 8: WHAT TO DO IF YOUR DIRECT MAIL DOES NOT WORK? Use Your Private Eye skills to track down the Sellers Camp out in the Front yard and wait or Hide in the Bushes

GIVE THEM A CALL To find a sellers phone number you can search sites like Google and Facebook them 411.com (free Site) accurint.com ($200 per month) intelius.com ($19.99 per month) TLO.com ($1 per search) awesome Facebook.com Linkedin.com Google – Search people finder - Look for obituary, then look for heirs names Yellow pages BigBook.com zabasearch.com

THE BURBS Neighbors always know other neighbors business Talking to the Neighbors Neighbors have phone numbers

Step 9: Follow up process for Vacant Houses Set up a Google Calendar Schedule Send a Yellow Letter First (or post card) Send a Post Card 1 month later No Answer From second post card then schedule to give them a call No Answer go visit the neighbors Call every Month or So

Things to Consider Always be testing and tweaking your mailing If a mailing fails try something new Professional letters, new head line, new color, etc. Higher End Areas Respond Better to letters Response rate will be lower Learn more about Direct Mail

LETS REVIEW THE PROCESS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Compile Your List Look up the Owners Mailing Address Send your Yellow Letter Send your Post Card Give the Seller a phone call Buy the Property (Wholesale, Rehab, etc..) Make $$$$

LET’S REVIEW THE PROCESS (continued) CONTACT EVALUATE PROCESS Once vacant house sellers call you or you contact them. You pre-screen and evaluate and start making offers. Go through Josh’s $40k Flips course for the rest of the process