RealProspect {Blog}

New Version [RealProspect 2009] Coming Soon...

2009-07-06T08:48:00.002-05:00

We have finally gotten to the point were we can release the latest and greatest version of RealProspect. We are currently getting our website updated and all the support information together, but should be releasing the new version at some point in July.

Thanks to everyone for the feedback and input to make this new version possible, and also for the patience while we are WAY past our oringinal release deadline.

Best,

John Schroeder

New real estate investing website management & marketing tool...

2008-09-05T07:52:00.001-05:00

Finally after months of development and testing, the new website management and marketing tool for creative real estate investors is available…

real estate investor web sites

I created this product in response to hundreds of RealProspect customers who had asked if I had a website product available, and if I could create one for them.

So, instead of creating a template based product where you are limited in flexibility, I pulled out all the stops and developed a do-it-yourself website builder that you can create and manage up to 10 websites in one account.

Now you can create websites for buying houses, selling houses, and additional disposable websites for split testing marketing campaigns or for any other reason.

There are no setup charges, and support is FREE!

Check it out today and setup a trial account…

real estate investing websites

Split test your direct mail campaigns and jack up your response rates...

2008-05-22T21:10:00.002-05:00

Direct mail split testing is the process of testing two or more versions of your letter to determine which one produces the greatest response. It’s a simple concept, but has HUGE benefits when done properly. Direct response marketers do this all the time by testing different elements of the campaigns to ultimately product the highest possible responses.

A response is measured in a few ways, but ultimately it’s a measurement of the effectiveness of the letters ability to get your recipient to complete the call to action. That call to action could be to have them call you, visit a website, send back another letter, or perhaps send you a check (nice!). The response rate is just a percentage of actions that were completed for your mailing. If you sent 100 letters and received 3 phone calls, then you would have gotten a 3% response rate. Pretty simple stuff, right?

Ok, so the direct mail industry average response rate is something ridiculously low like 0.5%... but that takes into consideration all the bulk junk mail that gets sent to us. I would venture to say that we investors “that target our lists properly” are more likely to get a 2% or better response rate. If not, then something is wrong. Either the list is not targeted enough, or the letter isn’t hitting the right cord to get the reader to take your requested action.

But what happens if you have a highly targeted list, and a not so hot letter? You might get a low response rate… right?

Rather than throw darts and hope for a bull’s-eye, why not send two or more versions of a letter to one list and increase your chances of success? Just take that list and divide it in half and send one version of your letter to one half of the list, and the other version of your letter to the other half of the list. It’s the same amount of work to stuff the envelopes, and it cost the same amount of money in postage… but the difference could mean BIG profits if you hit a winning combination.

You should always split test your letters. The one that gets the highest response will be what is called your “control”. And with every mailing you should try to beat that control, and if you do… the new letter becomes your new control that you are going to try and beat.

So what should you change between each version? There are many views on this, but I personally feel that it really depends on the size of this list you are mailing to and where you are in the testing process. If you are just starting out with your test, then I would try using two letters with a different call to action, or tone. For example I often test the difference between having the letter come from my wife, or from me. I’ve tested sending from me as an investor, as well as looking like it came from a non-investor.

Once you get something that seems to be working the best you can begin to fine tune it by changing more subtle things like the headline (if you are using one), or the opening paragraph. Perhaps the paper it’s printed on, the text font, or the envelope you send it in.

It’s so easy to do, so why not do it? But don’t forget to print a code or something on the bottom of the letters so you can ask the seller to read it back to you when they respond… how else would you know which version it was?

I know it seems like more work, but it REALLY makes a big difference when you narrow down on a letter campaign that responds well with a targeted list. It means the difference between doing one deal a year, and one a week… and often on the same exact marketing budget.

Perhaps you don’t want to deal with all this and would like to have someone do all this testing for you. If that’s the case, then check out the letter templates that Steve Berchtold has created…

http://www.realinvestorsoftware.com/resources/reimletters.asp

Steve has created a series of letter templates that have all gone through rigorous split testing and will guarantee a high response rate out of the box. Then you can make your own tweaks to see if you can improve your responses from there, or just enjoy the results from his hard work. I have used a few of his templates myself and have had some impressive results.

In any case, direct mail marketing is a very powerful marketing tool for us as investors, both for buying houses as well as selling houses. Split testing your letters can greatly improve your responses, as well as increase your profitability… even if you are working on a tight marketing budget.

Checkout Steve’s REIM letter templates here:
http://www.realinvestorsoftware.com/resources/reimletters.asp

Timing the real estate cycle, and getting in front of the next BOOM!

2008-05-16T15:26:00.000-05:00

As you might already know, I live and invest primarily in South West Florida, and this area is among the top areas in the country that have suffered the most from this recent real estate turbulence.

In fact, just south of Sarasota (where I live) about 20 miles in Cape Coral is ranked on and off as the #1 area in the U.S. for the highest foreclosure rates. And where I am it’s not much better. When the real estate market was cranking, we were seeing better than 30% annual appreciation rates. A house that you bought for $150,000 in 2003 was worth over $300,000 by the end of 2005… and then seemingly overnight it just came to a screeching halt!

Everyone was talking about how this market bubble was going to pop, but no one knew it would happen that fast, and this severely. Financial institutions have mounted HUGE historical record breaking losses in the 100’s of billions of dollars on mortgage write offs (nice work short sellers!)… and when a financial giant like Bear Stearns almost goes belly up… you know there are some serious issues in the financial markets. It’s this financial liquidity crisis that is really causing the pain right now.

Housing prices in our area are just about back where they were in 2003… so now that house you paid $170k for in 03 is probably worth just about that. And now I hear it all the time from people saying… “I knew this was going to happen”… yet these same people are the ones that are over leveraged and have 5 or 6 properties headed into foreclosure. It’s like the stock market correction in early 2000… everyone that got financially smacked around by that one will tell you now… “I knew that was gonna’ happen”. Yeah… good job Nostradahmas!

Ok, so maybe we weren’t completely prepared for this drastic of a real estate correction… but perhaps we can get prepared for when the market starts to shift again. This is where smart investors make their big moves… they get ahead of the market cycles and capitalize BIG TIME on them.

If you study the financial markets and economic cycles you would find that the stock market tends to lead the economy out of recessions. Now I don’t know if we are technically in a recession or not, but it sure feels like one. In fact, it’s often the case that the FED will go back and determine that the US was in a recession a few years after the fact because only then will they have enough statistical data to be able to truly analyze the situation. So, for argument sake let’s say we are *almost* in a recession, and we should be looking for indications of light at the end of the tunnel.

And so if you follow the stock market, you would see that the market has been slowly and steadily changing direction and is within a few hundred points of being considered in a long primary trend… meaning its technically moving in a strong upward direction. Its currently in a short-term and intermediate upward trend, so that is very promising.

Then next positive indicator of a switch in the real estate markets is the fact that much of the initial losses have been realized in the financial intuitions and they are now for the most part starting to lend again. But of course they are only lending to the most qualified of borrowers. Building a buyers list is more important now than ever before as investors because finding a house for a buyer is much easier than a buyer for a house.

And the last indicator that I have been watching is the month over month MLS inventory numbers in my area. Being that we are in one of the most depressed housing markets, it tends to speak volumes when you see any kind of positive change in our market. The inventory here has stopped rapidly increasing, and were actually starting to see sales volume beginning to increase. Buyers here are starting to feel comfortable with making a purchase, and FHA financing guidelines have increase the loan amounts to allow qualified buyers to purchase houses at higher price points, therefore the need for creative financing is not as necessary for properties that are purchase above the median home price.

And last but not least, were starting to see the new construction inventory begin to stabilize. Lennar homes is one of the nation’s largest home builders and they are starting to report better (not great) retail sales numbers, and large developers are beginning to buy up large tracks of land again. These builders have the best resources to determine market conditions, and when I see them buying land for future development that is a pretty good sign that they are preparing for something.

Now the big issue is the cost of fuel, commodity prices, and the weakening dollar. Many analysts believe that the commodities market is the next bubble to burst, and I happen to agree. The question is when… of course. But if commodity prices drop, then the dollar should strengthen…. And because Oil prices are pegged in dollars, we should see the cost of fuel and energy come down, as well as the cost of groceries, and so on. All this makes it a little bit easier for people to buy a home.

Based on the few market reports I subscribe to and the industry analysts that are tracking this type of economic and financial data… this commodities market should shift sometime in the summer or later part of the year… which historically is the busiest part of the real estate market (in most parts of the U.S.). Plus… Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and many other large retailers are reporting great earnings, which for the most part seems that the consumers are still consuming. (must be that $600 bucks that G.W. gave us)

So, what I personally derive from all this information… is that we’re at the bottom, and it’s time to get your game face on. The smart investors are getting prepared to take advantage of yet another amazing opportunity that real estate has to offer. So even if you were beat up, or discouraged by what has happened in the last two years… get over it! Nothing in life worth having comes easily.

Anyway, I hope this post will give you some inspiration to do your own homework and look at the true market conditions in your area… and don’t let all the doom and gloom reporting (FOX!), and whiny investors out there get you down. Just remember, problem solving is how we get paid. And the bigger the problem… the bigger the payday. This current real estate market is just a GIANT problem, and if you keep your eyes open it could mean a tremendous payday for you!

To your investing success!

John Schroeder

Filtering targeted mailing lists from county tax roll data...

2008-05-04T11:08:00.001-05:00

I’m often asked from RealProspect software users, and on occasion when I do a tele-seminar or podcast… “Where do you get your mailing lists from?”

And while the answer is easy for me, it’s a little difficult for me to explain. You see, I get my mailing lists by filtering my county tax roll data using specific criteria that I am looking for. And I can get my entire tax roll data on a CD for just $25!

While that sounds great, it’s a little easier said than done. This weekend I was trying to explain the process to one of my RealProspect software customers and decided to create a video that explains the entire process step-by-step.

I’ve uploaded this video and made it available for anyone who is interested in learning how to take a large database of records, and filter out a small targeted mailing list to use in your direct mail marketing campaigns.

Keep in mind this may not work for everyone, but if will work for you I can guarantee you will benefit GREATLY from knowing how to do this.

click to watch the online video now

NOTE: Please be patient while it may take a minute to load, and you will need a broadband internet connection to watch the video (Cable or DSL, etc).

Enjoy!

John Schroeder

Outsourcing your direct mail marketing...

2008-03-18T07:54:00.000-05:00

Here is an excellent service that you can use to outsource your larger direct mailings. You may have already heard about it, but I think it’s a great resource and wanted to let everyone know about them just in case.

The service is called Click2Mail, and they are a mail printing and processing fulfillment house that handles all the actual printing, addressing, stuffing and mailing of large mailings.

This may not work for you if you hand address your mailings (which I would highly recommend), but if you are using post cards... this is a HUGE time and money saver.

You can download templates from their website that you can open in Word and then design your post card, or letters if you want them to do that. Then you can upload your mailing list to them and they will print it out and process it for you.

You can integrate this with RealProspect also. If you are using the mailing campaign management feature in RealProspect, then when any mailings need to be printed you can export those prospects to a CSV file and upload to Click2Mail and have them process your mailing.

It’s probably not that effective for your every day follow-ups, or small mailings, but if you are going to send 50 or more at a time, then this is a really great service to look into.

Check it out:
http://www.click2mail.com

Here is a link to the online demo on their website:
http://www.click2mail.com/how/demo/index.html

Perhaps it will work for you?

A wholesaling tip for new real estate investors...

2008-02-29T16:23:00.002-05:00

So, let’s take that $200,000 house example… 70% of that would be $140,000… and then subtract repairs and your wholesale fee… let’s call it another $15,000. That means your maximum allowable offer on that property would be around $125,000. So, now here is where I have to ask you if you can get this seller to accept an offer of $125,000 for that property…

WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU WHOLESALE THAT!

If you can get a house that cheap… KEEP IT! Call everyone you know and put together the money to buy that house… that’s the kind of stuff you want to keep… NOT wholesale! This is where so many new investors struggle… because finding a deal like this is not so easy, and when you do find them, you want to keep them. Instead, wholesale the ones that you get at 80% of the value… because there is a buyer for that house somewhere, and if you can get it under contract for $100… why not try to wholesale it?

Here is what I mean by that… if you can get a seller to accept an offer that is about 80% of the value of the house, and you can get it under contract for $10 - $100… then why not stick an ad in the newspaper and put some corrugated for sale signs out by the highway and see if you can get a buyer for it? Everyone has their own perception of what a deal is, and not everyone went to the same seminar you did. There are a lot of people out there that would LOVE to get a house at a 20% discount… and you can make a few thousand dollars for finding it for them.

So here is where I get on my soap box about systems… if you have a SYSTEM in place to find these properties, and get a system in place for building a buyers list, then you can easily create a nice cash cow of a business by wholesaling these. And when you do find the one that fits your MAO formula… KEEP THAT ONE and add it to your inventory.

Let’s do some math… If you can get 20 houses under contract and have $100 tied up in each one to bind the contracts…. You have a total of $2,000 invested. If you are getting $3,000 - $5,000 as an assignment fee on each one that you wholesale, then you only need to get one of them sold to cover you investment… and make a small return. But if you can sell 3 of them… then you are making some money.

Now, CRANK IT UP… load up RealProspect with expired listings and send out your mailings, and get as many as you can under contract at 80% or less of the value… and get your buyers list cranking, then before you know it, you will be getting $5,000 checks a few times a week! Keep tweaking your system to get a higher response rate on your mailings, a higher close rate on your offers, and a higher wholesale rate to your buyers… and that is where you spend your time. And when you get a property at a HUGE discount… keep it, rent it, and slowly build your portfolio of passive rental income so someday you can retire and spend your free time doing whatever it is that you want do with it.

Ok… so that’s my thought for today. They come randomly, and usually after talking to a customer on the phone… so perhaps you got some value out of it.

I want to thank everyone for the great testimonials....

2007-10-12T20:36:00.001-05:00

I was updating the homepage on my website today, and I thought it would be a good time to add some of the many great testimonials that I have been getting over the last year. So I opened up my email and looked in the folder that I have been sticking all of my feedback and testimonial emails… and WOW!!!!

I know I read all of them as they were given to me, but when I went to read them all this morning at once, I was kinda blown away by how good they really are!

So, I wanted to thank everyone that has been supportive of the development of RealProspect, and all those that have helped make my software such a huge success. It really does mean a lot to me when I hear how much someone loves using my software, and how they are referring it to their friends. And it really means a lot to me when someone notices the length at which I go to support them.

I personally think that support is just as important, if not more important than the product itself. I’ve worked hard to provide a support structure that includes a dynamically growing knowledgebase, as well as a library of video tutorials to help everyone get the most out of using RealProspect. In addition I’ve responded to thousands of email inquiries, as well as personally contacted quite a few people to help get them setup and walk them through the software… so when it comes to support, I take it very seriously… and I truly appreciate when it is noticed.

Again, thank you everyone for the great testimonials. I put many of them up on my homepage, and I am working on getting the rest up there too.

All the best,

John Schroeder

Great deals on REO and bank owned real estate...

2007-10-08T14:37:00.001-05:00

It’s no big secret that the foreclosure rates in the US are soaring at all time highs, and there is no doubt that it’s a GREAT time to buy properties that have been taken back by banks, otherwise known as HUD properties.

But the problem you might face is that these banks are so overwhelmed with these properties right now, that their REO (Real Estate Owned) departments don’t have the luxury of talking to everyone that is interested in buying one of their houses, so they tend to do one of two things:

1. Find an exclusive Realtor in each area that they have houses in, and let them handle the process of liquidating their REO properties

2. Move all the properties to another entity so they can get them off their books and let them handle the process of auctioning them off.

The problem with the first one is that once the properties gets into the hands of a Realtor, then you lost the opportunity to get it at a discount. Even though they are loaded with properties, they are forced to list them at 80% of the value of the property, and that’s not really enough to get us excited.

The second option is a challenge because it’s almost IMPOSSIBLE to get in touch with anyone at these liquidation companies, and eventually those properties will be handed over to an REO Realtor to sell on the market.

So, what I’m trying to say is that there are certainly deals there, but getting in touch with someone before it goes to the REO agent is very difficult. And once it goes on the MLS… its over. Even if you can negotiate a good deal, it’s still not nearly as good as it would be if you could get in a little bit earlier.

Here is how the process generally goes:

- A Lis Pendens if filed when the bank is starting the process of foreclosure

- The court sets a for the property to be sold at the court house to the highest bidder

- The bank sends a proxy agent to the auction to bid up to the full amount of the mortgage balance (and almost always gets the property)

- Within a few weeks of the foreclosure the bank receives the certificate of title (could take longer in some states)

- The bank owns the property and either gives it to a Realtor to sell, or bundles it with a few hundred others and moves them to another company to handle.

So the ideal place to get in on these deals is either pre-foreclosure (after the lis pendens is filed, but before the court house sale), or just after the bank gets the certificate of title (but before it goes to the REO agent).

But how do you do that? It’s not easy, but fortunately for you, you’re not going to have to worry about it anymore…

I just came across this website that focuses on providing you with a comprehensive list of government, and bank seized properties so you can easily locate the deal that is perfect for you. It’s a website, so you can login and just search the records and locate properties in your area that are bank and government owned, and pick up some great buys.

If you’re a real estate investor looking to take advantage of the latest pull back in the housing, you might want to check out the following site:

Click here for seized properties in your area!

Real estate direct mail marketing for creative real estate investors

2007-07-28T23:41:00.000-05:00

If you’re like me, then you probable use direct mail marketing as your primary method of advertising to find motivated sellers. I have had great success with this as my primary marketing method, and to be honest… I could use this alone and buy enough houses to keep me busy.

I’m often asked by RealProspect users if I have any letter templates available for them, and up until this point I had to say unfortunately, no. I have a few letters that I had written and tested for my specific investing strategy that I’m not sure would work anywhere else, so I wasn’t comfortable with making promises with them. And I haven’t had time to create a series of letters and test them to make sure they work because I’ve been so busy developing RealProspect and supporting my customers.

But, I was recently contacted by one of my customers who has been using RealProspect for about three years now, and he told me that he created a set of letter templates that he has been using and tested, and is now offering for others to benefit from as well. He created a whole series of letter templates for just about any investing strategy to locate motivated sellers.

If you want to get your direct mail marketing cranked up, and not have to waste your valuable time hacking away at your keyboard trying to create the perfect letter… then I highly recommend you take a minute to check these out by clicking the link below:

The REIM Real Estate Investor Marketing Letter Series

And if you’re a RealProspect user, he has provided a quick import utility so you can easily import the REIM templates into RealProspect in a few quick clicks so you don’t have to monkey around with copy and pasting!

A great inexpensive solution to manage your email marketing....

2007-06-21T12:18:00.001-05:00

Email is a great way to stay in contact with your prospects and buyers, and there are hundreds of hosted solutions and applications available out there to help you with this process. But there is some confusion by many people as to how this whole thing works, and I want to help clear that up if possible…

Here is the scoop. It doesn’t matter what you use to "send" email. Typically you can use any email program, and any SMTP server to “send” email out through (you should have had one provided with your internet service). For example, I use Roadrunner for internet access, and there SMTP server is smtp-server.tampabay.rr.com. So this is what I use when I set any software settings for outbound mail delivery. Anther words, this is the server that will handle the routing of the email when it is “sent out”.

So what does this mean exactly?

Well, sending mail out can be done independent of your mail client (Outlook, Yahoo, MSN, Gmail, etc). But all mail being sent "To You" will be sent to your inbound mail server. Then you receive responses in your preferred email viewer.

So essentially you can have one program to manage your email blasting, and get all your responses in your regular email inbox in your preferred email program.

Now, the trick is to send out your email properly so you don’t get caught in SPAM filters... as would most definitely happen if you tried to stuff 3000 contacts into a BCC field. That is no good.

I use a program called Mailloop (www.mailloop.com) for all my email marketing and autoresponders, etc. However, if you just need a simple program to manage your email blasts, here is one that I found on jitbit.com for under $30.

(Mailloop is a much more robust program that can handle any aspect of your email marketing, and it installs on your computer so you do not have any monthly expenses… I have tried them all, and this one works great! The other program available from Jitbit is a simple program that can be used for just sending out large email blasts. It’s a very inexpensive solution, but has some limitations.)

What these programs will do is allow you to design your email message, and then import your list, and then it will send each email individually, and allow you to drop in fields for personalizing each email just like RealProspect does.

In the settings for these programs, it will ask you for your SMTP server address. In this case, use the one that is given to you with your internet provider (i.e. smtp-server.tampabay.rr.com). Then set your response email address to be the email address that you use for handling your prospect responses.

Now you have a program that can make your email marketing very efficient, highly personalized, and most importantly not prone to getting snagged by those SPAM fileters!

Another great way to get your direct mail letters printed...

2007-04-18T19:52:00.001-05:00

Most new real estate investors opt to print their direct mail marketing letters on their own printers and then put the mailings together themselves… and this is a perfect way to get this task done when your on a tight budget and have the time to do it. But there is a better and more cost effective way to get this done…

The printers that we often have in our offices or at home tend to have a tendency to just drink the ink cartridges, and those suckers aren’t cheap! In fact, you can almost buy the printer for less than the price of the actual ink refills. And don’t let them fool you… that’s where the printer manufacturers are making their money. That’s why the “starter” ink cartridge that you get with the printer when you buy it has just enough ink in it to get you half way through one mailing, and always… I mean always runs out when you desperately need to print something the most.

I’ve found that it’s much easier, and just as cost effective to have your letters printed by Kinko’s or Office Depot. And what’s really cool about using those services is that you can go to their websites and upload your letter file, and they will print your letters and either deliver them to you, or you can pick them up at your local store within hours. This is what I like the most. I cannot stand hanging out next to the printer loading it with paper and clearing printer jams! What a bad use of our time!

So, the first thing that you’re probably thinking is… will they mail merge my letters for me? Well, no they won’t do that… but here is a great alternative. You can use a PDF printer to print your mailing to as if you were going to print them yourself. This will create an individual page in the PDF file for each letter page in your mailing with the contact info merged in there.

For example, if you are using RealProspect to merge your mailings, then you just print your letter template to your PDF printer and a PDF file will be created containing all the merged letters. So if you have 50 prospects in your mailing, you will get a PDF file with 50 pages in it and each page will be a merged letter.

Then you can send that PDF file to the printer and they can print the merged letters for you.

You can get a PDF printer for practically nothing… in fact here is one that I think you can download for free:
http://www.cutepdf.com/

A PDF printer is a software program that installs itself just like a printer on your computer, except when you print to it you get a PDF file instead of a printed piece of paper. You can print anything at all to a PDF printer and you get a PDF file. Its cool stuff!

When you weigh the cost of printer ink and your time wasted monkeying around with your printer, you can quickly see how using this setup to achieve the same results can be a much better alternative to the “do-it-yourself” way.

Get Real... Real Estate Investing for the Rest of Us!

2007-04-13T19:25:00.001-05:00

I recently had the opportunity to talk with Lynn and Jusdon Voss, the editors and owners of a great online resource for real estate investors. Their website provides weekly podcasts where they talk about what’s going on in their investing business as well as others that they invite on the show. And its great because it’s a FREE resource!

Lynn and Judson do a great job of putting their information in a format that you can listen to on your computer, or download into your ipod and take it with you. The information covers anything from investment strategies to helpful tools and resources that they have discovered, and they have special guests come onto the show to talk about some of the things they are using to create success in their investing businesses.

I was honored to have been invited onto their show to talk a little bit about my RealProspect software. They had been using it and thought it was a great tool and wanted to let all their listeners know about it. So if you are interested in hearing that interview, visit their website and keep a lookout for when they publish it.

To sign up to receive their podcasts or listed to any of their past shows, visit their site at: http://www.getrealrei.com

I think this is just another great resource available for real estate investors at any level of the game, so check it out!

In a buyers market you look for buyers first, then find the houses...

2007-04-10T08:16:00.000-05:00

We hear it every day that the foreclosure rates are skyrocketing, the housing market is bottoming out, and there are a glut of deals out there now. Finding deals is no longer a problem, however once you acquire a property its MUCH harder to execute your exit strategy if your plan is to flip, or retail it in this market.

So what does this tell us? Its actually pretty simple... the market has changed from a hot sellers market (where deals were hard to come by), to a stagnant buyers market (where buyers are hard to come by). But, because the Fed has recently decided to keep interest at the current low rates there are plenty of buyers looking to capitalize on this lucrative buyers market.

It's just that all the potential buyers are waiting for the absolute bottom before they make their decision to buy. They don't want to get caught in a situation where they buy a property and the market slips another 5-15% and now they too are upside down in their new home. But if you can offer them a good deal (price or terms), then there are plenty of buyers out there to take properties from you... you just have to find them first.

In the last sellers market cycle you could buy a property and put a sing out front and it would be gone before the paint in the living room dried. But now its not so easy. With MLS inventory building to record highs, and FSBO signs stuck in every other yard, buyers have plenty to choose from so there is no urgency on their part.

But, if you change your strategy and spend more time looking for buyers first, and then find them houses... now you have a business model that is setup to generate huge dividends in this market. So, rather than spend time looking for houses to buy, and then look for buyers to sell them to... instead you may want to consider looking for buyers first. If you can find a buyer that is looking for a particular house, in a specific neighborhood, and has a set amount to spend... then you can go out and locate that exact deal for them and almost guarantee a quick transaction.

And because you are an investor (not a Realtor), you can create more attractive terms, or negotiate with the seller to produce the exact results your buyer is looking for... and get paid handsomely in the process.

So, where can you find these buyers? Here we can just go back to the basics and start by sending direct mail campaigns to large apartment complexes, or get a list from www.infousa.com that gives you all the prospects in a specific demographic area that have a low credit score and do not own a home. Its amazing what you can do with the lists provided by these major list sources.

Essentially if you are marketing to the right targeted market, and you can provide them with the American Dream of owning a home for the same monthly amount as they are paying to rent... and provide some struggling sellers with a solution... you can find yourself in a situation where your problem solving can earn you a nice income, and give you an opportunity to acquire some real estate with a positive cash flow...

And who doesn't like positive cash flow?

Pay down your mortgages, and increase your cash flow...

2007-01-05T15:23:00.000-05:00

I recently found an ebook -- and personally purchased -- that I thought you could get some great value from.

Craig Romero has put together an eBook that explains the concept of mortgage cycling in a very easy to understand format. Here is a quick description that I snatched from his website about his ebook:

”Anyone with a mortgage can benefit in a great way by using the tactics taught within ‘Mortgage Cycling Revealed’, a super-valuable report written for all homeowners and investors across the country.

In fact it’s the only report online that guarantees to teach homeowners how to pay their mortgage off in 10 years or less without using a biweekly payment plan.”

You can apply Craig’s techniques to your primary residence and pay off your mortgage in just a few years!

And if you currently have, or plan to have rental properties… this is a great way to pay down your mortgages and quickly increase your cash flow.

Imagine if you could rapidly reduce all your mortgage payments, and instantly increase your cash flow… and then apply that increased income to the principal on your mortgages to continue to pay them down even faster!

This is very cool!

And I hate making mortgage payments, so I’m very excited about this! =)

I thought this was just such a great resource that I had to let you know about it. And Craig has done a great job of making it simple to understand and easy to apply.

I usually do not promote other products that I find unless I think they are *really* good, and I have personally purchased and tried them myself. And I think you can greatly benefit from this particular one...

...And best of all, it's really inexpensive!

For more information, take a look at Craig’s website at:
Mortgage Cycling Revealed

Check it out, it's really cool. And please forward this to anyone that you think may also benefit from Craig's techniques.

Is it possible that the real estate market is already bouncing back?

2006-12-08T22:52:00.000-05:00

It looks like the market is starting to correct already. At least it does down here in Florida.

There were some recent reports released from local lenders that they are offering 30yr fixed mortgages at under 6% interest. This is still incredibly cheap. Although there is still a ton of inventory in the MLS, if we continue to have a few more mild hurricane seasons, then things should get a little better for our market down here.

However, I wouldn’t be so naive to think that the insurance companies are going to lower their prices! I can’t believe the insurance industry. They are just raping and pillaging here in FL. I have heard people with BRAND NEW block construction homes, not even in flood zones, have their insurance dropped. Then their policy DOUBLED when they went to another writer.

The cost of insurance, the increase in interest, and the recent hike in property taxes really put a stomping on our market for a while. But, all in all… I think there had to be some stop to the 35% annual appreciation rate that we were seeing.

Now the big question is… do we start to buy and hold again? A lot of investors are waiting this one out, but the ones who can afford to take advantage of this buyers market will really cash in when it completely corrects. And that’s just a matter of time.

A quick, fun way to get property comparables online

2006-10-09T09:23:00.000-05:00

There are a number of ways to get comparables for a property that you are working a deal on without having to get an appraisal. The most common is probably to either get them from a Realtor, or search the MLS. But there may be times where you get an unexpected call from a seller and you want to quickly get an idea of the realistic values of the houses in the prospect neighborhood so you can begin to form your negotiation strategy.

I have been using the online services at www.zillow.com to provide this information in just these situations. Zillow is a website that allows you to enter an address and then search for the property and return an estimated value. But what is so cool about this service is that you get an actual aerial photograph of the house and the surrounding neighborhood, and you can click on any house to view the estimated value and pull up a list of comparables for that house. It’s amazing how accurate it is!

When you click on any of the houses on the map you will see a popup that will show you the estimated value, the last sale date and sale amount, the number of beds and baths, and the square footage. Then you also have an option to click a link and view all of the comparable properties. And when you click on the view comparables link, a list of all the comparable properties is displayed with all of the information you need to be able to accurately determine a fair market value.

In many cases this is a much better tool for finding comps because you can randomly select houses on the map to determine values rather than blindly search the MLS database looking for comparables. I have had trouble in the past using the MLS and found that the Zillow results were much more accurate, and provided me the flexibility to perform a quick analysis on a property in just a few seconds.

Check it out. It’s actually kind of fun to play with too. http://www.zillow.com

A creative way to increase direct mail responses...

2006-09-28T08:51:00.000-05:00

If you are using direct mail marketing to locate motivated sellers (which you definitely should be), then here is a little trick I discovered to increase response rates while saving you some serious time.

When you are sending letters to a list that you feel would respond better to a hand written letter, but don't want to sit and write each one, you can use a custom font to provide the same results. The alternative is to write the letter and then photocopy it, but then you are unable to merge in prospect information into the letter using a mail merge program like Word, or RealProspect.

So, I did a quick Google search and found a custom font that looked very similar to my handwriting. I just downloaded it and installed it on my computer, then wrote my letter template using this custom font. But to make it look like I really hand wrote the letter, I set the font color of my letter template to a royal blue just like a blue pen would look. I also increased the font to 16pt and printed on a manila colored paper using an inkjet printer. The blue ink slightly bled around the text like a real pen does because of how the inkjet printer applies ink to the paper. For some reason the manila colored paper makes it look really like it was handwritten, but on white paper you can kind of see that it was printed.

I used the letter templates feature in RealProspect to merge in the prospects first name into the greeting and the prospect property address into the letter, and I wrote the letter as if It was specifically written and sent to that prospect. I did not put anything on it that looked or smelled like it came from an investor, or a company for that matter. It looked exactly like a personal letter without any company names or letter head. Just a greeting, a body, and a signature.

Then I used a 6 x 9 manila colored envelope and I actually printed the prospects address and my return address on the envelopes using the same font, color and inkjet printer. Its amazing how much it really looks like it was hand addressed when you use the inkjet printer with blue colored text on a manila colored paper. I even showed it to a few people before I sent it to see if they could tell it was printed, and they all thought it was hand written.

So, I sent the test to a few hundred prospects in a specific neighborhood that I'm targeting, and I got an overwhelming response rate. I'm not sure what the total response rate will be because I'm still getting calls 3 weeks after I sent out the letter... and I only sent 300 of them!

Needless to say, this is a cool little trick to increase responses without much work other than loading paper into the printer. =)

Here is why I love rehabbing junkers...

2006-09-02T20:27:00.000-05:00

I often have the opportunity to talk with investors from all over the country who are using my software in their businesses. And I love to hear how people are using different strategies to buy their houses, and what works and doesn’t work in different areas of the country. And when I am asked what strategy I prefer, I undoubtedly respond with… “I love rehabbing junkers”.

It was an email conversation that I had today with one of my customers that reminded me why I love rehabs, and more particularly rehabbing lower end houses. The main reason that I like this type of deal is because I get a great deal of satisfaction from taking a complete dump of a house, and turning it into a place I would consider calling home. Or perhaps it’s the look on my Realtors face when I show him the finished house and he can’t believe that I did it in less than a month, and for less than $10k.

There are some practical and economical factors that make low end rehabs very lucrative. Like for example in most areas of the country “affordable housing” is in great demand. So if you can provide a solution to that problem by creating good quality affordable housing, you will never have to worry about not being able to cash out if your exit strategy is to retail your houses. I try to keep my houses under $175k when I put them on the market (the average median house in my area is $350k), and I usually have a full offer and several backup offers within a week or so. Usually there are absolutely no “quality” houses available in my price range, and there is a huge volume of buyers looking for houses in this range. It’s a supply and demand issue, but completely in my favor.

There are some other simple economical factors like, rehab costs. These low end houses do not require expensive materials or labor to renovate. I’m not paying a master carpenter to put in crazy crown molding, I’m not installing marble counter tops in the kitchen, and I’m certainly not putting in $1500 stainless steel refrigerators. I can put an entire kitchen in one of these houses including a refrigerator, stove, microwave and cabinets for $2000, and it’s all brand new.

The other great factor in the low end junkers is that there is less competition. For some reason there are certain neighborhoods that scare people, and I’ve learned to find these neighborhoods and target them specifically. It’s easy to find the houses that need major repair in these neighborhoods just by driving around. I sometimes pay a kid to do this for me and get a list of houses that look like they are ready to be condemned. These are the ones I love because there not for sale, there not in foreclosure, I know they need work, and chances are the homeowner needs my money. So finding these deals are not too hard to do. And I constantly call the “we buy houses” signs and let the investors know that I buy wholesale deals.

The only downside to these deals is that the profits are smaller per deal. I average a $25k profit on each one, and the turnaround time is 3 – 6 months depending on if I have to get permits for any of the work (roof, windows, etc.). But because I can build up a steady stream of inventory, and the holding costs lower, it works out to be very profitable.

I just thought I would share this because I find that many investors are working hard on the “pretty house” business, and some are finding it difficult because of the competition in their area. If you are struggling to find deals, and have not previously considered rehabbing “junkers”, then perhaps you have a neighborhood in your area that is ripe with junkers just waiting to be picked, and profits to be harvested.

New support knowledge base feature added!

2006-08-21T16:02:00.000-05:00

I have recently added a new support knowledge base feature to this website. Over the past year I have been receiving support questions and other comments that I have collected to add to a knowledge base of support articles.

Well, I recently added this new support feature and I plan to frequently add how-to and support articles for customers to be able to quickly find the answers they need. I will also post questions and answers to many of the common questions that I am frequently asked.

To access the new knowledge base, please visit http://www.realinvestorsoftware.com/support.

If you have any questions or comments about articles that I should add, please let me know using the contact us form and I will certainly add them.

The new version of RealProspect is available for download!

2006-08-19T11:04:00.000-05:00

After many months of hard work, the latest version of RealProspect (prospecting software for real estate investors) version 2.1 is available for download. Over the past year since the initial release of the software, I have been collecting requests from all of my customers for improvements to the program. As a result I have compiled a list of all the features and improvements that we felt would benefit everyone, and now have added them ALL to the latest version.

One of the major new additions is the automatic mailing campaign feature. This feature allows you to setup your multi-step mailing campaigns into the program, then assign the letter templates that you are going to mail merge and print for the prospects in each campaign step, and then the campaign manager will automatically process the mailings in the order that you have defined.

So for example, if you imported 10 prospect records, and you have a 3 step mailing campaign that sends a letter or post card every 5 days, then all 10 prospects will be automatically scheduled to receive the first mailing, and then be scheduled to receive the second mailing in 5 days, and so on.

Now, let’s say two days after you sent out your first mailing to those 10 prospects, you go and import another 10 new prospect records. Well, these prospects will be automatically scheduled for the first mailing, and then be automatically scheduled to receive the second mailing 5 days after that. Now these to groups of prospects will be independently tracked to ensure that your mailings are sent to them in the appropriate time frames, and to avoid mixing them up and accidentally sending a letter to a prospect twice.

This is a huge time saver. With this process, you can easily manage your mailing campaigns without worrying that you are sending the same letter to a prospect more than once, or in the wrong order. If you receive your mailing list on a weekly basis, then all you have to do is import your list, and the campaign manager will automatically begin to track the process of scheduling your mailings. And if you are targeting several types of prospects, then you can create a category for each prospect type, and then create separate campaigns for them. You can essentially have as many campaigns running as you need to keep your direct mail marketing organized and running efficiently.

And another great advantage is, when you have completed sending all your mailing pieces to a prospect and have not received a response, you can just set them as inactive. Now if you get another list with their name on it, RealProspect will not import this record so you can be sure that you are not wasting postage, or irritating people by sending another series of letters to the same prospects.

Aside from this killer new feature, there have been many great new updates. Entirely too many to list here, but if you are interested in learning more about this program, click here to view the software information.

Create eye catching flyers to help you sell, rent, or lease your houses

2006-08-18T23:04:00.000-05:00

One of the many techniques to market your house for sale, lease or rent is to use flyers. You can post flyers in Laundromats, bulletin boards in community centers, or large apartment complexes, or just about any high traffic area around your property. And creating an attractive flyer can help draw attention to it and generate greater responses.

I was asked by one of my customers that is using RealProspect if I knew of a “simple” program that they could use to create flyers to put in the take one tubes in front of the houses that they are selling. Well, I tend to use programs that are much more advanced to do this type of stuff, so I did a quick Google search and I found a great program that was developed by HP (Hewlett Packard).

As it turns out, Hewlett Packard has an interest in providing people with the resources to burn up more toner cartridges… and they have created a flyer making program for real estate professionals.

They call the software “The HP Real Estate Marketing Assistant” and it sells on their site for $79. With it is included a group of templates for quickly creating a flyer for just about any of your real estate needs.

If you are looking for an inexpensive solution to creating more effective flyers to help you sell, lease or rent out your properties, then this is the deal for you. Click here to go to the HP website to learn more about this software. If for some reason the page doesn’t load properly, then just go to the HP website at www.hp.com and enter the term “Real Estate Flyers” in the search box on their home page.

Welcome to my new Real Estate Investor Blog!

2006-08-18T21:42:00.000-05:00

Well, I finally took the time to setup my new blog for real estate investing news and information. Some of my customers, friends and other investors are always asking me what methods I am using to find deals, what techniques am I focusing on, and what tools am I using in my investing business, so…

I decided to create a blog so I can dump all this information for anyone who is interested in it. I plan to make this a place where I can informally compile my thoughts, some of my investing strategies (new and old), and other nuggets of information that I pick up along the way that others can benefit from.

So what I am hoping to do with this blog is… each week, or as often as I can, I will post...

- News and updates to what is happening in the real estate market that would have an effect on us as investors

- Marketing strategies I discover that are generating great results for myself and other investors. As the developer of RealProspect, I meet many successful real estate investors that are using my software RealProspect to manage their prospecting processes. Well, this allows me to learn many different techniques and strategies that are working for investors all over the country that I will share here on a regular basis.

- My personal thoughts on what’s going on in the real estate investing industry, reviews on new course material an books that I have read, technical reviews and recommendations on software programs that I find, and great web resources that I find.

So again, I would like to welcome you to my new blog that I have titled “The Technical Real Estate Investor”. Please check back from time to time and see what great software, tools, services, resources, news, tips and comments I have posted about real estate investing for creative real estate investors.