Thread: Marketing for Residential and/or Commercial Deals

I ask people that own property that I want if they want to sell. Sometimes agents bring me good stuff, but usualy its just junk.

Originally Posted by hatterasguy

I ask people that own property that I want if they want to sell.

Thanks hatterasguy!

How do you find these people?

Are they properties that are on the MLS? Referred to you by someone? Craigslist? Random door knocking? Etc.?

Just curious....

Searching at the county courthouse for pre-foreclosure leads that meet my criteria.
This usually brings me 5 good prospects a week.

kwerner-

Can you expand a bit on how you find the leads? I am sorry for such a noob questions but I am just getting started

Thank you!

Originally Posted by Brootal

kwerner-

Can you expand a bit on how you find the leads? I am sorry for such a noob questions but I am just getting started

Thank you!

Where to find the info depends on your state / county and how / where they record foreclosure notices.

For your state in particular, Virginia, it looks like they do both judicial and non-judicial filings, with non-judicial being more common. Looks like you have a pretty quick timeline as well.

To be completely honest with you, I don't have experience with the non-judicial process, but it's likely that if you go down to your county recorder's office, you can search their system (or it may even be online in your state) for "Notice Of Defaults" - this is probably the first info that is recorded in the foreclosure process in your state.

Also, it's likely that foreclosure notices in your county are published in a particular county newspaper (probably not your big name local newspaper, as their fees are costly; they're more likely in a small publication, maybe one you've never even heard of before). But it's better to be first, so check out the NOD's first.

You could probably get all the info you need by finding out who the attorneys are in your area that handle foreclosures (for the banks) and asking them a few questions about the process and where info in your county is published / recorded.

But, if you want a good (but old school) primer on how to work the pre-foreclosure biz, PM me and I'll give you a link to a different site that compiled a bunch of forum posts of one investor in particular that helped noobs get started working pre-foreclosures.

Originally Posted by dollarBlogger

Thanks hatterasguy!

How do you find these people?

Are they properties that are on the MLS? Referred to you by someone? Craigslist? Random door knocking? Etc.?

Just curious....

It depends. If its a building lot I know what I'm looking at so I'll either send the people a letter, call them, or simply knock on their door. Very, very few good deals get to the MLS.

If it was something like a multi I'd probably just drive by, like it enough for some reason to write down the address than contact the owner. I'd also stay in contact with them for years if you have to until they decide to sell.

Just figure out what you want to buy, go out driving and get a bunch of address that look like they might work, and contact the owners. Commercial and residential are vastly different areas, you need to figure out what you want to buy and concentrate. Personaly I wouldn't touch commercial with a 10ft pole right now. Not enough blood is flowing yet to get good deals.

Originally Posted by dollarBlogger

What types of marketing are you doing and what type of results are you seeing from your efforts?

I'm currently trying out signs. I've put about 15 out there and seem to get about 1 lead per week. Not quite the results I had hoped. Seems I may need to put more up plus add another lead source....

What are you consistently doing to get leads?

dB -

Thanks for your PM...I'm just going to answer your question here for others to see as well...

Personally, I've found that the MLS is the best way *for me* to find deals these days. With so many bank-owned foreclosures on the market, it's the easiest way to find large numbers of good deals, make lots of offers, and see which properties the banks are most negotiable with.

While putting out signs and other forms of marketing to find private sellers can be very effective, it takes a good bit of dedication to marketing and sales. You could get 200 leads for every deal you actually find. Now, that one deal may be fantastic, but you will have spent a good bit of time and energy getting to it.

For some people, this is an optimal way to find deals. They have the personality, persistence and dedication to sift through hundreds of not-so-great deals (and talk to literally hundreds of potential sellers) to get to the good stuff. Personally, I don't have the patience or the desire to deal directly with private sellers on a large scale...but again, that's just me.

As for auctions, they can be very lucrative as well. If you go to pre-foreclosure auctions, make sure you do your homework. Those properties may be sold with liens or other title encumbrances, and you'll have to pay to have those removed...worst case, a great deal can turn into a bad one if you don't do at least a preliminary title search.

But, for today, I'm sticking with the MLS. At some point in the future, these great deals will likely dry up, but until then, it's a quick and easy way to find properties that meet my criteria.

Oh, and I also love working with wholesalers who bring me leads/properties directly...I wish there were more of them around here!

As J said above -- Every deal I've ever done so far has come from the MLS. It's low hanging fruit, and there's plenty of it!

- Hakrjak