Lead Generation Strategies That Will Give You An Edge

Have you ever wondered what makes for a great real estate lead generation strategy?

The recent surge of real estate investing popularity has created a new set of problems for investors. Instead of calling your local realtor and waiting for deals on the MLS, the supply may currently exceed the demand. With more investors in your area, you now need to adjust how and where you find deals. Fortunately, there will always be deals if you know how to find them. Oftentimes this means doing things that may be out of your comfort zone or things that you have never tried before. If you wait for deals to fall into your lap, you could be waiting a very long time. There are deals out there, but you need to go out and get them. That’s why it’s important to come up with your own real estate lead generation campaign.

The greater number of lead generation sources or methods you have, the less likely your pipeline will run dry. There is nothing wrong with using a proven lead source that has worked for you in the past, but if it is good enough, other investors will flock to it as well. You may have been there first or have an inside track, but sooner or later you need to look at other areas. At any given time, you should have multiple lead sources in place or lined up, ready to go. Many of these sources will not break the bank and just require a little effort.

The internet has an abundance of lead options that are just there for the taking. On Craigslist alone there will be days when you can reach out to dozens of potential sellers that could turn into quality leads. Not every landlord that has a property for rent really wants to be in the business. If you spend a few hours early in the week you will find many new for rent listings that you should reach out to. You can have an email template set up stating that you are an investor and may be interested to buy their property. Let them know that if they are tired of being a landlord and are looking to get out, to give you a call. If your template is set up, you should be able to send multiple emails in a short amount of time. Doing this just once is not enough. You need to commit a few hours two days a week for the next six weeks. During that time you will get at least a handful of emails or calls with the hope that one or two turns into a deal. For the cost of nothing more than your time this should be incorporated into your daily routine.

On Craigslist you can also reach out to listings of homes for sale or fellow investors who are looking for deals. You can also reach out to any realtor, mortgage broker or hard money listings. There are also many other real estate sites that you can replicate this approach with. Additionally, if go to real estate investing websites there is most likely a local community that you can reach out to and become affiliated with. The internet provides multiple approaches for lead generation that every investor should be taking advantage of.

Outside of the internet, you may be driving past deals every day and not even know it. Every property that has a FSBO (for sale by owner) sign in the front yard or looks like it has been abandoned is a potential deal – if worked properly. If the property looks distressed, it could be a sign of either an out of area owner that no longer wants to put money into the property or an owner that may be facing foreclosure. If you put a business card in the front door or send them a letter explaining what you can do or how you can do it you may be able to find the owner and start some dialogue. You can also go to town hall and find out who the owner of record is and possibly do a search online and locate them that way. For every ten people you try this with you may get one or two interest owners. Out of those owners if you talk to ten of them you may be able to get one deal. The next time you are in your car take a look around and see if there are any opportunities out there.

In addition to looking at distressed properties in your car you should also be aware of bandit signs from fellow investors. Any sign that you see that states “we buy houses cash” is an opportunity to make a new contact. It would make sense that most of these people will be investors but you never know who may have inventory they want to get rid of. This is also a good way to grow your buyer base and expand your network. There are probably more of these signs then you realize. If you can contact five a day for a week you will have a pretty good investor pool to draw from.

Finding good deals can be difficult at times, but there are multiple ways to generate leads. All lead generation and deals are a numbers game. If you don’t give yourself a fighting chance you will be forced to wait for deals to come to you. You don’t need to break the bank to generate leads. In most cases, all you need to do is outwork fellow investors in your area.