So you’ve found someone who wants to get away from their house payments, you’ve walked them through their options, and they’ve decided a lease option is the approach they want to pursue. You get the property under contract and now it’s time to find a tenant buyer. Getting the right person in the property will set you up for success. Here are a couple things to consider:

Stability is huge. A good way to check this is to make sure the people have steady employment. Many of these folks have been through a life-changing event recently. Maybe they lost their job a few years ago or went through a divorce, but no matter what it was, their credit took a hit. You’re looking for people who have rebounded and now have found steady income again.

A large portion of the tenant’s commitment to the property comes from their down payment. They need to have set aside some funds to get into a property. Make sure the down payment is enough that they will be unlikely to walk away from the property. If they only put down 1% of the property value they probably won’t look at the property much differently than a typical rental. You want someone who will view the property as theirs, so they’ll take care of it like they own it.

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This is a great question and the answer is… it depends. The biggest factor to consider when choosing a mailing list is your target audience. Are you looking for a property seller, a property buyer, or both?

Popular lists for finding property sellers include Pre-Notice of Default (Pre-NOD), Absentee Owner, and High Equity leads (also known as Free and Clears). A Pre-NOD lead is someone who is 30, 60 or 90 days past due on their mortgage, and they may need to sell their property to prevent foreclosure. Absentee Owner properties are typically vacation homes or rental properties, but can also be homes that someone has moved from but not yet sold. There are also High Equity leads, which are people with at least 50% equity in the property. For more information on these leads, click here.

The more frequently used lists for finding buyers include Renter and High Net Worth leads. Renter leads are people who are currently renting. They may be living in an apartment complex or a duplex. High Net Worth leads are people who have liquid assets of at least $1 million, and this list can be filtered by people who are or are not real estate investors.

These leads all come from credit bureaus, they are not public knowledge. This means someone using one of these lists will have much less competition for a property or individual because the information is not publicly available.

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All we need from you to get started on your marketing campaign is the 10 zip codes for your leads. Now it’s easy to find those, too! Just click here and you’ll be directed to Hipcodes, a great new site that will help you find your zipcodes!

We get this question a lot. How can people possibly get a 5-15% response rate with a direct mail marketing campaign? The simple answer is that our letters don’t look like a typical marketing letter.

Our letters use the handwriting of a person, not computer generated font. There isn’t a clear window on our letters, they don’t come in a business-size envelope, they don’t have a bulk mail stamp, and most importantly, the envelope isn’t typed! Since our envelopes are hand addressed and the letters are printed using a person’s handwriting, people want to open them to see what is inside. Our letters look like an invitation or a thank you letter, not a marketing letter.

Still skeptical? Request a free sample today and see what it’s like to receive one yourself!

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I ran an ad in one of the smaller newspaper publications. It started running on April 19, 2009 and ran for 30 days. Overall, the ad resulted in 78 phone calls. Out of those 78 phone calls, I was able to collect information from 38 of these buyers regarding their contact info (including email address), their monthly payment budget, how much they have for a down payment, and what they’re looking for in a house.

The prospects are driven to a phone number where a live person answers (between 9 am and 5 pm), or a recorded message (after hours) telling them to leave me their name, phone # and email address.

Once they do this, I add them to my buyers database and begin marketing to them, sending them to my website so they can check out the homes that I have for sale.

Below is a screenshot of my actual email inbox, showing you only a list of the people that have left messages after hours. (Click on the image to see it larger).

This ad really did the trick!! I have 38 more people to sell my houses to, and it only cost me about $2.00 per lead. I think I’ll run that ad again………

Here’s what my ad said:

“OWNER FINANCING

THREE NICE HOMES TO CHOOSE FROM

24 HOUR RECORDED MESSAGE

(904) 555-5555 ”

Of course, the ad has my real phone number for buyers.  I chose a smaller publication newspaper to keep my marketing cost low.  I I had run this same ad in the Florida Times Union, it would have cost me nearly $500 for a month. Instead, I only paid about $80.  Not too shabby…… Now I gotta go…Ive got to get to work on selling some of these houses I have for sale!!

One of the most important things that you can use to present yourself to a seller (or buyer) of real estate is credibility. You can talk all you want about how smart, proficient, professional, and helpful you are, but the person you’re talking to may still be reluctant to do business with you.

That is why I want you to start getting testimonials from your clients and start using them in your presentations! There is nothing quite as powerful as the spoken testimonial from someone who has used your services and is pleased. When they are willing to write a testimonial on paper and allow you to share it with your potential clients, that is a powerful recommendation.

Even better than written testimonials are video testimonials. These days, everyone should have a website (or at least a laptop computer). You can easily capture testimonials on video and post them right to your website – or you can keep them on your hard drive and play them for your potential clients during your presentation. This technique will close some deals for you without you having to say another single word.

Here’s what I do: Just as soon as I’ve agreed to terms with the seller or buyer, and the contract has been signed, I pull out my checklist to make sure that everything has been completed. Contract, signatures, email addresses collected, all of that technical stuff. Then I ask the seller, “Have you been happy with the service that I’ve provided”? They have 100% always said “Yes, of course!” I then say “Well, then you wouldn’t mind giving me about 15 or 20 seconds of video that I can use on my website, would you?”

I carry The Flip Video in my bag with me at all times when I’m on an appointment. Then I pull it out and tell them “When the red light comes on, just tell me your name, and how I was able to help you in this transaction”. Then I hold the camera up and hit the Record button.

I have never had anyone tell me “No” to this. Sometimes they are a little nervous because it’s the “camera in their face” syndrome, but with a little help from me about what to say, they get through it with no problem. And then BAM! I’ve got a video testimonial that I can use on my website and in my credibility kit for life.

Check out just a few of the video testimonials that I’ve captured on video:

When you’re marketing a property, you should never, and I mean NEVER go out and show the house to prospects. This will suck up and waste your time, and make you hate the fact that you ever got into this business in the first place.

There’s an entire system that you can use to Market Your Houses to Buyers that is a complete auto pilot system. You only talk to the people once they’ve gone out the house, they know how the program works (because they’ve read the information that you’ve given them), and they’ve filled out the application.

Here’s a Tip to Help You Develop your auto pilot system for selling houses: Put a lockbox on the house. When your prospects get to the house, they’re given a number to call where they can get the lockbox code. Kepp the lockbox code REAL EASY, like easy enough for a DUMMY to remember. I like to use “zero”, that way that don’t forget. Then let them see themselves in the house and pick up the information that you’ve left for them on the kitchen sink.

And DON’T worry about people stealing the carpet – chances are they’re just gonna go in and take a look around, and then leave…………..