Relationships
Today I’d like to teach you how to get your phone to ring with deals. I always think it’s funny when people who are richer than me say “I have more money in the bank than you, why did you get that call instead of me?” The answer is that I know real estate investing is all about relationships.
Real estate is a simple business- it’s people that can be difficult. When I talk about people, I’m not just talking about tenants although they are a big part of it. I’m talking about the people you buy property from and the people who are bringing you deals.
What I do is I set up a lot of little “hooks” or contacts everywhere- attorneys, realtors, and wholesalers. Although wholesalers can sometimes have a negative connotation, they are actually a great resource. I’ve bought several houses and apartments from wholesalers.
Be Real
When talking to these contacts the first rule is to be real. There are a lot of people out there who are BS’ing. They’re saying “I’ll buy anything!” However, their contacts quickly find out that they won’t. So you just have to be real. That may be hard for some of you, but you’re going to have to work on it, because if you get a reputation of being a closer, people are going to call you back.
Another simple trick is to just remember the golden rule- treat people how you’d like to be treated. Tell people right away if their house isn’t a good fit for you. Be nice and say, “I hope you make a lot of money, but call someone else on this one.”
A lot of people don’t do that- they say it’s great and sign up. By doing so they tie up the deal and make the seller and the broker loose time when they didn’t have their money together or they didn’t have the desire or the ability to close. That’s not cool. If you’re on the other side, and someday you will be selling a deal, do you want someone to do that to you? Of course not. So remember that.
Realtors
Here’s something funny to tell realtors. A lot of you are beginners and that’s great- I’m glad you’re getting started. But one of the things you guys like to do is say “I’m a real estate investor, when you have a deal call me.” Then you give them your card. What do you think they do with that card? They put it in the stack with all the others, because everyone is saying the exact same thing. You’ll say “When you have one with owner financing and no money down, call me.” And the realtors saying “Yeah right. Join the club.”
But because I want to stand out from the crowd and I want people to remember me, I say, “Hey I’m a real estate investor, and when you get one of those deals where you are like who would be crazy enough to buy this- like the roofs caving in, it’s half empty and it looks terrible, and there’s no way you can have an open house because you have to clear a path to get into the house- call me! I love that stuff! Those are the kind of deals I want to buy.”
And they’ll say “I’m going to hang onto your card. I had one of those last month, I wish I had known you then.” So you want to stand out from the crowd. The good news is that there’s a lot of lame people out there so it’s not that hard to stand out. You just have to be real, keep your word, and treat people the way you would want to be treated.