REI Marketing Tips

About 4 weeks ago I hosted a webinar showing real estate investors how they could easily create a new revenue stream by offering debt settlement to their existing prospects. A number of people were on the call, however one individual, Roberto Diaz of www.XtremeHoldings.com based in Silver Spring, MD actually took action and closed his first debt settlement deal already!

Congratulations to Roberto for taking action and creating another revenue stream from an existing lead he was already working with!

Robert Diaz

Rob Wilander

Listen to the short case study below, where Roberto and Rob Wilander from Legacy Resource Group join me and explain exactly how long it took to close the deal, and how much they’ll earn in commissions:

If you’re ready to get started offering Debt Settlement to your prospects today, simply sign up for a FREE account by visiting www.REIMarketingTips.com/debtsettlement

Quick! Have you registered for the Commercial Foreclosure & Short Sale Training Q&A Webinar tonight? You’re invited:

Don’t miss this webinar, register now by visiting www.REIMarketingTips.com/cfwebinar
Don’t forget that Karen Hanover & DC Fawcett are going to be answering your questions LIVE, on the call tonight. Nothing will be sold on this call, so do your best to attend it. There are 2 times you can choose from. Register now for this Commercial Foreclosure & Short Sale Training Webinar.

As a special bonus, I’m going to give away an Ipod Nano for anyone who attends the training tonight, and posts their big 3 “Aha” moments from attending the training.

To eligible for this prize, simply attend tonight’s 100% free Q&A training where nothing will be sold and list your 3 big “Aha” take aways from the training. Dreama and I will judge and then award the prize.

Last night’s webinar about Debt Settlement simply blew people away! This was a webinar that presents a huge business opportunity, and you can get started without having to pay a single penny!

Watch the webinar now, and then take action and get registered to start offering debt settlement. This is a huge revenue stream right under your nose that you might be missing out on.

Debt Settlement is a GREAT reason to reach out or contact a lead that you haven’t heard from in a while, or who was “on the fence”. Watch the replay now, no credit card required!

I often get feedback not only in my own investing business, but also from students around the country, who get frustrated because other people, (often times realtors with whom they’re trying to network with) tell them that flipping short sales “illegal”.

This actually happened to one of my door knockers very recently. He was calling a home that was listed for sale (evident by the sign out front). After speaking with the owners and getting the agents contact info, he called the agent to let him know that we would like to write an offer on the property (tomorrow).

The agent said that his father had recently been to a DRE seminar here in California, and apparently a CAR attorney had told his father to “steer clear of double escrows”. (Important note: this is 100% hearsay, but let’s assume for the purpose of this blog post that the information is correct).

The agent asked us if we could “send him something” in advance of our meeting. I figured that this might be happening to other people out there as well, so I have included some of the email that we used, so you can use it in your own marketing as well.

Please note that the information below is meant for an email (and NOT a flyer) simply because it contains links. Feel free to copy and paste and use as you see fit:

*************************************************************************************

Recently, Freddie Mac, FHA and Wells Fargo have all made major changes to their business models to allow for short sale properties to be flipped, legally and ethically. In fact, that’s what me and my company, www.SaveMeFromForeclosure.com do.

Now before you get worried about thinking that we’re doing something “illegal”, I want to point you to 3 specific bulletins from these three major financial institutions that have been issued in the last 6 months:

First, in October of 2009, Freddie Mac released a bulletin that you can download here: http://www.freddiemac.com/sell/guide/bulletins/pdf/bll0924.pdf. On the first page of this bulletin is link to Freddie Mac’s Best Practices for Loans Involving Possible Property Flips, which can be found here: http://www.freddiemac.com/sell/guide/bulletins/pdf/bll0924xA.pdf. Most interesting to note is that Freddie Mac says that

“A property involved in a flip may be resold on the same day or within days, weeks, or months of the purchase. In some cases, the seller of a property flip never holds title to the property, but instead sells or assigns their interest in a contract to purchase the property to a third party.”

Freddie Mac then goes on to say that:

“Property flips are not inherently illegal and not all transactions involving a rapid purchase and resale are improper. Legitimate property flips are acceptable transactions in connection with loans purchased by Freddie Mac.”

Finally, Wells Fargo, who issued more mortgage loans that any other company in 2009, has now allowed their borrowers to buy properties that are being flipped by others. You can see this internal document that Wells Fargo mortgage lending released at the beginning of 2010 here: http://www.macedesigns.com/clients/srec/WellsFargo.pdf

So why is this significant? Three MAJOR players in the United States housing industry are changing their policies and business practices to allow for short sale flips and for homeowners to get mortgages where the seller is “flipping” the property to the buyer.

I’m sure you’ll agree with me that if 3 big time banking giants like HUD, Freddie Mac and Wells Fargo are making these changes, they’re accepting the legitimacy of short sale flips and them as a viable way to help eliminate foreclosures and help rebuild and stabilize the housing market.

In fact, last fall, before 2 of the 3 major announcements were even released, Mr. Lem Marshall, Special Counsel to VAR (the Virginia Association of Realtors) posted an article in their Commonwealth Magazine, a publication that is “A journal for real estate professionals published by the Virginia Association of REALTORS®”

You can read the entire article here.  (The main article is on page 12 of the publication, which is page 14 of the PDF), or, if you prefer a quick 2 page PDF document extracted from the magazine covering this very specific topic, you can download it here. What’s important to note, however, is how Lem ends the article, and his analysis of short sale flips, with the following paragraph:

So who loses? Nobody. Even the tax collectors and insurance folks come out ahead, as they get payments from owners making productive use of the asset. We all gain when inefficiency, uncertainty, and waste are squeezed out of the system. And we help hasten the return of reasonable market valuations, something of great benefit to our communities at large.

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Hopefully that the information can help you in your business.  I would recommend writing the email in your own voice, or even taking the information above and making a 2 or 4 page flyer that you can use to market to agents with short sale listings.  I’m actually in the process of doing that myself, and it will be made available to our community of exclusive SaveMeFromForeclosure.com local representatives.

However feel free to copy and paste any of the information (and links) in this email and use it in your marketing.  I would love get your opinion on what we’ve included here, and how you’re using it in your business, if at all.

Also, if you have any success stories (or challenges) using this information please feel free to post them here in the comments section.  We love hearing success stories, but if you have any challenges using this hopefully as a community we can help you further.

Happy Investing!

Thanks to everyone for their patience, as I FINALLY had time to get the free short sale training from California’s #1 Short Sale Lawyer posted to my blog. I will warn you in advance, Ron and I went for nearly THREE hours of non-stop hard-hitting short sale information.

Set aside some time this week to watch this training. There’s no cost, and after you watch it, please post a comment below and I’ll make sure that either Ron or myself answer it.

Happy Investing!

I constantly get asked by students and members of our community what is the best way to “convince” realtors to work with them.  Some of the more common feedback I hear are things like:

“The realtor told me what I’m doing is illegal”

“I can’t list the property because I’m not on title”

“No realtors will work with me because the say you can’t do that in our city/county/state”

Well how about if I gave you a link to an article in Commonwealth Magazine, a publication that is “A journal for real estate professionals published by the Virginia Association of REALTORS®”

And what about if that article was written by Lem Marshall, VAR (Virginia Association of Realtors) Special Counsel and it basically says (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Who cares if an investor has an option contract, and who cares how much profit they make, and who cares if the end (C) buyer is taking title from someone they didn’t expect”?

Would an article written by an attorney endorsed by a state’s (Virginia’s) Association of Realtors help validate the way you want to structure your transactions?

I bet it would!  (By the way, if you invest in the state of Virginia you should absolutely be drooling right now…)

I want to personally thank my main negotiator Ed for sending me the link to this article.  I am sharing it here in a format where you can share it with your realtor prospects.  This is a GREAT thing to share with any agent who has a short sale listing that is still active, with no offers.  Just think, by using this tool you could have 5-10 new short sale deals in your pipeline by the end of the week!

To get access to the ENTIRE September/October 2009 edition of Commonwealth Magazine, “A journal for real estate professionals published by the Virginia Association of REALTORS®”, you can check it out here.  (The main article is on page 12 of the publication, which is page 14 of the PDF).

However, if you prefer a quick 2 page PDF document extracted from the magazine covering this very specific topic, you can download it here.

After you access and read this document, please post a comment below!  Let me know if this helped you gaining the confidence with realtors, and if you got any new deals under contract because of it.  We love hearing your success stories.

Oh, and one more thing…take a look at the blog post below, and make sure that you check out the video about guaranteed funding.  You’ll be glad that you did…

I spent a few days this past weekend at Preston Ely’s FreedomSoft event.  It was a lot of fun, great networking, and I got to meet a bunch of great people.  Actually before FreedomSoft even began, we had a small Mastermind at our home in Encinitas.  We had Darrel from here in San Diego, who is absolutely KILLING IT with short sales right now.  We also had Ed from IL, and Tim and his wife Suzanne from TX.  Also joining us was Minx from NYC, one of my coaching students who started with me last year.  Here’s a picture of us:

San Diego Mastermind 2010

We all shared a lot and learned a ton from each other, and came away with specific action plans to grow our business in 2010 to new heights.

The purpose of this blog post however, is to give you some insight into what is the best way to convert a lead into an appointment, and then into a deal.

I have a new realtor on my team, and I recently got a lead from one of my websites.  I had the realtor qualify the deal over the phone, and set up the appointment.  I had put him through some training, and I explained to him that you should ALWAYS email the client the paperwork in advance of the face to face meeting.  I do this because:

1. Short sale packets can be extremely large and overwhelming for someone to sit down and sign all at once, right away.  Letting the homeowner review the documents in advance can help you close the deal on the first in home visit.
2. I tell the homeowner that they should review all of the documents in advance of my arrival.  That way I can clarify any questions they have either before, on the phone, or once I arrive.  If I send the documents in advance, it removes the “I want to think about it” objection (more on how this isn’t even a legitimate objection in California)
3. The homeowner needs to gather all of their documents such as paystubs, bank statements, tax returns, etc.  By giving this to them as a “homework” assignment a few days before the meeting, they have an opportunity to gather all of this information in time, so you can submit a complete, accurate short sale packet the first time.
4. Even if the homeowner DOESN’T review the information, when I arrive for the appointment, I am in much more control of the situation, because I’ll just assume that they reviewed everything and printed it all out.  In fact, if the homeowner hasn’t looked at anything, it allows me to close the deal that much more easily because of the homeowner’s feeling of obligation to the time and effort we spent preparing the documents to send to them.

So here’s what happened: my realtor said that he spoke with the homeowner, but he DID NOT send him the short sale documents in advance.  I told him that when he shows up for the meeting with a huge stack of paperwork, it could be very intimidating for the homeowner to sign everything.

So my agent heads out there with paperwork in hand, but the homeowner has never seen it in advance.

So guess what happens?

The agent arrives, the homeowner says “I want to think about it” and he doesn’t pick up the paperwork.  My agent just wasted time driving to an appointment and then leaving with no deal in hand!  What a waste of everyone’s time.

I think that this convinced him to believe me and he’ll now start sending the short sale packet to the homeowner in advance!

My advice to you, moving forward, would be to send the package to the homeowner in advance.  Here’s a little script you can use when on the phone.

“Well Mr. Homeowner I look forward to meeting you on Thursday at 4pm at 123 main st in San Diego.  Now what I’m going to do it to send you a list of all of the documents that you’ll need to collect.  Things like paystubs, bank statements, etc.  Don’t worry about writing it down now, I’ll email you a list.  I’ll also email you all of our agreements.  I would like for you to print them out, and review them BEFORE I arrive.  If you have any questions, I’ll be able to answer them in advance, on the phone, or I can answer them for you this Thursday at 4pm.  This way, our meeting time will be much faster, and you’ll have had a chance to review everything before our meeting.  Doesn’t that sound like a good idea and the best use of our time, Mr. Homeowner?”

Now going back to my realtor, who didn’t send the package in advance, here is one sales strategy that you can employ, and how I would have handled that situation.  Here in CA the homeowner is given a 5 day right of refusal.  This means that up to 5 days after signing the deal, they can change their mind and back out.  So had I have been on the appointment, I would have closed the deal by telling the homeowner:

“Mr.  Homeowner, I know you want to think about this.  In fact, so do I, and so does the state of California.  You see, by law, you get a “5 day right of refusal.  That means that even after you sign all of these documents today, you have 5 days to changes your mind, and cancel.  We both know the foreclosure clock is ticking, and I’m out here anyway.  So to make best use of our time, and the time that is ticking with your home headed towards foreclosure, let’s get all of these agreements executed today.  That way, if you decide in the next days you want to cancel, no problem.  Otherwise, we’ll have to come back, and we’ll lose all of that time.  I’m sure you’ll agree that sounds like the best plan to help stop this foreclosure as soon as possible.”

Well there you have it.  But I would like to hear back from you.  Please tell me what state you’re in, and what you do: send the paperwork in advance, or show up with it and try and close the deal right then and there.  I’d love to hear what you’re doing and what’s working for you.

Wednesday I had the pleasure of having lunch with California’s top short sale attorney.

He was kind enough to let me pick his brain on certain nuances that come up in California.  More importantly though, he gave me some great insight on what is going on around the country, not just in California.

I took a few pages of written notes, and even more mental notes, but here are a couple of big take-aways that I wanted to share with you:

1.  Deals you find by yourself are best, but better if you take care of agent out of the goodness of your heart.
We discussed at length doing deals where the property is already listed, and we both agree that trying to convince many agents that our “creative” way of doing short sales can often be a frustrating experience, and a waste of time.  That’s not to say that it can’t be done, but we both agreed that if you have good marketing, and can get to the seller directly, you’re in a much better position.  One idea he shared with me was to allow a realtor (one that you have a good relationship with, or one that you’ve been trying to court into getting all of his listings and buying them) is to let them represent you on the transaction.  The banks are used to paying a commission anyway, so why not throw someone a “bone” and put some money in there pocket.  This idea was taken a step further by even suggesting to the homeowner that they might want representation, and providing them with an agent (referred by you of course) to put a smile on the face of a couple of agents…which could lead to a lot more deals for you!

2.  Keep your paperwork consistent
We had a standard practice in our business of using one contract for deals where the property was NOT listed, and another one for listed properties to keep the agents happy (by seeing a familiar contract).  He pointed out to me that I’m making things more confusing for our acquisition specialists by making them have and complete 2 different sets of contracts.  “Standardize” he said, and make the contracts work for all transactions, realtors involved or not.  Made sense, and we made that change in our business today.  (NOTE: some of you might be thinking “you sure are a bonehead Justin” and while that might be true, I’m far from perfect, and learn new things in this business every day.  I have no problem admitting if I’ve made a mistake or not doing something the best/smartest way possible).

3.  Pay your “A” listing realtor well
If you’re going after listed properties, pay the “A” realtor well.  They’re getting paid on the discounted price, so why not pay them 4% instead of the “standard” 3%.  This will show the “A” listing agent that you’re serious about putting money in their pocket, and make them more motivated to work with you in the future.  If you pay 4% realtors will be excited about working with you, and the “word” will get out that you’re a serious investor who takes care of agents

Those 3 ideas were just the TIP OF THE ICEBERG…

We discussed a TON of other things, and we finished lunch with a LOT more to discuss.  Fortunately for you, I’ve arranged for a special training with this attorney.  It’s not until March 31st, but go ahead and block out that time in your calendar NOW.  We’ll be covering lots of great information, and of course I’ll remind you closer to the date.  For now, put Wednesday, March 31st at 6pm PST/9pm EST in your calendar.

Last month I said that I would be writing updates as to how exactly I was rebuilding my preforeclosure business for scratch in a brand new market, San Diego, CA.

Well I have been more on the “taking action” side of things rather than writing blog posts with updates (sorry).

But this Thursday night, I’m going to reveal exactly what I’ve been working on since I arrived here 1 month ago, and show you exactly how you can put the very same things into your business.

I’m hosting  a very special webinar training (with NO outside guests) revealing exactly what I’ve been doing in my business over the past 30 days, and how it’s already generating leads for me.  This special training will take place this Thursday evening, February 11th, at 5pm PST/8pm EST, and you’ll need to register for it right here.

Here are just a FEW of things that I’ll be covering on this very special training:

- The new Free Report that we just wrote that pre-sells your prospects for you (you actually overcome all of their objections by getting this free report in their hands)
- The “advertorial” style ad we use to get homeowners to download this free report in droves
- The simple 1 page website that we use to get the homeowners to download the free report (you can rip mine off, please!)
- How we use the telephone to screen out the tire kickers and lookie-lous (to get only the most qualified leads calling)
- The secret “door knocker” leave behind I’m using to get more eyeballs on this ad
- The press release template that we use in our local market to get more eyeballs on this ad and simple 1 page website

- The new sales letter I wrote for homeowners who are facing foreclosure (and why it’s my “best yet”)
- The two golden bonuses I am using to help me close the deal
- The secret way that I am delivering this letter (without paying for postage)

- The fax cover page I am using to blast realtors and get them to send me their short sale deals
- The “Guarantee” I put in this fax to skyrocket the response rates (and weed out the “you can’t do that” realtors)

Register right now for this training at 5pm PST/8pm EST this Thursday night, February 11th:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/354124146

On this special training on Thursday night at 5pm PST/8pm EST I’ll also reveal:

- The new integrated web submission form and telemarketing script I created for my telemarketer (all online)
- The phone number retrieval AND “Do Not Call” tool I’m using to get phone numbers for prospects in a matter of minutes
- The place where I found an EXPERIENCED telemarketer for only $3/hr

- The door knocking script I’ve given my door knocker (chock full of the most common objections and how to overcome them)
- The best place to find your door knockers (so you don’t have to do it yourself)
- The one thing that your door knockers simply MUST do each time they go out for you (to maximize efficiency)

All of these tools have ALREADY helped drop short sale deals into my pipeline, and I’ve only been living in San Diego for 4 weeks now

Join me as I reveal all of the juicy information LIVE this Thursday night at 5pm PST/8pm EST on a very special training
call.  I invite you to join me and rip off, copy and steal all of my best stuff on this special training!

I’ll “see” you on call this Thursday night!

Just a quick reminder that I’m hosting a FREE training teleseminar tonight with a national Title, Closing & Escrow Expert to discuss the latest updates with what’s going on with short sale flips.  All of the details can be found right here, including dial-in and webcast information:

To listen live by phone you can dial 813-262-0467 and use conference ID 686172 or you can listen for free, online at http://www.attendthisevent.com/Classic/?eventid=10876476

This is a free training call, and NOTHING will be sold.  On this teleseminar tonight here’s just a few of the things that we’ll be covering:

1.    Are Option Contracts Dead?
-What’s the best paperwork for me?
(Option Contract Vs. Purchase Agreement)
-How to use Addendums that work (to get your files to be
seen as “legitimate” in the eyes of your lender
-Disclosure! (Why not having the proper disclosures in
place could land you in a very bad place…)

2.     Are Back-to-Back Closings A Thing of the Past?
-How to structure them for success (and what lenders won’t
even consider them)
-Secrets of Transactional funding requirements (how to
ensure that the funds show up, your deal closes, and you
get paid)
-The single biggest secret to becoming the “Owner of Record”
(Hint: if you mess this up, you won’t be able to sell the
property to your end buyer)
-The surprising truth about what other options are
developing (get the information to remain on the cutting
edge of doing short sale flips)

3.     30-Day Closing Restrictions Are Being Enforced!
-WARNING: We are starting to see a Return of Funds
-The shocking truth about what happens if you are subject
to a “Return of Funds”, and what it means to your deal)

4.     Understanding and Correctly Using Business Entities.
-The secrets to closing as an LLC that the other big-time
investors don’t want you to know
-The simple trick to keeping your entity valid and up to date
-The one thing you must never do when closing a deal
(hint: we’ll be explaining why you can’t use your DBA)

5.     FHA Waived the 90-Day Rule!
-How to understand what it means in short sale flips
-What we learned when we took a closer look at the waiver
(And What are the new restrictions, if any)
-The single biggest impact on the “C” Lenders
-The surprising truth about Predatory Practices (and whether
or not you should be concerned)
-How does the FHA define ‘Flipping’ (and whether or not they
consider it illegal)
-How to “get around” the 20% guideline in the waiver (it’s not
as difficult as you think)
-Understanding “The seller holds title to the property” (and
knowing how to get around this clause for your back-to-back
closings)

Excited?

You should be.  Remember, this training is ALL-CONTENT.
NOTHING IS FOR SALE (however you can feel free to send in
thank you emails when we’re done)

Remember, get the call details and ask your questions here:

http://www.attendthisevent.com/Classic/?eventid=10876476

Remember you can ask questions as well, in advanc, and during the call.