Driving For Dollar$
By Tom Tarrant
The author has permitted the reprinting and redistribution of this
article.
I am not sure when the first time I heard this phrase used but as I
surf the web reading other bloggers’ REI sites I
haven’t come across anyone covering it so I picked it to be
the topic of my new tip. Driving for dollars refers to the practice of
getting in your car, filling up the tank and hitting the pavement to
drum up some leads that wouldn’t make it into your world
otherwise. Some people refer to this as bird-dogging but to us we
don’t sell our leads so it’s just simply one more
form of lead generating. There are many variations of this but
I’ll cover what works best for my wife and I. Anyone can do
this, deals are out there and waiting.
On weekends its always been enjoyable for us to drive our farm areas
and visit anything new that hits the market, other properties that have
recently been rehabbed by other investors so we can check out their
work or even scout for new FSBO (For Sale By Owner) signs that may have
popped up. You have to become an expert on your areas so it will be
easy to identify a deal when you see one. Knowing the active inventory
and what is selling will help you get a handle on this.
While out driving around we are always on the lookout for distressed
properties. These homes might have unkept lawns, newspapers piling up,
outdated appearances or generally appear disheveled compared to the
neighborhood (but not always). They don’t have to be vacant
or abandoned. In most cases they in fact are occupied. We write down
the house addresses and a brief description to help us remember the
home later (it will be hard after you identify 100). These homes are of
course unlisted and not currently for sale. Getting in the door with a
private party considering to sell puts you in the drivers seat. There
is literally no competition from other bidders and your chances of
making a deal are good. Knowing how to negotiate once you do get the
appointment will have to be left for another discussion.
As a motivated, gung-ho investor it will become second nature to scan
every house on the street as you are driving anywhere. Be careful and
keep your eyes on the road though). It doesn’t have to be on
Sunday while out with this intention. In fact, every time I drive to
Home Depot or anywhere for that matter I make it a practice to take
different routes in order to possibly find something new on a street I
haven’t been down before. I probably look like a bobble-head
casing the neighborhood or someone looking for his lost dog if anyone
sees the way I drive.
By writing down the addresses we keep a lead log at home and send out
letters weekly to these homes. Owners mailing addresses can be found
online from the county tax rolls. Out of state mailing addresses are
very good to find. Our letters are hand written, in plain envelopes and
have collector style stamps so we look very un-professional and
personal. My wife likes to spray a touch of perfume on the envelope. If
the man of the household gets it he’s sure to open it because
of the smell and if the lady of the house gets it she’ll be
sure to wonder who is writing her husband and open it also. Our letters
inside are on yellow legal pad, hand written and simply state
“Dear John Smith, I want to buy your house this week. Please
call me ASAP either way. 999-9999. Thank you, Tom and Wifey Tarrant. I
include my wife’s name to explain the perfume smell on the
envelope and also make them feel less threatened. This letter looks
like it’s directed at his or her home specifically and not
from “we buy houses” people soliciting everyone
blindly. Our success rate if phenomenal with this approach.
Since you have gone to the trouble to find the house, why not take a
minute and further your cause while you are in front We also have
handwritten notes with scotch tape handy that we pre-prepare and always
have in the truck. I hand write one and then run them off on the
printer so they all appear handwritten. The language on the small note
is exactly the same except there’s no name of the homeowner
of course because at that moment we don’t have that info.
Well in fact we do if we want it because one of our best tools is the
wireless laptop on our journeys. We don’t take the time to
run owner searches for these notes, they’ll get our mailed
letter shortly anyway. The phrase “this week” shows
you are serious and “please call us ASAP either
way” makes your phone ring quickly. Here in Texas everyone is
really friendly, most people call and thank you for leaving the note
even if they don’t plan on selling. Kindly ask them to save
the note in case in the future they or any neighbors decide to sell. A
friend of ours who is a wholesaler here in town actually had sticky
notes made from a printer that appeared to be hand written but are
mass-produced.
Insert note pic
On our last outing we hit up our regular farm and then 2 new adjoining
areas. I let my wife drive so I can jump out and stick up the notes on
the front doors. We put out about 100 notes in 3-4 hours. In the next
48 hours we had 27 calls from our efforts. Yes, a couple were from
angry residents saying they didn’t want to sell and to leave
them alone but we also got 6 leads on deals. One elderly lady said she
didn’t want to sell her personal home but had 2 duplexes she
didn’t want. Just imagine where this can go. Don’t
hit up the same area too often or you might get negative results. This
is a phenomenal success rate for generating leads. It takes some skill
to know what homes to leave the notes on. I look at a lot of factors
that give me a gut feeling. It could be the car in the driveway, the
presence of window unit AC’s, different deferred maintenance
issues, etc. On some blocks I stick up as many as 10 notes,
don’t be scared because all that can happen is they will call
you and be mad. On a recent trip to see an older home and make them an
offer I saw my note from earlier posted on their refrigerator. Just
think of how many of my notes are out there just waiting. Waiting for
the right time and a family member calls me when they inherit the
house. Waiting until someone cant pay his or her back taxes. Waiting
until someone loses their job or gets transferred to another city for a
new job. Call it grim but its reality. People need to sell houses and
we like to buy them.
Driving for dollars works. Get in your car and make sure you have
everything you need to make the most of your journey. I challenge
anyone to find 100 target houses in your farm, leave notes, send the
letters and see the results. Good Luck and always remember to buckle up!
Tom Tarrant httptomtarrant.com
If
you would like to take advantage of the market and learn how to invest
in real estate and you are local to the Dallas Fort Worth area, I know
a really great teacher and mentor here in Arlington Texas. Please take
a look at his web site: DennisJHenson.com,
Dennis has a great Mentoring and training program, I know because I am
one of his former students. I learned a lot from his one on one
teaching technique. - Michael Harman 817-457-7572
mchfun.business@gmail.com
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