In my own area, I organized a small group of producers who met for a couple hours over breakfast every Tuesday. At this meeting we presented any properties (or buyers) we had, and discussed the possibilities. I did a lot of exchanging and trade-ins at these meetings that might not otherwise have been accomplished. The secret to making these meetings productive was to keep the group small comprised of only trusted, proven producers who had absolute legal and/or psychological control over either properties or buyers. These were all brokers, but I've attended similar meetings of investors to expose properties to potential buyers.
No small advantage of these groups is the brainstorming that can take place as you try to generate sales. Here are a couple of ideas that came out of these meetings:
1. A developer had completed a 100 unit condo project and was paying construction interest. Sub-contractors were clamoring to be paid. Local brokers with non-exclusive listings had given up on selling any of them in the slow market. He gathered all his sub-contractors together and offered them the choice of either accepting completed units at wholesale valuations for their liens, or of going through a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy proceeding. Among them they accepted 57 units, and each began to try to sell them to raise cash. Once local brokers saw all the marketing activity and resulting sales, they joined the fray. The project was sold out in short order. The sub-contractors all made a profit. So did the brokers. So did the contractor.
2. A real estate office had a choice property listed at a very attractive price, but was getting no action at all. The owner was becoming irate. The broker devoted an entire week exclusively to selling the property. Every possible lead was switched to it, and every salesperson fully briefed on it. Open houses were held and display ads run every day. The salesperson who sold it was promised a cruise to the Bahamas in addition to the regular commission. The property sold that week.
3. I listed a house that had been on the market for over a year, and that was pretty well being ignored by the brokerage community and the MLS. Along time ago I learned that, when a property fails to sell, if you reduce the price, it doesn't make commission salesmen very enthusiastic. On the other hand, if you increase the commission, it wakes everyone up. I put this knowledge to work. Instead of getting the absentee owner to reduce his price, I got him to double the commission for 7 days only for an all cash to the mortgage offer, no financing contingencies, and with a quick closing.
I entered the new commission into the MLS computer along with a new commission split and the news that the house would be open to the public for 7 days. The selling broker would receive 10% and I would receive only 4%. When competing brokers realized that they could make more money selling this house than the could selling their own listings, twenty seven buyers were conducted through the premises the first weekend, and it was sold and closed in 5 days. Just for negotiating this strategy, posting the MLS computer, running one Open House ad, and placing a couple dozen signs around, my commission was $10,000. Not too shabby.
Would a similar meeting in your area help you and other investors generate more sales, more buyers, more leads? Try it! You'll be surprised what can happen when you put several brilliant minds together.
Working together you will always accomplish more than trying to work alone.
This article is an excerpt from Jack Miller's CREATING SALES with Tough People and Tough Properties in Tough Markets and Tough Times ebook. Available in the CashFlowDepot Store for only $12.95
Learn many more creative real estate strategies and techniques as a member at http://www.CashFlowDepot.com/members-only.aspx