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I started actively marketing with Postcards and bandit signs recently (after a three year hiatus from actively marketing), as part of my goal to save up one year of my wife’s salary and ALSO to replace her salary with passive income before the end of this year.
Well, the direct effect of marketing more is getting more calls. I’m getting between 1-5 leads per day right now, and Deals are starting to fill the pipeline again. It’s slow getting contracts on deals and I feel like I’m kissing a lot of Frogs. My two marketing lists so far are Code violations, of which there were only 21 in my city that were still active at the time of my inquiry, and a list form the city of all the houses that had the water meter disconnected (about 900 after I removed businesses etc.)
I’m being very diligent about tracking my marketing campaigns and responses with very detailed spreadsheets etc.
Once thing that is starting to pile up is the paper for taking down the sellers info, printouts of the Tax assessor record cards, and print out of comps that i pull when i go to look at a property. I also have to go back and manually update the spreadsheets to keep track of the responses.
So i have the spreadsheets stored on my desktop computer in my home office. I have the sellers information sheets kept in a notebook that i carry around with me so i can always have the seller info in the right place. I have a laptop that i keep with me at my day job that i tether to me cell phone for data access. This allows me to log into my home PC and pull up Rent Manager ( my property management program), the marketing tracker spreadsheets, documents for deals in progress etc that aren’t already stored on my portable 500GB hard drive that i use with the laptop. I also have a portfolio of forms like seller net sheets I use to show them how much they would net through a realtor, offer forms, buying contracts, disclosures, rental contracts, etc. Any paper I think it might be handy to have already printed out on the go.
This is becoming tedious to have all this information in so many different systems. Here’s is what i’ve been day dreaming about the last few days…
I get a call from a seller, i open my iPad or other tablet pc(which i don’t have yet) and go through my seller script and record all the pertinent information into form boxes. For the question “How did you hear about us?” my answers to that, in the form of drop down menu’s (bandit sign, referral, post card, what was the code on the postcard, google search, what were the keywords, etc) automatically update the marketing tracker spreadsheets/databases with real time data.
When i input the address while on the phone with the seller the app would automatically obtain the property tax information from the appropriate county website (year built, sale dates, tax value, owner info, pictures, etc) and have that on a “tab” under the seller info.
Using the sellers loan data that i input, or maybe i check a box for free and clear, it could automatically craft some ballpark offers based on the equity and stated repairs on the property that i could maybe use over the phone with the seller to gauge whether or not it’s going to be worth my time to go see them. If they seem open to the ballpark figures or owner financing offers I give them over the phone, they become a screened prospect and i can make an appointment. The appointment automatically gets added to my google calendar.
However, if they aren’t ready for me right now, i can flag them for follow up later, and an appointment gets added to my google calendar for a month or two down the road.
Now, if i set an appointment, i need to go pull comps. I’m not sure how automated i can make this, but it would be great if i could set criteria for comps like
-within 1/4 mile
-sold in last 6 months
-within 150 sf above or below subject property
-same number of bedrooms
-same number of full and half bathsAnd have a tab where all the comps that fit that criteria are returned and stored, giving me an low, average, and high Days on Market, Sales Price, discount from asking price.
I don’t mind doing the comps manually in the MLS website over the iPad. I could easily export the CSV file and import that into the ?Comps? tab in the app. I just want the app to store the info.
Now i go to the property and meet the sellers…I have a tab where i can take and store pictures of the house. I have a short credibility presentation i give the seller on the iPad, and i can go through my offers on the iPad with them. When i have presented the offers, that is updated on the marekting tracking spreadsheet so i can track my offers made. If they accept one of the offers or a variation of them (also tracked for closing ratio) I could even have the contract auto-filled from the form data and they could sign the contract with a real signature in electronic format using a stylus on the iPad and i could then email the contract directly to the closing attorney.
I’d like it to be on an iPad/Android tablet PC so i can always have it with me, similar to my paper notebook, without having to haul out the laptop every time i need a document. And if i have it on a 3G/4G network, i can take it everywhere without wifi.
What software is out there that might come close. Would I need to find a CRM package? Is there anything out there that will track marketing responses within a CRM app? Would it be feasible to put this kind of a project out there on eLance. What should I expect to pay for a freelance coder to develop an iPad or android app that would do this?
Am i just wasting a lot of energy thinking about this and not spending enough time going through the leads i have? How do you pros that have been doing this for decades handle your leads?
In a nutshell, i think what i’m really looking for is a logistics solution that helps tie all of the processes together which are typically involved with buying a house as a real estate investor.
Is there an app for ALL of that??
Sounds like something en engineer husband would do.
You’re spending WAY too much time on this stuff.
Sellers will NOT be impressed by the bells and whistles or Ipad presentations. They need solutions to their house problem. EMPATHY will get you a lot further than some slick high tech presentation.
Alll these things you are doing are taking valuable time away from actually talking to sellers, driving streets, and networking with people who can bring your more deals.
While you’re talking to a seller on the phone, you should be able to pull up the comps and quickly determine if it’s a go or no go. If it’s a go, get a contract. If it’s a no go don’t waste time entering all their data in to a spreadsheet.
Sometimes I think people are too connected to the internet and aps and NOT CONNECTED ENOUGH to real live people.
It is so sad when I go to a restaurant and see a family of 4 all sitting there texting, checking emails, and looking for the latest APS INSTEAD of actually talking to each other. It’s an addiction.
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