I still cold canvassed my neighborhoods, but instead of trying to buy houses, I tried to find owners who wanted to move up or down, or into another area. I’d work out some kind of trade in arrangement with them to get one of my listings sold. When each listed house sold, this produced another buyer in need of a house, so I’d take the sellers in tow and begin showing them other houses I had listed. This worked very well only because I was careful to list houses right on the market that would finance and sell easily with little fix up required.
As time went on, I found that the numbers of houses I listed continued to outrun the houses I sold, so I had to go to another source of buyers who didn’t have a house to sell before they could buy. These were those who rented single family houses, condos, mobile homes, and apartments. I made up a little post card that more or less said the following:
“HAD ENOUGH? Had enough of being told what to do by the manager. Had enough of having your kids blamed for everything that goes wrong in the complex. Had enough of hearing noises you didn’t make, smelling smells you didn’t make, and having dings put in you car that you didn’t make? Had enough of having you parking space stolen just when you come home with a full load of groceries – in the rain? WHY DON’T YOU LIVE LIKE AN AMERICAN AND OWN YOUR OWN HOME? I think I can sell you a house with its own yard and a garage for less than you’re paying now to rent an apartment. Why not give me a call at ___ ______ anytime to see what I can do for you.
During the slow part of the day when most people were at work, I delivered these to apartment units in complexes that charged about the same monthly rents as would be required to pay for a house with FHA, FHA/VA, or VA financing. I wanted them to call me rather than calling them back, because I wanted to be able to qualify them as to their financial capacity before wasting any time on them.
