Getting started in real estate investing can be a time consuming and overwhelming prospect without some guidance and assistance along the way. We’ve learned a few tips from the dozens of investors that we’ve dealt with over the years and are going to share some real estate lead generation ideas in this 2 Part series.
So, let’s get started!
Real Estate Investors: How to Generate Leads
To help you develop some ideas and ways to market, here are some standard as well as new methods of finding excellent investment properties that you might not have done yet that we’re going to discuss now.
- Bandit signs: Some people love them, others don’t. Whatever your thoughts, they are an excellent tool for real estate investors. They are useful in generating a wide range of exposure, as well as potential customers. Determining the best areas as well as the right offer is critical.
- Real estate auctions: Find distressed sellers by generating leads through real estate auctions. Include it as part of your networking, and real estate auctions provide offer a good source for connecting with buyers and sellers.
- Partner with local handymen or contractors: These can be an invaluable resource to investors. They are generally the first to respond to home sellers, helping to make repairs and upgrades. In addition, they might hear of someone that is considering listing their home for sale before it goes on the market.
- Newspaper Advertising Even these days, traffic can be obtained from a newspaper, whether local, regional or national. A solid performing ad in your local papers can generate leads for you.
- Speak at an event: Looking to build credibility? Speaking at a local real estate or investor event has the ability to not only enhance one’s real estate reputation but offer you potential business leads as well.
- Advertise in local newsletters: One of the more efficient ways to produce local interest is through the local newsletter. While not as glossy as, let’s say The New York Times, this real estate lead generation strategy is still worth considering and testing out.
- Connect with an attorney: Attorneys know more than most of us about the personal affairs of clients. As a real estate investor, if you can connect with a local attorney not only for your own business needs, it can reap additional rewards. They might know of potential deals that could be coming up due to personal issues with some of their clients.
- Advertise on radio stations: Think about it: a radio advertisement has the ability to sway the mindset of potential sellers on a daily basis. Why not use it?
- Follow up on old leads: We’ve all been turned down before. But we can’t take it personally. If someone said no to you but hasn’t taken action or the house is still on the market, reach out to them again. Maybe this time they’ll be more open minded to what you have to say.
Direct Mail Lead Campaigns for Real Estate
- Use leaflet drops or inserts: Leaflet distribution is another terrific real estate lead generation idea for investors. Make sure to find the right locations and right demographics when testing this marketing option.
- Start a direct mail campaign: This powerful and proven marketing technique continues to be a cornerstone of effective lead generation. Printed media is not dead, but rather the perfect complement for a broader real estate marketing strategy.
- Use business cards: While everyone talks about online options, there are some fundamentals that you want to use. And business cards is one of them. Include all your contact options so that you can learn of the deal before they share it with anyone else.
- Use door hangers: Lead generation and using door hangers is something that’s been done for decades. And while it might seem that it’s overdone and overused, it’s exactly the point. It’s effective and generates results and that’s the end goal here.
Free Real Estate Lead Generation Options
- Attend REIA meetings: This is the abbreviation for the Real Estate Investor Associations. These REIA meetings can be a great means and resource for real estate lead generation ideas.
- Cold call expired listing owners: One of the better ways to develop business in real estate is following up on expired listings. Contacting homeowners trying to sell their homes, or who have failed at doing so, is a fantastic way to reach of distressed sellers that need to take some action now. If they don’t, they might end up with nothing.
- Share testimonials: Nothing benefits a real estate investor quite like an endorsement from a customer. Testimonials for prior buyers and sellers continue to provide a large percentage of leads to investors, and there’s no reason it can’t work for you.
- Join a homebuilder association: All the best ways to kick-start lead generation involve networking with like-minded individuals or groups. Attending a home-builder association may introduce you to your next customer.
- Ask for referrals: Don’t beat around the bush; ask your customers to recommend you to their friends, family, and coworkers that might have a property to sell.
- Attend networking events: One of the more commonly suggested and popular real estate lead generation ideas is networking. While it may appear overrated, attending networking events remains an invaluable source for generating, leads, partnerships, and funding.
- Contact Sale by Owner listings: One of the primary signs of an opportunity in real estate is a Sale by Owner listing. Contact and see what type of deal you can work out.
- Join a local landlord association: From homeowners to handymen, landlords are equipped with a wealth of contacts, which represent opportunities for real estate investors. Joining a local landlord association can provide a leg-up for investors, now or later. At the very least, it offers you contacts that can refer you to contractors when you need one.
- Optimize your website: SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is one of the most powerful marketing tools an investor can have. The funny part is, the majority of people don’t understand the basic mechanics of optimizing their website for search results, which will ultimately lead to more leads than you can imagine. Understanding what and how to do this is critical. And if you don’t want to spend the time and energy learning how, find someone that can do it for you.
- Start a referral program: The best form of real estate marketing is word-of-mouth, and starting a referral program can help to motivate current clients with incentives to promote you to those they know. Find out what is legally allowed to be done and implement it. This is an effective and fast way to grow your business today!
- World-class customer service: Make sure that every contact and every client that you work with has as positive an experience as possible. Sometimes it’s not possible, but almost all the time it is possible. If you give them a great experience working with you, they’ll refer others or at least be a referral if and when you need one.
Believe it or not, we’ve got more! If interested in some online opportunities, then check out part 2 of our series on how to generate leads for real estate investors! We’re sure you’ll find at least one new idea to incorporate into your strategy.
Interested in getting financing quickly for your next loan? If you would like to learn more about how you can quickly and easily qualify, contact us now. At Loan Ranger Capital, we’d love to speak with you about your real estate goals and objectives! Let’s see how we can help you starting TODAY!