| Where Are The Deals In Real Estate? |
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| Written by Hanh Brown | |||
 One of the ways to be considered as a successful real estate professional or an investor is to be a problem solver for your customers. Arming yourself with all the information you can absorb, experiencing and taking advantage of every opportunity to connect with new resources and potential customers, the more you are able to solve problems. You can also make yourself more available to people if you specialize in a particular problem solving area so they come to you for help rather then others that may be jacks of all trades. Attracting these people to your door first is a key element in self-marketing.
Decide your specialty; design a method that helps you zero in on your target audience and follow-up with a good method of attracting this target to you through the affective media vehicle. Some examples of areas of expertise may be condos, vacation properties, single-family homes, apartments for up to four families, commercial and industrial avenues, farms, raw land, etc. Locating opportunities in the above areas could involve a multitude of avenues. Let's explore some of them: Houses that have been vacated and/or tagged by the city for abandonment are good sources but not easy to get to the owners as they are often in line for foreclosure or probate. Talking to neighbors and checking property records by letter or phone may be your only avenue to getting the word out about your services. Always include leaving your card on the door just incase someone should see it. How about looking at local bulletin boards and picking up small paper publications for ads to see just what is being sold? Maybe advertising yourself in those small papers to try and head off those people that need your help before they tell the other agents about their plans would be good strategy. Speaking of foreclosures, look in the local papers for the auctions and sheriff sales and be sure to show up during bad weather as you might be the only one bidding. That guarantees a low bid for you as there are no limits up or down at these auctions. When you are checking these notices out keep a heads up on garage and estate sales and ask a lot of questions about who is planning on moving in the near future. Drop your card everywhere and print incentives on them such as bonuses to those that give you the initial listing, selling or buying lead. Be sure to tell other agents that you will take all their difficult buyers and expired listings for a small referral fee back to them if you end up making a sale. Attach several to flyers that could easily be seen in public places and take advantage of free advertising on bulletin boards. Making yourself user friendly to local mortgage lenders is another avenue for free advertising of yourself. They are always looking for someone to call on that has a special expertise and yours could be foreclosures. Letting them know your financial situation, a good one I hope, gives the lenders someone to call to move an empty property quickly as time is money to the lending institutions. Here's a tip, if you should see a steal deal that isn't in your field of interest, rap it up and sell it to someone who would like it. Keeping your eyes open for stressed sales of any kind can be future money in your pocket. Remember, everything is for sale for the right price. Becoming a member of different organizations and clubs that make you visible to potential clients and customers can be very beneficial for gaining more contacts. While you're at it, enlist people to spread your card around for you, and do not overlook other persons of interest such as property managers, moving companies, mailmen, lawn keepers, relatives, and even utility company personnel, don't forget anyone of interest. When you are better known and have a little more money to invest in advertising yourself, use the medias, such as Intenet, TV, radio to spread your name around the nation and community. When your are planning on making an offer on a real deal, low ball at least 25% beneath the asking price to give yourself room to negotiate. As a matter of practice, make several low ball offers and be ready to walk away. They may look you up later when they are tired of waiting the market out. You have nothing to lose by trying and a good deal to win. Keep in mind when your offering a deal that it should be easy to understand but still contain a contingency to protect yourself legally. Details can always be worked out later. The idea is to lock the deal in now! Now that you have some of the basics of marketing yourself, just keep a few more things in mind; Offering someone in help without any gratuity, its magic will go a long ways and they will remember who assisted them in the sale. When you please a customer, they remember you forever, when you displease them, they tell everyone who will listen.
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