So, you have just decided to start your real estate investing business and realize that actively putting out marketing to find motivated sellers is going to get you better deals and more flexible sellers than just calling on houses listed in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) or For Sale By Owner (FSBO). Congratulations! That's an important realization and it is going to make your life as an investor much easier.

One quick and relatively low cost method of marketing to find motivated sellers is to use classified ads.

There are a few things that you need to know about using classified ads as a means of finding motivated sellers.

Volume of Motivated Seller Calls

First, you will probably not be overwhelmed with calls from a single classified ad, but it is a relatively inexpensive method of generating some calls from motivated sellers.

One Step or Two Step

Since classified ads are cost effective only when you keep them small, you usually can not get your full marketing message out in the classified ad itself. So, classified ads require two steps to get your full marketing message to your potential sellers: the first step is the classified ad. The second step is an automated way for the seller to get your full marketing message before contacting your directly.

With classified ads I tend to use either a 24 hour recorded information line or both a 24 hour recorded information line and my website.

On my 24 hour recorded information line, the seller can hear me explain all the benefits I can offer them for selling their house to me. My message is a about 5 minutes long and once they have listened to it, they know my full marketing message and are, at that point, ready to talk to me live. So, at the end of the recorded message I give them a way to talk to someone live.

On my website, I have a type out version of my entire marketing message and a means for sellers to contact me directly.

Using two steps significantly cuts down on the number of uninterested callers, gives all potential sellers an opportunity to get more information without the discomfort of having to talk to someone live before they have pre-disposed to doing business with me based on the benefits I explain in the recorded message or on my website.

Which newspaper classifieds to advertise in?

At times, I am asked whether people should advertise in a newspaper where they will be the only investor buying houses. I suggest you test that ad and measure the number of calls and ultimately the number of houses you buy compared to the amount you spent on that one ad. Then, you will need to look at those numbers compared to your other marketing and see how effective it us.

However, my own testing has shown that most times, you want to go where the motivated sellers are already looking and advertise where there are other investors advertising that they buy homes. While you might think that being the only one advertising in a particular newspaper is like having a monopoly, it's like having a quick oil change station at the South Pole... you are the only one there, but there are not many people looking to have their oil changed at the South Pole.

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