Have you ever heard people say that "it's not what you know, it's WHO you know that counts"? Well, in the real estate investing arena this can many times be absolutely true when it comes to learning how to find good real estate deals. Take a few moments and plan out your strategy for finding great real estate investments by gaining the attention, cooperation and loyalty of integral pieces to the real estate investing puzzle: the people you never talk to that you see every single day. These people hold the keys to your fortune (even if they drive a garbage truck).
The knowledge and inside information of who needs what, who has what, and who's looking for what, that lies untapped in the head of every single person you meet, and so you can find motivated sellers by networking. You can find investors and private lenders by networking. You can find tenants by networking. You can absolutely have others help you find property by word of mouth- and doing all these things every day can make you a very rich investor.
As you're mapping out your winning strategy for real estate investing, keep this in mind: in the real estate business, just like in life, your positive and strong relationships with other people are the greatest assets you can ever have. Thus, networking is an extremely important part of enhancing your investing success.
Networking with like-minded individuals, other investors and real estate professionals who can help you on your journey to success can help investors like you and I locate some great deals. However, it's networking with people NOT in the real estate business that can often bear the BEST fruit, the very best deals available.
How to Find Good Real Estate Deals - Overlooked People Resources
Why? Many times, we can learn about these great deals before anyone else- simply by being the ear on the receiving end of someone who wants to do us a favor (or return one). By being the person among someone's group of friends, family, acquaintances, or co-workers who is known to them as the "go-to-guy" to solve problems in real estate- and by making it worth that person's while to give you the information you need. (That's very important!)
This person could be ANYONE we meet, even if we just met them TODAY.
It's true, when it comes to finding great real estate investments; the best deals are never listed. Not on the MLS. Not in a FSBO magazine. Not on a website somewhere. No, the best deals are often never listed at all. In fact, a mentor of mine made famous the phrase, "if it's on a list, the deal doesn't exist". No, a true deal is something few people are going to know about (and the best is one where none who know about it know how to or are prepared to act on it). You want to be one of those few people who know!
Networking can yield some surprisingly fantastic results as connections are made with other movers and shakers and people in the know and believe me when I say that relationships can be forged in some unlikely place- and with some unlikely people.
Even your garbage man can be a great person to network with, when you're looking for great potential real estate deals. In fact, with a few garbage men on your bird-dog team you can find motivated sellers by networking all month long, just by being on the receiving end from information they might have that others don't (and compensating them for it legally- see your attorney).
Think about it a second and you'll realize why this makes so much sense. Do you see it?
In fact, right now I'm willing to bet that most of us (myself included) MISS OUT on most of the GREAT deals the universe has put within our grasp, simply because we do not have the eyes to see the message or the ears to hear the messenger or the voice to ask the right questions of the right person at the very moment we have been given the free opportunity to reach out and grab it.
Find Property by Word of Mouth & Networking
Many people fail to realize that the man or woman on the train next to you, the checkout girl at the local supermarket, or that guy at the gym who seems like he's trying to squat himself to death very well might hold the key to their investing dreams. They might have the knowledge of a potential deal that no one else does.
And all we have to do is ASK.
And you know what? Chances are two things are happening in this situation you and I miss out on almost every single day.
One, these folks have NO IDEA how VALUABLE the information they have is. They themselves don't have the specialized knowledge you do (they aren't real estate investors after all) to even SEE the deal, or make profits doing the deal, or the right words to use in getting the investor, or the resources in buying the house, or the need for renting the house...but they sure can give you all the information YOU need to do it.
Two, we never find out that information because we never think to ASK! We will only know for sure how many deals we have been missing out on if we take the critical first step to engage everyone we come into contact with a conversation, asking who they might know that needs "X", who has "Y", who is looking for "Z".
Who do you know looking to rent?
Who do you know maybe wants to sell their house?
Do you know anyone looking to invest money in real estate?
Etc
Don't believe me about the fact that you're missing a deal EVERY SINGLE DAY?
Then it's time for a demonstration of how to find good real estate deals, ok?
Let's take one simple example, shall we? Let's say for instance that you live in Atlanta and you're a pre-foreclosure investor, meaning you buy the homes from sellers who are behind on their mortgage and want out before their home gets foreclosed on and their credit is ruined. People will tell you that these deals are hard to find and that there is a lot of competition for them. They'd be right only if YOU believed THEM.
In fact, while these deals aren't EASY to find. It CAN be SIMPLE to find property by word of mouth and networking.
Here's how.
Open up your mind to the possibilities that people all around you know about these deals.
If I told you that 1 in 54 houses in Atlanta were going to foreclose in the next 12 months, what would that mean to you?
1 in 54!
That's tens of thousands of potential pre-foreclosure deals for this example investor to find.
Is the best way to find motivated sellers by networking?
Maybe, maybe not. In a large city like Atlanta, you might see a motivated seller prompted to call from a billboard, a Yellow Pages ad, a TV commercial, from one of the hundreds of thousands if not millions of pieces of direct mail daily dropped in the area- or you could see that same call generated by simple word of mouth. Simple, cheap, effective word of mouth.
And each of those people going through foreclosure will know an average of 300 friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances, as the statistics of human relations tell us.
Do you think one of them might be known by the man or woman on the train next to you, the checkout girl at the local supermarket, or that guy at the gym who seems like he's trying to squat himself to death?
Do you think your garbage man might know one of them?
Do you think they might tell you what you need to know or who you need to talk with, if you give them an incentive to do so?
Yes and Yes.
Are you beginning to see what I'm talking about now?
About how you can be out there with a force of people finding great real estate investments for you?
Talk to everyone!
And give them a reason to tell you who they know who can use your services.
