Joe:      All right. Hey, everybody. Welcome again to another episode of Real Estate Investing Mastery Podcast. This is our Brilliant at the Basics series. I'm Joe McCall. I'm with Peter Vekselman. Peter, how are you?

Peter: I'm great. Thanks Joe.

Joe:      Awesome. Listen, the last two episodes that we just recorded, that you've recently listened to, we talked about what Peter were to do if you were to start all over. And, what I would do if I was to start all over. So, go check those out! This podcast series is sponsored. We have a sponsor. It's sponsored by our book, FreeBasicBook.com. FreeBasicBook.com. It's called “Brilliant at the Basics.” You know, this is a real simple book. It's not some big voluminous epic book about, like the million different ways you can make money in real estate. It's just about keeping things simple and basic foundational. And, that's how we've had success in our business.

I was just in Atlanta a couple of weeks ago with Peter, and there's nothing complicated about his business. He's got a bunch of people running around doing deals. He's doing literally about a deal a day, if you average it out over the month. And, it's just crazy! But, if you look at the numbers and you look at how he's doing the deals, he's doing the same thing everybody else does. He's just taking it up to another level. He's doing more of it. He's more consistent with it. So, on this episode, one of the things that was a common threat and what Peter and I were talking about in the last two episodes was finding the cash buyers. You got to find out where the money is.

And so, we're going to talk in this episode briefly about our favorite ways to find cash buyers. I'm going to mention my three, and Peter's going to talk about his three. Favorite ways to find cash buyers. And, this is really simple. You don't have to complicate it. You don't spend a ton of money on marketing, and websites, and business cards. And you know, it's really, really simple. So Peter, why don't I? Why don't you take the first three? And then, I'll take the second three. How about that?

Peter: Absolutely! You know, what I like about my three, which is probably better than your three…

Joe:      Right.

Peter: …Is that mine are not one and done. Meaning, there's some things out there that you do. You do it one time. You extract whatever you can, and you're done. What we utilize to build our cash buyers databases was, are things we can do literally on an ongoing basis. And, we do them on an ongoing basis. And, every couple of weeks when you do this, it's going to yield more and more results. So, one of our favorite, because it's the biggest thing out there is just basically search engines like Google. So, what you do is this. A couple step process. Number one, sit down and come up with as many terms that have anything to do with either real estate investing or real investor words that you can. So, these are terms like “Find real estate investors.” “Real estate cash buyers.” “Invest in REOs.” “Buy commercial real estate.” “Buy storage units.” “Invest in apartment building.” So literally, what you're doing is, you're brainstorming. You're coming up with about 30 to 50 terms. Again, anything you do with either investing or investors.

Then, you go to search engines like Google, and you can start googling these terms. Now, here's the key. On the end of every term, you want to put the city that you live in. Obviously, I'm in Atlanta. So for me, it will be like “Find real estate investors Atlanta Georgia.” You know, “We buy houses Atlanta Georgia.” “Invest in real estate Atlanta Georgia.” And then, all… And by doing that, the city… What it does is the grounds of Google around you. Because obviously, you want to build a database of local people first. And, the grounds it… Now, I'm not telling you anything you don't know not. In the result, you're going to see is going to be an investor. You're going to see mortgage companies. You're going to see real estate agents. For this exercise, you keep those out. You just focus out of your investing or investors. So, that's how we utilize Google.

Craigslist… I mean Craigslist literally could be used on an ongoing date. You don't have to even wait weeks to do it. You can do it every single day. You're going to your city. Go to “Real estate for sale.” You're going to the dropdown of “For sale by owner.” And then, in the search bar, you're using again the key terms like “investor,” or “motivated seller,” or “investment properties,” or “fixer-upper,” right in the search term of Craigslist. And, what you're going to see is all the ads of people that are selling, obviously. Obviously, selling their investment properties. You're going to come up. While we could make an assumption, if someone is selling an investment property, they got to be an investor, right? I mean, because who else even owns investment properties to sell? Other than investors. So, all of those automatically become candidates.

Local REIA clubs… I mean, I don't care what part of the country are you in. There's probably a REIA club or real estate investment organization within 50 or 60 miles of you. In most areas, it's a lot closer. Even in Atlanta, we got dozen or so of them all over the place. So, what you're doing… Just Google for some local REIA clubs. And, for those of you that don't know, they're just organizations. Almost every city in town has some. They were run by investors for investors. And really, there's two purposes behind them: a networking purpose and an educational purpose. So, get a hold of your local REIA clubs and even their subgroups, and find out when and where they meet. I think all of us need to have them in our calendars. I know it's impossible to go to all of them. But, whenever you can and you're available, look at your calendar and pop on over there. And, the reality is… Even if you're only there for five or ten minutes for the networking piece. But, it's a great place to shake some hands, meet some people, grab some business cards, add them to your database. Those… Those are all investors. Again, they're ongoing. And, you're getting new investors there all the time. So, those three sources… We love them. We use them on an ongoing basis. What you got, Joe?

Joe:      Well. You know, it's interesting. You just talked about REIA clubs. It reminded me of a friend of mine. He's a good friend of mine. So, I can make fun of him. [Chuckles] Here in St. Louis, I met a guy that… Yeah, he doesn't look like an investor. I mean like, “Common!” I was wondering like, “Okay. He's very ambitious. He's hungry. But, will people going to take him seriously?” [Laughs] I feel bad for even saying that. But, “Will people going to take him seriously? Come on now!” But, what did he start doing? He had started going to every real estate investment club in the St. Louis area, and just started networking with people. He's a very sociable guy. And pretty soon, he's getting other people to bring him deals. He's getting other people to sell his deals. And, he's just a master networker, right? So, there's a lot of power and truth into what you said.

All right. So, related to what you're talking about… Going to Craigslist, you are mentioning going to “For sale by owners.” I like to go to the landlords as well, and find the people that are advertising rental properties. And, you can find the ones that are in the neighborhoods that you're wanting to focus on. But, find the landlords who are advertising rental properties, and just call them up. Say, “Hey, are you looking for more deals, or are in the market to buy more properties? I've got some just like this, with some really good numbers. All right? Just talk to them and make a conversation. Listen, if you're a beginning rookie too, don't be afraid to say that! You don't have to pretend to be like you're some giant rock star. Just say, “Hey, you know what? I'm new in the business here. I'm just starting to make some phone calls and meet some other investors. I have find deals like this. Are you looking for more properties, or are in the market to buy more deals?” And, you'll make some great contact with landlords. The other thing you can do, in relation to that is drive around looking in the neighborhoods that you're targeting, and find the rental signs in the yard, and call those landlords up. Call those property managers. That is number one.

Number two… I love bandit signs for finding buyers. I don't like them much for finding sellers. But, for finding buyers, they're fantastic. So, if you've got an area where you get a lot of properties, or you know it's a hot area… One of the things I recommend, and I have this on a previous “Brilliant at the Basics” series… I show you where to find the best zip codes. You go into ListSource, and you can download all of the last investor… All the last transactions. And, sort them from high to low, and see the top zip codes where most of the activity is. Drive those zip codes, okay? Because there's a lot of investors out there buying properties. And, put out some signs. Something real simple like, “$20,000 foreclosure. All cash, as-is. Call now,” okay?

Joe:      Or, if you don't want to really… If you don't want to advertise a deal, you could say something along the lines of, “I have… If you have cash, I have deals. Call this number,” okay? You're putting signs out there looking for investors. And the other thing I'll say in relation to signs is… If you have a property under contract, you've got to always, always put signs out in the neighborhood advertising that specific house. Because, you're going to get buyers from that. And, a lot of times, you'll find local buyers that live in the neighborhood that aren't maybe investors, but they're wanting to buy a home for their family member, or they’re wanting to invest in some properties close to where they live.

And then finally, one of the best ways to find cash buyers… Once you have property under contract, is by sending… I call them “motivated seller letters.” To the nearby investors who bought properties in that zip code in the last few months. So, it's a… You have a property at 123 Main Street and this certain zip code. And, you have it under contract. You've got a month to find a buyer. One of the first things you should do is write this… Handwrite this motivated letter that says, “Hey, help! I own this property at 123 Main Street and I've got to sell it now!” Okay? If it was listed with a realtor, you could say, “I have it listed with a realtor, and I've had zero interest. The taxes are paid. The title is clear. And, I need this thing sold today!” Underline it. So, you're writing this letter as if you're a desperate motivated seller, and you are! You've got to sell this thing, right? “Call me right now! Drive by it. Call me! I've got to get this thing sold today!” and underline it. And then, handwrite it, and send that to every investor.

In fact, the guy I learned this from. What he does. He told me this. He takes the letter and he actually crumples it up. And then, folds it, open it… And then, folds it back and puts it into the hand-addressed envelope with a live stamp, and mails it. I'm not kidding! Every time I've done that, I've gotten into 20 to 30% response rate. Many times, 30 to 40. But, a 30% response rate on those letters, which is just phenomenal. And, you're sending that letter out, and if anything, they may not be interested in that property. But, you get them on the phone. You talk to them, and find out what they are interested in.

So, those are the six things. Just to summarize, I wrote them down: Google. Go to Craigslist and look up the “For sale by owners,” that investors are advertising, and the landlords. Go to REIA clubs. Bandit signs. Advertising for buyers. And, sending out these motivated seller letters to recent cash buyers. I'm telling you guys. If you do that, finding buyers is not going to be an issue. And, I will say this finally to end this. Never stop doing that! It's really, really important that you always are keeping on marketing for buyers. Wouldn't you agree to that, Peter?

Peter: No. Absolutely! This is something you can't have enough of. I mean, to this day, there is not a day that doesn't go by that here on my office, I don't get. This is just from the last two days. These get put on my desk by new investors that come into our world, and we process them. So, no matter what. I don't care if you're doing your first deal, or if you're doing your over thousands of deals. This is the goose that lays the golden egg. Absolutely critical!

Joe:      I will say this too. If you have a team… If you have a… If you're starting to grow your business and you have an acquisitions team, this is the one of the last things that you need to outsource or give to somebody else. You need to have these relationships with these buyers yourself. Because, they are the ones that have the money, and you need to get to know them. You need to take them out for coffee. Have them over into your office. Those cash buyers are really, really critical and important relationships you need to nurture. Because, these are guys that are going… Again, these are guys that have the money who are going to buy your deals.

Very good! I like this episode. It's one of my favorites. [Chuckles] Listen, guys. Go to FreeBasicBook.com to get our book, “Brilliant at the Basics.” FreeBasicBook.com. It's free. We just ask you to pay shipping and handling. We'll get it out to you. And, it takes about a week or two to get the actual book. But, you can get a PDF version of the book right away. You'll also get the videos that Peter and I did to where we've made the book from. And, we also have an extra book that I give away in that called “Flipping Houses While on Vacation.” That's a really cool book that you're going to get a lot out of! The reason why Peter and I are doing this guys is we want to grow and expand our business. We want to duplicate our business model and market it all over the country. And, if you want more information on how to work with us one-on-one, personally work with us, have our team build your systems for you, have our virtual assistants do your marketing for you, and do all your follow-up for you… There's nothing else like this out there. Go to PeterandJoe.com, PeterandJoe.com, to get more information and apply.

Joe:      We don't work with everybody. All right? So, thanks Peter! I sure appreciate it.

Peter: I'm good! Thanks Joe.

Joe:      See you guys! Buh-bye.