Finding Money in Your Database

Veteran Canadian Investor, Gord Lemon says the money is in the list and explains why

Successful marketers state over and over their biggest source of revenue is not based on their products or services, but in their lists. The most successful businesses understand the needs of the public, then parley those needs into sales that correspond to their particular product or service. In other words, each business creates their own “niche” clientele to which they sell their wares.

In the same way, real estate investors need to understand the needs of their niche clientele based on what “product” is being sold. The idea is to be able to make money from many facets of real estate, not just in owning the or a deal. By becoming a deal-maker and matching properties to specific end users or buyers, you can increase your revenue stream by availing yourself for participation in many more deals.

A wholesale deal, a renovation, a rental unit, a rent-to-own, or a commercial deal will each possess a different end user with a unique need. Once we understand the need, it is much easier to find a targeted product or in our case, a property to fulfill that need.

Let’s begin by creating a list of participants and how to qualify and categorize each renting, selling and buying groups accordingly:

As you build these lists you will notice how different categories will “dovetail” into servicing each other. The following are just a couple of examples to give you an idea of building and categorizing your lists and making them work together.

For instance, to procure a new tenant, many landlords wait until there is a vacancy before advertising for someone to fill that vacant unit. We can take a tip from larger apartment complexes that often have a sign on their buildings: “Spacious 1, 2 and 3 bedroom units available.” When I was young, I used to think these places must be hard to rent because the signs never came down. In actual fact, when you call there is often no vacancies, but they are adding you to their tenant list so when an apartment is coming available they call the interested prospects.

For us to find a tenant, we can also advertise before we have a property in order to qualify what and where the demand is and only then find a property to meet that need. Advertising can be done in a similar fashion to the apartment example above and as calls come in, compile lists of pre-qualified prospects.

Once you receive enough demand for a particular area and property type, you can then locate that property, call these contacts to fill the units and confidently purchase the income-producing property. You can utilize other categories on your lists by putting the property under contract and assigning that property, with the pre-screened tenants, to a pre-screened investor who wants turnkey, cash-flowing rental properties.

A similar process can be done with a rent-to-own program. An ad like: “You CAN Afford Your Dream Home Today…ask about our program,” will get calls. Once you have some pre-qualified tenant/buyers, you can find the right property for purchase. As a deal-maker, you also have the possibility to bring in an investor on your list as an assignee or joint-venture partner.

A third example may be to find a distressed property in need of a facelift. Put this property under contract and assign this property to an investor on your list who is a renovator as a wholesale deal. You could also fix the property up to rent-ready status, rent it out or lease option it to corresponding candidates on your list, or resell the rented property to a retail investor who likes turnkey, cash-flowing property.

You can build your lists through the plethora of advertising mediums available as well as through personal contacts, networking and referrals into a powerful network. The more real estate education you have, the more ways you can creatively “spin” a deal to your list and the more money you will make.

The bottom line is the bigger and more qualified your lists become, the bigger your bank account. To quote “The Donald”: “Your net worth will always be in direct proportion to your Network.”

Excerpt from Canadian Real Estate Wealth Magazine

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