The ONE HACK Every House Flipper and Wholesaler Should Know
You don’t have to spend money to find motivated sellers.
(There, I said it.)
In fact, you rarely have to lean on ad spend at all, especially if you are just starting out. Plus, you likely don’t have the money to spend or simply don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on direct mail, Facebook Ads, or pay per lead schemes.
That’s why you’re here — and that’s also why I’m about to share my tried and true method with you for turning houses into cash through organically-sourced motivated sellers.
Get ready and grab your keys!
Driving For Dollars (With a Twist)
If you’ve been around, you’re familiar with the term and concept of driving for dollars. After all, it’s a pretty reliable method for finding motivated sellers in your area. You may be tempted to walk up to the porch and start pitching…which we don’t recommend. People, especially now, don’t enjoy that type of solicitation at all — and you’re likely to upset your homeowner rather than upsell them.
Then there’s the way that’s plastered all over the internet: driving around and listing the addresses of the most run-down properties you can find, and then skip trace your list. This is expensive, and requires you to drive for hours. Not exactly ideal for the moderate-to-low ROI this can bring in.
Third time’s the charm, right? I found a way that’s gotten me the highest level of ROI I’ve seen in years, and can do the very same for you.
Leave a handwritten note (important) at the door with your name and phone number. I’ll get to what goes ON the note in a minute, but it’s all about what you write and how you leave it.
How to Choose Your Neighborhood
Wholesaling isn’t limited to a specific area. However, there are hacks to devise a demographic profile and framework that you can use to make your work more time-efficient.
Here’s my starter kit of tips to help make your canvassing efforts as effective as possible:
- Always stick to the middle. Don’t target luxury homes, and don’t pick the worst houses in the worst neighborhoods. Shoot for the middle ground as much as possible.
- Cookie cutter houses work best. Target homes that a modern family may need. Likely 2-4 bedroom homes that are between 1,000-2,000 square feet.
- Age matters. Don’t go into a newer development with homes less than 10 years old. Target neighborhoods with houses built 30+ years ago.
Cues To Help You Choose
Looks can be deceiving but in this case, they can help you to pick the perfect houses for wholesaling. Try to look for the most tired, ugly-looking house that you can find. Cues to help you choose include:
- Crusty or damaged paint
- Roof damage
- Barred windows
- Trash in the yard
- Little to no landscaping
- Dead landscaping
The rule here is that the less curb appeal that your property has, the better off you will be.
The Note (And Other Action Steps)
Remember how I mentioned above that I would get more into what your note should have in it to win over the hearts of your homeowners?
Here it is.
(But first, grab a stack of post-it notes and a pen. Yellow works best. Don’t ask me why!)
Your note should read:
“Hey, it’s (your name). I have a quick question for you. Call/text me when you have a chance. 000-555-0505.”
The thing here is that you want to protect your information as much as possible. Rather than use your real cell number, try getting a free number from Google Voice. You can access it in seconds via their app. If that’s not your thing, there are a lot of other resources that can get you a secondary phone number in minutes.
And…that’s it.
It really is that simple.
Use your first name, stick the note on the door, and wait for that phone to ring.
After you leave the note, hop back into your car and write down the address. You can do this manually (for free!) or invest in an app like Deal Machine to automate the process for you. You’ll want to make capturing these addresses a priority so that we can skip trace or mail to them later.
After you do that, keep driving around the neighborhood. The goal is to canvas about 100 houses and yield a 9-10 “Post-it note” rate. You’ll want to find ten ugly houses in that bunch that are perfect targets for wholesaling.
Ideally, you’ll want 100 suitable houses in a week. I know that sounds like a lot – but I have left 100+ notes in a day (that was a lot of sticky notes!) and did that in a single driving expedition. You can do it.
One more thing.
Many times, when you read up on driving for dollars, you’ll be told to be more direct with the message on that note. Something along the lines of:
Do you want to sell your home?
I want to buy your home. Call me.
While this does work, you’ll get a very low response rate.
Vagueness piques curiosity, and will yield you far more phone calls.
Not everyone who calls you will want to sell. You’ll often get some less-than-kind responses. Get used to it. Wholesaling is sales, and you face lots of rejection in sales. But, you WILL get a lot more people on the phone who can give you valuable information about the houses you are targeting.
You won’t always get the owner. Sometimes it will be a tenant or another family member. That’s okay too. Ask for the homeowner’s contact info and if they have any plans to sell. You would be surprised how much information you might get! This also helps you develop a strategic follow up campaign.
After all, 90% of sales come from follow up.
Tired of Waiting for Phone Calls?
You’ll get quite a few phone calls using the sticky note method. But time is of the essence, and you may not want to wait by the phone. I get it, I’m the same way!
Here’s how you can start converting leads into deals, ASAP.
Find the homeowners name by typing in the address into https://bsaonline.com/MunicipalDirectory and then use https://www.truepeoplesearch.com/ to skip trace them for free.
It’ll give you potential phone numbers of prospects so that you can directly call them.
Also, you can amplify your efforts while you’re driving for dollars by noting the worst of the worst houses. Call these first and skip trace them, as there is a higher probability of a great deal.
Left The Notes? Here’s Your Next Step
The handwritten notes that you just left will have your phone ringing off of the line soon. Texts are great too, and are more comfortable for those who are contacting you for the first time.
If you get a cold call back, here’s what you say:
“Are you the owner of 123 Vanilla Court?”
Yes.
“Great! Are you interested in selling that house?”
If they say no, don’t prod them. If they say yes, ask the 5 key questions below:
“Why are you looking to sell the property?”
“What is the condition of the property?”
“When would you like to sell it?”
“What price would you like to sell it for?”
“Can I schedule a time to see the house?”
That’s it! Get as much information as possible and schedule an appointment to see the house.
If you are new to this business I highly recommend you get a copy of my Step-by-Step Guide to Getting Your First Wholesale Deal in 30 Days Or Less (Without Spending Money)
To Your Success,
Ryan D.