Real Estate Investing - Plan for Selling - Or, lack thereof

Thank you, Elaine, for your comments about my plan.

In an earlier post I wrote about my plan of action to get started in Real Estate. Elaine pointed out that I did not list a plan for selling my houses after I find the deals and get the deed. I must admit this area is a little murkier than my marketing plan.

My current plan is to sell houses on Ebay as agreement-for-deed or lease-option deals. This has worked very well for Drew Perry. I attended I conference where he taught his techniques for selling houses on an Ebay auction in as little as 7 days. The process seems simple and fast. There is some risks. Drew has found that some people make back out after winning the auction and he has to re-list.

I'm also planning to advertise locally with neighborhood signs to increase local interest in the house. All signs will have a selling website name that links to my Ebay auction(s). Drew even suggested buying a seperate domain name for each house: www.112MainSt.com.

I hope that selling on Ebay is as easy for me as it has been for Drew. If it is not, I will have to learn some new skills quickly. With that said, I have decided to begin to find and make deals NOW. I do not have all the skills I need to succeed in this business, but I will learn as I go. I don't want to make the mistake of thinking that I need to have a perfect plan before I start to act. So, I'm jumping in with both feet, not yet knowing where I'm going to land. Wish me luck!

Real Estate Investing - Marketing Campaign

I started in a coaching program with Lou Brown's organization about 6 weeks ago (http://coachingforlifestyle.com). In this program I have teleconferences every other week, and I have email access to experienced real estate investors so that I can ask questions, have them review deals, etc. The program has been a great education.

I recently wrote an email asking to my coaches asking for feedback on the marketing plan I detailed in my last post. Tim Winders, on of the coaches, gave me positive feedback on the plan. He said that his most succesful marketing plan when first starting out was to subscribe to a larger website that sells the rights to all leads they receive in specific counties for a subscription fee. He specifically used www.ibuyhouses.biz. He then hung 100 bandit signs on telephone polls in the neighborhoods he was working with short copy (IBuyHouses.biz, Fast Close, and phone#).

This is a great plan. The signs grab people attention and thereby drive traffic to the website. The website begins to establish credibility, encourages a customer to act, and collects initial information on leads.

I'm going to enact this plan using my current website. My only concern is that my copy is not good enough. But we shall see. One advantage to using my own website is that I will have instant access to all stats: most importantly, site traffic and conversion rates.

I will make the following signs in neon colors, all of which will work together to make a single message "we can buy houses fast in any situation":

We buy houses
3WeeksOrLess.com
888-999-000

Facing foreclosure?
We can help!
3WeeksOrLess.com
888-999-000

Real Estate Listing
Expired?
Sell to us!
3WeeksOrLess.com
888-999-000

Kiss Realtors Fees
Goodbye!
3WeeksOrLess.com
888-999-000

House Need Repairs?
Sell Now!
3WeeksOrLess.com
888-999-000

I also will implement the other aspects of my campaign: car signs, newspaper adds, business cards.

I think this is going to work. I'm getting excited about implementing the plan.