Investor Tips for Short Sales

	Devon Ferdinand
	Devon M. Ferdinand, CEO	Tweet

Investor Tips for Short Sales

The lifeblood of any business is to get people to raise their hands and say “I want your service!” In Short sales investing you need to gain the trust of the people who are in a position to sell you their house. We all recognize that the Lis Pendens list is a great place to shop for leads. We all use it. So how do you make sure that you are the one that gets the phone call? By standing out!

Although we all do the same thing, we have to distinguish ourselves from our competitors, and yes we all have competitors. We have to give people a reason to believe that we are better suited than anyone else to help them. Many people do this by telling their story. Tell people why you got into the business. What makes you different (more caring, more capable, etc.) then all of the other people who do what you do. Make sure that you make it all about your prospect.

When sending direct mail, remember that the letter content is not the first thing that people see. Before they get to the content you have to get them to open up the letter. I have seen people make their direct mail look like wedding invitations, complete with an appropriate stamp. I have seen people use outlandish colored envelops. One of the things that I would avoid is to put a message on the outside. This is a clue that you are trying to sell something. Our letters are sent in Air Mail envelops and are hand addressed. This works because people have no preconceived notion as to what is in the envelope, so curiosity gets the better of them.
Converting Leads into Homes Under Contract

You can’t worry about getting a good price from the bank until you have a house under contract. As wholesalers we have called on many of our competitors. It is amazing how long it can take to get calls back from people who advertise on the Internet. If someone has taken the time to call you, call them back. That doesn’t mean that you have to sit on top of your phone every minute of the day. It means that you should be calling people back within 24 hours of receiving their call (or responding to an Internet lead within 24 hours).

Most people who respond to you want an answer NOW. We live in an age where instant response is what people are taught to expect. If you give people what they expect, you have gone a long way towards building their confidence in you. More opportunities are lost due to the lack of timely response … or even lack of response at all.

If you aren’t going to respond, then why did you market to this person? Even if a person is unqualified for your offer, they know and come into contact with many people through the course of a day, week or month. If you make a positive impression on them, and ask for it, they might lead you to their friends who would make a better opportunity for you.

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