What can a comic book hero teach us about buying and selling more properties using the web?

The Internet (or web as I will call it in this article) is really an amazing invention. In the case of the Internet, the web-like design allows communications to take place even if one of the hubs or nodes is not functioning. You can see the value of something like this for a country worried about the impact of a nuclear disaster and the threat it would pose to communications.

If you look at the typical layout of the Internet (in line form) from above the U.S. (and even the world) it does indeed look like a web. The web is the network connections. Remember the word network because I will come back to it in a few minutes.

But, the word “web” can be applied to Real Estate Investors and Professionals in some very creative and out-of-the-box ways.

Just about all spiders create webs, but often for different reasons. Some such as orb-builders create beautiful designs to capture creatures that jump and fly. Others have ground-based webs with tunnels. Others live underground and line their homes with them. They use them to house their young, create homes, wrap up food, travel with the wind, climb and descend, and the list goes on. I find them fascinating creatures.

So what can Spiderman and webs teach us about our Real Estate Business?

Let’s take a look at how many different types of “webs” we can use to profit in Real Estate.

The Website—Just about everyone is familiar with websites these days. It is a spot on the web that people can reach for all sorts of information. Perhaps you as a Real Estate Investor or Professional even have one. It is open 24 hours every day of the year, offers information, pictures, and more. Just like a spider, you must have at least a basic understanding of how to use it to help your business succeed. Sadly, very few professionals really understand what it can do for their business and their efforts are equivalent to putting a sign in the yard and hoping someone accidentally drives (or surfs) by.

Now take Spiderman here, our red, white, and blue, two-legged acrobatic arachnid.

Spidey uses his web a bit differently. He has the unique ability to PROJECT his web. Sure, you have watched him shooting it out. What happens? Well, it STICKS to something of course and he can then do all sorts of things. He can swing down a busy street, wrap up some people and drag them to him, and much more. Do folks know he has a web? Sure, everyone does because he is constantly shooting it out for one reason or another. Spiderman markets his abilities very well!

The question is: Are you marketing your abilities well?

Most of the gurus out there are usually trying to get you to buy their system of acquiring properties. Now there is nothing wrong with this. If you looked in my closet, you would find many books, courses, and tape sets that I have purchased over the years. Have I gained a lot of knowledge from some of these systems? Sure—without a doubt!

PROJECT and be ACTIVE! = Active Projection--it applies to buying and selling.

One popular guru uses regular mail to send postcards to everyone in a certain neighborhood that he wants to purchases houses in.

Another guru puts signs up at all busy intersections with his phone number stating that he buys houses for cash in less than 48 hours. (You see these all the time and perhaps you have put some of these signs up yourself.) I have always wondered how many sellers actually receive a check in their hands within 48 hours… Hmm…

Another guru goes down to the County Courthouse several times a week to search records for indicators of people who might like to sell.

Still another (slightly morbid) guru scans the obituaries in the paper and attempts to contact the owners of the property.

- Now I would agree that all of these techniques work in order to find leads and purchase properties.

- I would NOT agree that they are an effective use of your time.

- I would NOT agree that they are easy or likable enough to do regularly.

- I would also NOT agree that they work in the REVERSE very well when it comes to selling the property.

For example:

Are you going to go to the expense of mailing postcards when you have a property to sell?

Are you going to go out and pepper signs around town with a property to sell?

Are you going down to the courthouse when you have a property to sell?

Finally, are you going to take an ad out next to the obituaries when you sell?

You might say, “Hey Joe, aren’t you getting a bit crazy here? (It would not be the first time someone said that to me.)

But hold on a second. Why should you have to change tactics so drastically when it comes to selling the property? Doesn’t it make sense to use the same tactics to simplify your real estate business process and Buy in the same way you Sell?

I would bet that Spiderman has some buttons down near his wrists that cause his web to shoot out and stick to something.

You probably see where I am going with this. Your buttons down near your wrists are called a keyboard. You shoot a signal (instead of sticky silk) through a wire or through the air that attaches to an email box.

You can BUY in the same way you can SELL!

- More effectively.

- For less cost.

- In a fraction of the time.

- AND you can do it over and over without ever running out of supplies or money.

Most importantly, none of the tactics above ever uses the Web as we talked about earlier as a NETWORK!

This network literally “works” both ways generating leads and accomplishing sales and expands larger and larger as you work the system.

I think you would agree it is far easier to open your email box and see 10 leads waiting for you to screen than it is to accept and screen 10 telephone calls. Of course, these calls come while you are eating dinner with your family, hanging out with friends, watching TV, or doing whatever it is you like to do when you are not working your business.

The HomesToGo.Com system is designed to take maximum advantage of the things we looked at above to build networks and actively project your web of influence.

I don’t know of any other system that has been designed by Real Estate Professionals FOR Real Estate Professionals that is build from the ground up using the concepts and theories of “Active Projection Marketing”. The power of the system is incredible and almost unlimited.

Let’s look at the design from the ground up.

The Name: Homes To Go

Unlike several other sites, the name is designed to work both ways. It doesn’t stick to the old and overused tradition of appealing only to those that want to sell. A website like IBuyHomesForCashInaFlash.Com (if it exists) really pigeonholes itself into only half of the entire Real Estate business process, namely attracting buyers. Would you feel comfortable trying to sell a home with an email like that? What would your customers think? Would they think they are being taken advantage of in their situation?

If you think your clients, (sellers and buyers) are all dumb, think again. They watch TV and have seen Carlton Sheets’ infomercials just like you. People who advertise that they buy houses are a dime a dozen and many people feel they are going to be taken to the cleaners.

The System: Passive Lead Generation and Capture

This is common and has been around for years. The Homes To Go Network takes the idea to a whole new dimension. The simplest system of passive lead generation and capture is to put an ad in the paper with a phone number and have an answering machine record the information from the lead. This is old school thinking and does not work very well. People who call a number want to talk to a real human being and statistics show that they will hang up over 65% of the time.

By the way…what can you do with the recorded lead on your answering machine? Can you save it to a file for later use? Mark it as a possible foreclosure, subject to deal, or wholesale flip? Of course not.

Leads ARE passively generated through the HomesToGo Network system. Yes, like other systems you receive an email with all the details in the county or counties you work in. The difference is that the system captures ALL leads in a database by county and stores them. This is true whether you delete the email you receive or not. It is also true for those counties where an investor or professional is not signed up on the system. When they do sign up, those leads are already there under the Buyer/Seller Explorer in the control panel!

Why is this important? Because of the old adage that “Situations Change”. The smart user of the system will follow up on these leads regularly to see if something has changed in the seller’s life that now makes a deal possible.

Of course, you can do the same thing by dragging and dropping the lead into any folder you create.

The System: ACTIVE Lead Generation and Capture

How would you like to be able to shoot an email to the group mentioned above where the seller’s situation may have changed with just a few clicks?

Ready to shoot your web like Spiderman? Here we go…

Let’s send an ACTIVE web-shot at all of these leads.

“Hi, My name is Joe Ponce and I remember that you were trying to sell your house a while ago. I was just touching base with you to see if it is still for sale. I am looking to purchase a home in your area and came across your previous email.

Please shoot me a message back or give me a call if you have not sold it yet.

Best wishes,

Joe (Your personalized email signature and phone number)

OKAY—How long did that take to follow up on all those leads?

Probably no more than just a couple of minutes and your phone may ring in the next 15 minutes with a possible deal. By the way, remember to remove those leads where the email is bounced back, or you can call to make sure the home is no longer available.

Remember, you can shoot a message like this to any of the groups you have out there to generate new leads or follow up on older ones.

You will be amazed at how powerful “Active Projection” is for leads and sales through the HomesToGo Network system.

So start shooting your web like Spiderman and let it stick to some profitable deals!

We will discuss many other techniques in future strategies!

When I first started buying real estate 15 years ago, marketing was about the last thing on my mind. Over the years as my portfolio grew, I began to notice an underlying trend in those that were very successful in this business and those that were simply mediocre or not successful at all. The difference was an understanding of the importance of marketing, how to use it effectively, and the confidence that comes from it.

Successful real estate investors have learned how to market… either intentionally or by the experience of trial and error. This skill (and it can be learned) often makes the difference between those that are tremendously wealthy and those that simply get by.

Several years ago I had purchased 5 properties at some very good prices. I was in “buying mode” and these deals happened fairly quickly in a period of about 60 days. I began thinking that I was really getting somewhere because I had so much “inventory” in my possession. Over the next two months, that feeling was rapidly being replaced by fear. You see, I had no intention of keeping the properties as rentals. I simply wanted them sold as I had most of my money tied up in them. There were holding costs, some fix-up costs, and maybe most importantly…marketing costs.

It was almost funny as I look back. I didn’t think a whole lot about paying the mortgage on the property for $1,250 or the carpet guy to go in for $1,000 or the painter $600. What was bothering me way paying the newspaper about $150 per ad for something that was definitely NOT working.

It was one of those times in my area late in the year when it rains a lot and it had been raining now off and on for about two months. My properties were not selling, Christmas was coming, and every day I shelled out another check on these properties I began to question why the heck I ever thought I could be a real estate investor. If the phone would just ring a little more often, maybe I could get through this period. As the days progressed the questions came more and more often and sleep was becoming a problem. Why had I bought 5 houses anyway? Who did I think I was? Why would anyone want to buy these houses anyway? Would I ever get them sold?

I remember repeating to myself over and over these three words “They will sell,” “They will sell,” “They will sell.”

Sure, I had been to the seminars, owned a bunch of courses, and was pretty good about getting leads and buying properties. I remember the instructors telling me “you make money when you buy” and while that’s definitely true, unfortunately you don’t put a check in your pocket until they sell.

So, I devoted myself to learning more about how to get these properties sold. I had to rapidly switch to “selling mode” and really work on my skills in this area. As I read more and more, I realized that marketing applied to generating leads and selling property equally. I had to put more “lines in the water” so to speak to get these properties sold. In short…I had to become “active”.

My ad in the paper was a “passive” form of marketing. I was hoping that someone who wanted a property would see it, call me immediately, and demand to see it with a fistful of dollars ready to buy. Since this was obviously not working, I had to do something different.

I began thinking about ways to become “active” in getting these properties sold and got some ideas from some more experienced people I knew and some things that I had read. The telephone all of a sudden became my best friend. To begin with, I sat down and called all the investors I knew (which weren’t as many as should have known) and told them about the properties. I offered them a quick $1,000 if they referred someone to me who was interested in one of them. I then picked up the phone and began calling real estate agents and offering them the same deal. I called every agent I knew and then began calling agents I didn’t know. Then I went to my local real estate investors group passed out some flyers with the same message and collected every name and card I could find. I called all of these people too and then called some more agents I found in the phone book.

I vowed to myself that I would make at least 25 calls to new people each day until something began to happen. The ideas started to come faster at this point. I then called all of the people I had sold homes to in the past and asked if they had a friend or a relative that was looking for a home and offered them they same referral fee.

After a week of calling things began to happen…three real estate agents called referring people who had less than perfect credit. Great! I was advertising this wasn’t I? Two investors called to refer a few people who wanted homes they did not have. I promised to help them in the future if they needed it. I sold the first home in the middle of the second week and something almost magical happened…my confidence improved. I kept calling people the whole time and sold two the following week and the final two the week after that. I was on “Cloud Nine” at this point! I had sold all of the homes and four of them had come from referrals for which I happily paid $4,000. My ads which had been running for over 14 weeks had cost me almost half that!

Something strange happened after I sold all of the homes. People were still calling and asking if I had a home to sell. Talk about a confidence booster!

After this experience, I continued to study marketing more and more. I learned how it applies to generating leads and making sales. I continue to be a student of marketing today. Sure…I buy houses…but I never forget that I also “Sell Houses!”