Most will remember that when you originally decided to start investing in real estate, one of the best things you were probably instructed to do was formulate a buyers list. This is simply a list of names and contacts that are looking for specific houses or properties. You were told with a good buyers list you may never have to put a property on the open market.
The “Buyers First Program” was designed to take that a step further. Instead of wholesaling to real estate investors with all the associated risks, I chose to work with Real Estate Agents and use the entire MLS as my inventory. I develop a “retail, end buyers list” to give to agents. Buyers First is fully RESPA compliant and is readily accepted by the traditional Real Estate community. You already know that Real Estate Agents only do things that are fully disclosed and traditional in nature. Dealing in the regular real estate arena, it has to be simple and fully compliant or agents won’t participate, and correctly so.
The buyers list should consist of people who are looking for a specific type of property. It may be someone who wants a 3 bedroom 2 bath house in the south part of town. There may be people on the list who are only looking for a certain kind of property at a set price.
Making a list of buyers is easy. One of the best ways to do it is with a three line classified ad promoting a special report titled “You Can Still Purchase a House Even if You Have Bruised Credit but have a Small Down Payment” or “The Seven Questions Every Home Buyer Should Ask A Real Estate Agent.” With that in the local newspaper and a toll free number, you can locate many people looking for a home. Some folks will call and are just curious. The easiest way to handle these people is to allow them to ask questions and answer them to the best of your ability. They usually call back later telling you they are now in the market for a house. Any way you do it, your list is made up by the contacts you make.
You can also gather names from other investors, family, and friends. People know people. Google Ad Words is yet another excellent way. By formulating a buyers list, you can categorize the individuals into groups.
Give the leads to a mortgage broker to pre approve the people on your list. Some people will have credit issues and will be repairing their credit. These are perfect prospects.
Putting together a retail buyers list is a great start on a plan of action. All businesses have a client base. This list is yours. The more you have, the more business you can do. The more you do, the more money you can make. By formulating a buyers list, you are building a strong, stable and long term real estate investment business