How can real estate investors find more cash buyers to fund their deals?
Cash buyers are a powerful resource for real estate investors. They can facilitate fast closings, may help overcome obstacles created by buyers requiring financing, and in many cases are the only qualified buyers for certain transactions. So how do you find more cash buyers for your real estate deals, and build a large list of purchasers for your future properties?
HOW TO FIND CASH BUYERS FOR REAL ESTATE
There are a wide variety of methods for finding cash buyers. Some are inbound marketing strategies. Others require an outbound approach. Here are a few options you may want to plug in.
Signs
Virtually any type of real estate marketing can be used to attract cash buyers too. They may need to be filtered out from those using loans, but the more leads you can get the better. Yard signs and ‘bandit’ signs can be some of the least expensive methods of marketing homes for sale. Other options may include outdoor advertising with bench ads, bus ads, subway ads, and billboards. Some types of signs will work better than others in certain areas. All can be used to simultaneously build your brand, and brand visibility.
Craigslist
Craigslist has become one of the most popular real estate advertising tools. It is both over used, and under used. There are definitely cash buyers browsing and scanning Craigslist for house deals and investments. However, in addition to simple property ads, considering using a variety of categories to call on cash buyers. Use Services, community boards, discussion forums, and reach cash buyers in other cities and regions, not just your own. Get to know where the cash buyers are and post your ads there. Maybe it is even out of state.
Listing on the MLS
Considering that it is believed that the majority of homes sales each year happen via the Multiple Listing Service it is a great place to market for cash buyers. This may be accomplished by listing your properties with a Realtor, or using flat fee MLS listing services. Then your properties should not only show up to be promoted and reach other agents with cash buyers, but on sites like Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow, and more. You may also get on these sites using Google Ads which we’ll cover in a moment. The MLS may not be for all investors, but it can be a serious power tool for putting a whole army of agents to work to bring you cash buyers.
Newspapers & Magazines
Both online and offline publications can be great tools for real estate marketing and finding cash buyers. This can include local community papers, national media, niche magazines, and more. Don’t just limit yourself to real estate ones. With a little negotiation you may find a great deal on running consistent ads, and being included in email blasts to their subscribers as well. However, do note that this medium can take several months of showing up to really deliver its maximum return. Get in with paid classifieds, full page spreads, or using advertorials and contributed articles.
In-Person Networking
While there is a lot to be done to attract cash buyers from the comfort of your home office, don’t underestimate the power and importance of connecting in person. There are almost unlimited opportunities to network. Consider local real estate agent events, mortgage industry tradeshows, chamber of commerce events, random Meetup.com event, real estate investment groups, and more. Go prepared. Prepare to trade contact information, and find ways to add value and give referrals to others. Connect in every medium possible; phone, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, email, and Google+.
Events
In addition to just showing up and networking at other people’s events consider sponsoring events, or hosting your own. You can have tables and booths, or speak at events, conferences, and tradeshows, and brunches. Create your own and get your name and brand out there. If you work smart this can be far more affordable and efficient than you might think. With the right targeting you may be able to fill whole rooms of cash buyers at the same time.
Paid Online Ads
A great tool to hack your way on top websites and the top of the search engines is via paid online ads. The most notable option is using Google image and text ads for Pay-Per-Click (PPC) or CPM advertising. This can be one of the most predictable ways to generate real estate leads on-demand. You only pay when prospects click through to your website or call you. You can start with virtually any budget, and pause or scale whenever you like. Need more deals – just up your budget. Have too many deals or need a vacation? Just pause your campaign or lower your bids.
Buy or Rent Cash Buyer Lead Lists
For those that just want to get right to contacting cash buyers there are opportunities to lease or purchase data and lists of cash buyers. Typically this involves acquiring lists filtered for characteristics of cash buyers. This may include owning homes free and clear, recent cash buys, net worth, investment appetite, absentee owners, and other factors. These lists may contain mailing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses. It can be one of the best ways to build a targeted list, spend your budget wisely, and increase your marketing ROI and the return on your time invested.
Direct Mail
Direct mail is a popular and proven real estate marketing method. It can be very affordable. Some real estate investors swear by it as their favorite marketing method. Big banks and Realtors keep sending mail every day, and you can bet they’ve spent millions researching the best channels to reach customers. In some cases it may be the only way to reach some contacts. Mail postcards, mail letters, mail newsletters and gifts. Create handwritten pieces, or fully automate it with a mail service. Mail, mail, and mail some more.
Use the Phone
While using the phone to make calls may have fallen out of fashion in many circles since text messaging, social media, and email has taken over it is still a great tool. Research by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) suggests cold callers can still make several hundred dollars an hour by putting in consistent phone time to find deals. So call your lead lists, cold call the neighborhood, warm call your database, and stay in contact with your friends, family, and ex-coworkers with your phone. With that said text messaging can be a marketing tool as well. Some services offer the ability to send bulk SMS messages at the same time. Use them to reach mobile customers wherever they are.
While our youngest generations may not even know how to send an email, the vast majority of the population is still big on email. It is still the preferred way for many real estate experts, investors, and other professionals to connect and receive information. A consistent email campaign should be a staple part of your marketing for cash buyers, and then sending them deals to purchase. Send personal emails, new deals, email newsletters, links to your blog, and more.
Social Media
From YouTube and Google+ to Twitter to Instagram and LinkedIn the world has gone social. It can be a highly efficient method for finding cash buyers and other real estate leads. Claim your profile names and URLs, set up attractive pages, get smart about posting updates and engaging, and even run paid ads and sponsored stories to boost your visibility. Social media platforms provide immense leverage for reaching millions of contacts, and in some cases can be the easiest and warmest way to reach highly prized cash buyers.
Real Estate Blogging
Every real estate investor ought to have a blog. A blog is the heart and hub of your real estate marketing efforts. It connects and fuels everything else, and can compound the ROI of your other efforts. Use it to increase your credibility, your rankings with Google, give prospects more reasons to come back to you and refer you to others, link to it in your emails and in your social media posts. This is a warm funnel to keep building up your presence, retaining cash buyers, and spreading the word. Even consider expanding to guest posting on other blogs and news sites.
FINDING CASH BUYERS FOR WHOLESALE DEALS
Finding cash buyers is perhaps most important for real estate wholesalers. With a strong cash buyers list you can move your deals faster and confidently scale your volume. It even makes reverse wholesaling possible for squashing risk and speeding up those paydays. In turn this helps enhance net profits, and may eliminate reliance on outside financing. Make cash buyers a priority and you will be empowered to reach your goals faster. Never stop adding to this list.
