Effective in Real Estate – Are you getting things done?
Here’s a little story I wanted to share about how to be effective in Real Estate…
Talked to a nice lady today who has been trying to get started in Real Estate. She’s been trying so hard to make it work, but just hasn’t been able to bridge the gap to a point where she’s profitable.
See what you think about some of the answers she gave me. There’s an underlying trend in the way she handles herself that is effecting her results negatively, and I want to see if you can tell what it is…
My Question: How long have you been in Real Estate?
Her Answer: I guess about 5 years.
My Question: Have you made any money?
Her Answer: Not really, but it will work out eventually I think.
My Question: Why do you think you haven’t made any money?
Her Answer: There just aren’t many good deals out there right now.
My Question: How are you going about looking for good deals on houses?
Her Answer: A bit of everything… Lately I’ve been sending out postcards.
My Question: How is that working out for you?
Her Answer: Well, I can’t seem to find a good deal on anything.
My Question: What response rate are you getting from your mailers?
Her Answer: I don’t know. I get calls, but I don’t know the response rate.
My Question: How many offers have you made so far on the postcards?
Her Answer: I guess about 10 or so – not sure exactly.
My Question: Are you leaving them a written offer or a verbal one?
Her Answer: I just tell them – but they don’t like the offers I make.
My Question: Are you calling those people back to check on your offer?
Her Answer: No, I just call the new calls that I get.
My Question: So what are you going to do from this point differently?
Her Answer: Things will work out eventually if I keep trying.
Now, this was a super-sweet person I was talking to. She’s been trying to make things work for so long, but hasn’t been able to make things click. Here’s why…
1) She has blind optimism: Optimism is a great thing, but don’t be blinded by it. When something doesn’t work, try to figure out why and correct course rather than staying on a stagnant path to nowhere.
2) Claiming that there are no deals: Oh please. If anything, there are TOO MANY deals out there. The tricky part to be effective in Real Estate is training yourself to look in obscure places for them instead of places where everybody else goes.
3) Too scattered: She was doing postcard mailers, working on doing lease option deals, trying to learn subject-to financed deals, bidding on HUD homes, and who knows what else. Now, it’s awesome that she was taking action, but she was spreading herself too thin. Instead, to be effective in Real Estate she needs to focus her efforts on mastering 1 area, before moving onto learning something else.
4) Not tracking results: She was sending out postcards to find motivated sellers, but she wasn’t keeping track of what her response rate was. You can’t know what is working well for you if you don’t have an understanding of how your campaigns are performing. She was blindly throwing money at a problem instead of maneuvering strategically based on results.
5) Not making written offers: She was simply telling the sellers a verbal offer rather than sending them a paper offer. Without leaving something tangible with the seller, they will quickly and easily forget about your offer. Even when they become ready to sell, they won’t think about you – and you’ll lose the deal. Check out this post about Written offers VS. Verbal offers.
6) Not following up: Here’s another area where she was falling short. To be effective in Real Estate, means you have to check back in on the offers you make. If the seller doesn’t think you are serious about buying their house, why would they take a chance with you. Let them know you are serious. Take a look at this blog post about following up.
7) Expecting a magic solution: She was just going to do the same-old-thing she’s always done and think that things would magically chance for her. To be effective in Real Estate you have to take control, and manually make the changes you want to see. Crossing your fingers and hoping for a miracle isn’t going to work. She needed to think about the direction she needs to go in, and intentionally craft a plan to get her from where she is now to where she wants to be. It has to be intentional, not chance.
Anyways, her situation is not that far different from what many people struggle with. I’ve had to learn all this stuff as I’ve progressed, and it’s not difficult to understand and apply, but it does take looking within and being objective about yourself, your actions, and the results you want.
I hope there’s some value in learning about some of the struggles that are common for people involved in this business so that we can all improve ourselves further.