Bandit Signs are the cheapest and most effective way to market for a beginner by far. Bandit signs, that’s right bandit signs all those plastic corrugated signs you see out there, get it. I prefer hand written to printed signs. I’ve tried them both and the hand written ones are cheaper and work the same or better. You can look for a local place that sells them, 18 x 24 signs work best, get the blank ones. Also make sure what you get stands out too. I always cut then in half. Keep it simple, just put WE BUY HOUSES and your phone #, you really don’t need to put all that other stuff on them. Make sure you use a large permanent black marker. Make sure your words fill the whole sign to make best use of it. Print on both sides unless you are going to put them on telephone pools. You will get all different kinds of calls with different problems with their homes.

Although if you still want to get printed signs or you don’t have a local place here are a couple sites you can get them from. Need signs? Placement of signs is important too. You want to put them in high traffic areas. Like at merger intersections you want to put one on each side of the road. Put them on telephone poles high up so they won’t be pulled down. If you have a subdivision you are targeting make sure you are putting signs at all ingoing and outgoing entrances to the subdivision.
You must be willing to put at least 200 signs a month out to be successful. This shouldn’t cost you no more then 175-225 a month.

Good luck and don’t give up,

Sean Marmoy
MOKSRealEstate.com

There are plenty of ways to find the owners of that little jewel you just found.  We will go over the ones I use the most in this blog.  The first thing you want to do is ask the neighbors around the house.  Tell them you’re an investor in the area and hand them your business card then ask them if they know who owns the house, if they know where the owners live now or have their phone number.  If they seem hesitant tell them your going to ask everyone on the block and the first one that gives you the info will give 20 dollars.

The next thing I do is go to my county web site.  Go to your tax assessor’s site on the county web site.  There you can put in the address and the property will come up.  From there you can find out the property owners name and where the taxes are being sent to.  This is also a good place to find out additional information about the property.

At this point you can either go to the address were the taxes are being sent to and talk with the owner.  See if you can get their phone number from the white pages.

You could put them on your post card list and start sending them post cards.  I make sure to send them 4 post cards in 6 weeks.

If you can’t get their info from the county web site you can send a post card with (Address service requested) on the post card. If none of that works you can go to www.HomeInfoMax.com and for about 20 bucks you can get their info.  Although I would recommend you exhaust all other avenues first.

Good Luck,

Sean Marmoy
MOKSRealEstate.com

There are many ways to find Investors and Bird Dogs but they all boil down to Networking.  A good place to start is letting those around you know you are interested in real estate.  You would be surprised with who just happens to have a friend or relative that is already involved in one way or another.  A lot of times WHO you know is just as important as what you know.  Here is a list of some more great ways to make contacts.

• REI Groups     -     These monthly meetings usually include everyone from first time investors to seasoned investors.
• We Buy Houses Ads     -    These signs are all over the place and the ads are in most papers.  Both property locators and Investors use this method to find houses as well as contacts.
• People working on vacant houses     -     Whether these people are investors or not they usually know one or more investors.  Leave them a way to contact you and ask them to pass it along.
• Craigslist or other listing sites     -     You can use these sites to contact people who have listed or you can create a listing telling about yourself and what you are looking for.

Once you find your investor(s) or bird dog(s) you should have a casual meeting and talk expectations.  Remember the bird dog is taking minimal risk but finding potentially great deals for the investor.  So compensation should be fair, if the fee is to high the investor can find properties another way but if it’s to low the bird dog won’t be as motivated.  Some people will recommend you put together a contract (or find one on the internet) to keep things fair and this may not be a bad idea.  Remember though there is no substitution for trust. An investor with a heart of a teacher and a bird dog with an ambition to learn can make a great team. This investor will make good money off this bird dog and probably gain a new perspective. The bird dog will more than likely become a smart investor while learning the ins and outs with minimal risk.

Quite simply a Real Estate Bird Dog is a property locator for one or more investors.  The information this “Bird Dog” provides determines how much he is paid.  This information could be as little as an address of a distressed property or as much as the owners contact information, the reason for the sale and price.  I normally would not recommend a Bird Dog talking price with any homeowner.  The investor knows their intentions with the property and has more experience with negotiating and proper pricing.

Some Bird Dogs get their leads from networking and finding people that are motivated to sell for one reason or another.  Others look for the distressed property first and locate the owners by talking to neighbors or looking up tax records.  There are infinite ways to find these properties’s so be creative.

A Bird Dog should always talk expectations and fees with the investor before providing the properties.  This ensures that neither the Bird Dog nor the Investor is disappointed with the results.  Trust is a very important element between an investor and his Bird Dog.  A Bird Dog wants to trust that the investor will pay the fees after the deal is complete.  The investor wants to trust that the Bird Dog is not holding out the “good” deals or providing the same listing to another investor.  It takes some of the negotiating power away from the investor if there is another investor calling about the property.