Real Estate Investor Articles

As you probably know already, building a list of investor buyers is a critically important first step to wholesaling real estate. CraigsList is an awesome and free tool that you can use to build your buyers list. Often people see one or two of the many ways you can use CraigsList for building a buyers list, but in this article I will share with you some of my better strategies for building a huge buyers list using nothing but CraigsList.

First, you can post your deals that are for sale to get inquiries from investors, and then ask them if they want to be added to your buyers list. This approach is frequently how wholesalers go about building their list. I will add one little twist for those who do not have deals of their own that they can market... ask other investors if you can help them market their deals – at no charge. Then, with their permission, you can market their deal, talk to more investors and build your list at the same time.

Second, you can inquire about deals that other investors have posted. Don't be afraid to ask for more information about another investor's deal. Find out what makes it a great deal. Find out what sort of discounts investors are getting for various types of houses. Find out what cash flow is like in your market. Doing this, you will educate yourself about your local market while building your real estate investor buyers list.

Third, you can contact investors that have properties for rent. Many people overlook this great way of meeting new investors and building their list. What is so great about people that have property for rent? They're investors already. You know they've got at least one investment property and that makes them a better quality buyer than just someone inquiring about your deal.

One nice thing about building a buyers list based on investors that actually own property - like those who have property for sale or rent - is that you know they are serious investors that have purchased at least one piece of real estate before. You will find that many of your buyers who inquire about deals may be novice or first-time investors. Keep them on your list, but given the choice between first-time investors and investors that already own property, I'd rather have experienced investors on my list.

Fourth, place ads for real estate wanted. Not only might you find a deal, but other investors might call you to add you to their buyers list and you can add them to yours.

Fifth, place ads for real estate services. If you are offering to buy houses or find deals for people, then consider also putting an ad in the real estate services section as a bird-dog or wholesaler and attract more buyers to your list in that way as well.
Sixth, get creative. For example, I post ads in the "Free Stuff" section and give away a real estate course and list of deals. You can get creative too.

Using these six methods, you could easily build a buyers list of 300 people in a month in a modest sized city. To get 300 in a month, you'd need to hit 10 per day if you worked 30 days in a month to do it. Here's a quick run down with estimates for number of buyers added:

- Post 1 ad per day of your own deal or another investor's deal that you have permission to market (3 different properties posted 1 each day and repeating every third day). Adds 1 to 2 buyers per day.
- Post 1 ad every 3 days in real estate wanted. Adds 1 or 2 buyers per week.
- Post 1 ad every 3 days in real estate services. Adds 1 or 2 buyers per week.
- Post 1 ad in "Free Stuff" to give away a real estate course and property list every 3 days. Adds 1 or 2 buyers per day.
- Call 10 for rent ads per day. Adds 3 to 7 buyers per day.
- Call 10 deals for sale ads per day. Adds 2 to 3 buyers per day.

With that marketing mix, you should be able to add approximately 10 new real estate investor buyers to your list each day in order to grow a handsome sized list.

Until my next post,

James