Finding Property Deals 

Promote yourself

Mailing

One way of approaching self-promotion is to use a ‘personal’ letter of introduction. This should appear to be a personal letter but can be a standard format which you can reword and personally address as required. If you have a computer, a word processing program will let you generate the letters and ‘mail merge’ lists of database addresses, if that’s how you want to tackle it.

A general mailing letter should state the kind of property you’re interested in and invite the recipient to let you know if and when they have anything that might be suitable. You can send this letter out to real estate agents and also other people in the property market, such as surveyors. Reword the letter to relate to a specific person and property and you can even send it to vendors. People who have their property for sale may be disillusioned by the process of dealing with agents (and paying their fees) and may be willing to talk to a prospective private buyer.

Advertisement

The classified advertisement sections of newspapers (or all-classified Trading Post style publications) are a great way to promote yourself as someone looking to buy or sell a property and for partners in a property-related venture.

Most people who are selling the property themselves will go through the classifieds to see what else might be available in the market. If they haven’t had any enquiries for their property and they see an advertisement seeking property or terms, they may be inclined to give you a call.

A typical advertisement need be no more complicated than the following (with appropriate details to suit what you are looking for). Naturally, if you get a call in response to such an advertisement, you will need to quickly qualify if the property may be suitable for you

The kind of questions you will need to ask are:

• What is the asking price?

• What is the land area?

• What is the building size?

• Can the land be subdivided?

• Are you willing to offer vendor terms on the purchase price?

• Does the place need work on it and approximately how much needs to be spent?

• Is the property close to amenities?

• What do typical houses sell for in the vicinity?

property deals uk

The answers to these questions should identify any opportunities in the property. Remember, you are looking for the worst house in the best street – something for say $400,000 that may need a little bit of work done on it, in an area where houses typically sell for $500,000–600,000. Even better is if you can negotiate terms that allow you to get in and begin working on the property, improving its value, before you settle. The equivalent advertisement for syndication may be as follows:

PROPERTY INVESTOR looking for all opportunities. If you have a property for sale, land size 1000m2 in need of repair or work, or willing to offer vendor terms, please call for immediate inspection. Call mobile XXXX XXX XXX

PARTNER WANTED I am acquiring a property for renovation and on-sale: require a partner to provide equity. Quick turnaround, mortgage security, needing $50,000. Call mobile XXXX XXX XXX

You are looking for somebody who may have $50,000 they can provide as mezzanine funding for you to acquire and renovate a home. People who answer such an ad may not have the expertise or wish to go through the hassles of dealing with builders themselves. If you can show them a property which you have on option or contract and can convince them of its intrinsic (and potential) value they may be prepared to invest their money.

Try the builder

Another possibility is to get a builder who is prepared to invest with you in a project. If you find a likely renovation project, it’s worthwhile sending a letter to some of the local builders in the area offering the opportunity to do the renovation. Again, a simple standard letter is shown following.

property deals uk

Try the real estate agent

Many people are cynical about real estate agents, but I have found them to be a tremendous source of opportunities and they often have inside information about who may be anxious to sell, or who may be willing to offer terms.

A standard ‘open to ideas’ letter (such as shown a couple of pages ago) might be a first contact. If you prefer to make an appointment to see someone, it’s a good idea to send a note or email in advance of the meeting identifying that you are a property investor and that you are looking for specific types of opportunity: to renovate, subdivide or consider a bargain available on vendor terms. Allow plenty of time for the real estate agent to show you around likely properties.

Try local professionals

The other people worth promoting yourself to, in a similar way, are the professionals who often have contacts at the grass roots of the local area.

Surveyors are a great source of property information, as they may act for developers who have remnant allotments or may identify residential blocks on large lots that may be subdivided for dual or triple occupancy.

Builders are a source of information about projects they have worked on or tendered for. They are often aware of renovation opportunities that they can’t completely fund themselves. They’re also in contact with real estate agents and other professionals, which will widen your network. As suggested above, builders are also a good source of potential joint venture partnerships if you’re going to do some renovation or upgrading.

Architects, town planners, financiers and solicitors can all offer contacts and opportunities in their own fields.

Don’t be shy!

If you want to make money in real estate, you have to decide that’s what you’re in business to do and tell the world. It’s a numbers game – the more contacts you make, the more opportunities you’ll hear about and the greater the prospect that some of these opportunities will turn into workable deals.

I love it when an agent rings me and says, ‘I have an opportunity for you to make some money!’ And they often do just that, because they know that’s what I want to do: make some money. I’m completely up front about it. If I speak to an agent who asks me what I want to achieve, there’s a clear answer: I’m looking to make some money out of property. Do they have any ideas?

I’ll talk about property to literally anyone I come into contact with. I promote the fact that I’m looking for opportunities to make money out of property: does anyone know of any? It’s amazing where the deals can come from when you have these kinds of conversations. I’ve had deals put my way over the years by advertising people, accountants, bank managers, surveyors, friends of friends who have rung me, parents from my kids’ schools – you name it.

I haven’t bought all the properties they pointed out to me but I’ve made offers on some of them. And since I’ve promoted the fact that I’m in the business of making money, I don’t have to be shy about making those offers low. And there’s another benefit: because people know I’m always in the market for a good deal and that I’m in the business of making money I not only attract the deals, I attract fellow investors. People are willing to put money on my ability to spot intrinsic value and make a profit.

Rule number 1: always keep the door open to a potential deal.

>>> Coming Next: Getting Informed

Please note: This is an extract from the Success From Scratch – it may not contain the exercises from the full version of the book/audio set, for full version please contact us or follow our blog for more.

Thank you,
The team@Custodian