Last post I mentioned coming up with a plan to make this business work.  Obviously the first thing I need to plan is finding deals, so this is how I’m going to

Get seller leads:

• Check online classifieds
• Drive Parks
• Newspaper
• Postcards

Now I have to come up with a plan to make this work.

Online classifieds: I’ve set up and RSS feed with pre-determined search criteria.  Basically I’m looking for any ads for mobiles under $5,000.  I will do this daily.

Drive Parks: I’ve already identified  few parks that I’m interested in.  I think I should drive at least one park per week to see what’s going on and what’s for sale.

Newspaper: Read the classifieds daily.

Postcards: I’m not sure whether or not this will work, but I am going to try a few small mail outs to the parks that I’m interested in to see if I get any calls.

The next step is to set up my goal for seller leads as well as a tracking system.

Since I am not sure how many leads it takes to buy a property, it’s really important that I implement a tracking system. I will use a basic spreadsheet that will identify where the lead came from as well as how many leads I get from each source.  Once I’ve set up this spread sheet I will make it available here, so keep an eye out for it.

The question now is…what is my goal for seller leads?  Let’s just pluck a number from the air and say I want 30 leads per month. That’s just one seller lead per day.  That shouldn’t be too difficult.

This is the way I set up all my business planning.  I’ll share my buyer marketing plan next post.  If you haven’t subscribed to the feed, subscribe now by clicking this link —> http://feeds.feedburner.com/DealsOnWheels.

Seriously, I am getting a little worried since there are only 63 days left and I haven’t made a deal.  I wonder if I’m doing something wrong.

I know I’ve had a few things come up, but I feel like I may be slacking.

The good news is that some of my ads have been working and I’ve had approximately 6 buyer leads in the past 3 weeks.  I started with ZERO, so that’s a super improvement.

Sitting here writing this blog I realize what’s missing.

I didn’t draw up a game plan. Typically when I start working on a new project I draw up a time line along with some goals.  This helps me keep on track.  I didn’t do it this time, so I think I need to sit down and work this out.

If you havne’t already done this, start right now and I’ll check in with you tomorrow to compare notes.

OK, I’ll tell you what I’m waiting for…a buyer.

The magic of investing really happens when you have both a buyer and a seller already in place. Basically you’re brokering a deal between the two parties without taking any risk.

Right now we’re having fairly good success locating motivated sellers.  They’re all over the place.  No we’re working on building our buyers list so we can liquidate these properties as soon as we get them under contract.

This technique is used by real estate wholesalers all over the US.  You tie up a property, put it out to your list, then try to find a buyer before you close.

Since we’ve started this challenge with only $2,000 we will need to get our investment back as quickly as possible in order to reinvest and continue to grow it.

Just for those of you keeping score, we’ve made 4 more offers this week and one of the properties we were watching has sold to another party.   Now I’ve got my eye on this one if I can get it for $1,500.

I can’t tell you (or maybe I don’t care to admit) how many times I’ve picked up a “Super Deal” just because I thought the price was right.  It doesn’t matter how “Super” the deal is, because you get paid when you sell.  That means if you can’t sell immediately your money is tied up and you don’t have anyway to get it back.

We’re on a deadline here so we don’t have ANY time to waste.

Now that we’ve got an idea of how to pick up seller leads, I think it’s time we discuss buyer leads. Have you even thought about this? I have, and you better be.

We only have 90 days to make our mini fortune.

Recently we have run some test ads with different copy to see what kind of response we get.  We’re conducting some ADwords tests.  Once we figure out what gets the clicks, we will incorporate it into a print ad in the Pennysaver.  For those of you that are not familiar with the Pennysaver, it’s a small print publication that is delivered to homes in our area free twice per week.

Anyways, it’s Sunday and I’m not supposed to be working.  Rachel and I went to Downtown Orlando for brunch with her parents.  If you haven’t been to downtown Orlando, here are a few pictures.

If you remember back a few days ago I had the picture of Rachel and I with my little sister in the car.  Yes, that’s my little sister, not our daughter.

We volunteered (or maybe we were chosen) to baby sit for the week.

That was a real adventure.  Rachel and I have never taken care of a kid and this was new territory for us.  Needless to say having this baby over all week took tons of attention.

I guess that’s why this week just flew by.  Anyways, back to business.

We’ve been scanning the classifieds, driving parks, and talking to people about our new Mobile Home Business.  Most people thing we’re crazy, but if they knew how lucrative it can be, they might think again.

Since I was confined to my castle babysitting I decided to try some email offers.

I emailed a few ads I saw online to ask them questions about their mobiles for sale.  Typically in the first email I asked questions about the mobile for sale and if it was still available.

When they emailed me back with the details I asked how flexible they were on their price.

Most of them were willing to drop an average of $1k.

I made a few low ball offers via email just to see what they’d say.

If you compare this to the numbers from the first offers we made, it’s obviously better to ask for discounts in person.  The important thing is to see if they are flexible.  If you talk to someone over the phone (or by email) you should be looking for signs of motivation.

Right now we’re watching 2 that may have some room to negotiate.  It’s the first of the month, lot rent is due, this may motivate them.

I’ve made very low offers on both of these mobiles, but I guess they didn’t like my price.  Really, what’s the worst thing that can happen when you make a ridiculously low offer?

Click the |> Play Button

They can say No.  That’s it.  Then you move on to the next.  The sooner you get over your aversion of the word NO, the sooner you will succeed.

We spent the morning baby proofing the house because we are babysitting my baby sister this week. YIKES!

I can' believe we agreed to do this!

The great thing about using the internet to run your business is that you can work from anywhere.  Since Rachel and I didn’t have a lot of time today we spent an hour online looking over the online classifieds at our local Panera to decide which ones to call.

Working from the local Panera

Now that we’ve got some ideas on where the mobile parks are, we’re going to start targeting certain parks to get to know the managers.

Have you made any offers?  Tell us what your doing to get leads in the comments section below.

Rachel (my wife) and I had set up a few appointments with some prospects, but due to the rain today we had to postpone them.

None of the deals were that good, but they were nearby and we would have had a chance to practice our team work.

In “Deals on Wheels” the author explains how he and his wife go to properties together and then they split up.  Lonnie keeps the seller occupied while his wife wonders around the mobile searching for potential problems (or discounts depending on how you look at it.)

When she spots a problem she calls over to Lonnie and says, “I think you better have a look at this.”  Then they walk over and Lonnie begins asking questions about the problem.  While he does that his wife is off to find more potential discounts.

This technique is a very powerful way to get discounts before you even begin discussing price with the seller. By the time the price comes up in the discussion the seller is unsure whether or not his price is to high.

Most times sellers would rather discount the price then make the repairs.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so I will be taking the day off.  I will catch up with you on Monday and let you know what we’re up to.

P.S.- Remember your homework, go make an offer.

“…must sell by Friday”

I set up an appointment with her at 10:30 am today and took a look at the property.  This is what I saw when I pulled up.

YIKES

I wasn’t too excited when I saw the outside, but when I got inside it got better.

Ahh..that's more like it.

After speaking with her for a few minutes I asked why she was selling.  She told me some long drawn out story about some money she borrowed and she had to pay today or she would loose the property.  After building some rapport with her I asked,

“How flexible are you on the price?”

After some himming and hawing she told me she could bring it down to $5,000 if I bought it today.  That was a 23% discount off her asking price.  Not bad.

I told her I couldn’t pay more than $2,000 (the magic number) and she said she would take the $2,000 as a down payment and finance the rest.  I said that I really didn’t want to waste her time because all I had was $2,000 and I wasn’t willing to make payments.  I told her, “If you reconsider, give me a call,” as I walked to the door.

She said, “Wait! How about $4,500, that’s what I owe on the place.”  I told her, “I’m sure you can find someone to pay you that price, but I just can’t.”

After a little more chit chat I left and told her to call me if anything changed.

I also went and saw the other mobile that was referred to me by a friend and I was not impressed.

Not such a nice site

This thing needed more work than the guy had mentioned on the phone.  I didn’t even bother to take too many pictures because I wasn’t interested due to of the amount of repairs.

After a short discussion I asked him if he could work on the price and he said he’d be willing to go down to $2,500.  That was a 35.6% discount off his asking price. Although that was a decent discount I said,

“The most I can pay for this place is $1,500 because of the amount of work it needs.”  He was insulted and showed me the way out.

It’s day number three and I’ve made 2 offers on two properties. Have you made any offers?  If you’re not out there making offers than there’s no way you’re ever going to buy a property.

For those of you playing along at home, this weekend’s home work assignment is to make an offer on at least one property.

Tell us about the offer you made in the comments box below.

We’re beginning our search by targeting our local “Pennysaver” and the local Newspaper.

While reading the classifieds, these words jumped out at me,

“…must sell by Friday”

If that’s not a sign of motivation, I don’t know what is.  The property was priced at $6,500 which is a bit out of our price range, but it will be fine.  I know the owner is motivated so I’m sure they will negotiate. I left a voice mail, and I’ve marked this one down for a follow up.

Lead number two came to me from one of my contacts who knows I am looking for mobile homes.  Always remember to tell everyone around you what you are doing so they can help.

Anyways, my friend was doing some work on another mobile in this park and he saw this one for sale so he called me with the number.  I guess it’s good to offer referral fees to people you work with.  Typically I offer a $100 fee for any deal I buy.

I spoke to the seller and they mentioned that they are moving out of town and they don’t want to carry the lot rent.  He told me there were some repairs that were needed, but nothing major.  It’s a single wide 12×60 from 1981.  His asking price was $3,900.

The reason I was interested in this property is because it’s only 3 miles away from a rental property we own.  This will make it easy to keep an eye on both properties.

How are you getting your leads?  Post some ideas on the comments section below to help your fellow readers.

I’ve got an appointment to see the property tomorrow.  I’ll check in with you then.

What will we need to get this adventure under way?

1. Motivated Sellers
2. Buyers

To find sellers I’m going to look in a few select places:

• Craigslist
• Online Classifieds
• Local Paper

Buyers will be looking in the same places, so I’m going to start placing ads to see if we get any bites.

The most important thing to remember in this phase is to deal with ONLY motivated sellers.  We’re looking for people who NEED to sell right now.  Scan all the ads to look for any signs of motivation.  Another important thing to remember is that you will be looking at the low end of the trailer market.  Our budget of $2,000 will get us 20-25 year old single wides.

Make sure that you don’t bother with anything less than 12’x60.

I bet you’re wondering what kind of trailer you can get for $2,000.

This is what you can expect for $2,000