Today’s REI Classroom Lesson
In the classroom today, Duncan Wierman explains the importance of standing out from your competition. An easy way to do this is to become a local expert in the area you’re investing in.
REI Classroom Summary
In this industry, you should be promoting yourself and your skill set. Also, follow up is a necessity as many buyers might not be ready today but might be within the next few months.
Listen to this REI Classroom Lesson
Real Estate Investing Classroom Show Transcripts:
Mike: Welcome back to the flipnerd.com REI Classroom, where experts from across the real estate investing industry teach you quick lessons to take your business to the next level. And now, let’s meet today’s expert host.
Duncan: Hello everyone, I’m Duncan Wierman. I’m your host today for FlipNerd’s REI Classroom. And today I’m going to be speaking about how to set yourself apart from all the other real estate investors and competition that you have out there.
Mike: This show was sponsored by passiverental.com.
Duncan: And it’s actually very easy to do. You got to be unique. You can’t keep saying the same things that every other investor is saying, else you’ll look like a copycat or a want-to-be investor. So let’s start with something that makes you unique, and that is you got to become the authority in your local market. If you’re an investor, you should be a master at some neighborhoods better than other ones. Okay? Just take a few neighborhoods and figure out, well, what’s going on in that neighborhood? What new businesses are moving in? How are the rents trending? What are prices doing? What’s the supply of housing, sales volume? Are there any demographic shifts? Where are people working? What do they earn in a given year? How are the schools–improving, stable, worsening?
So you got to figure out what makes you unique and becoming a local authority is one of them. And it doesn’t take much to research that stuff because it’s all online, and you can just become very good at getting this information together and just rehashing it in a way that makes it easy for people to understand and get to. All right. So you got to understand that your competitive advantage must be perceivable, it must be promotable, and something the market is going to pay for. So, becoming a local market expert, that is very easy to promote.
And you got to become an off-market referral machine. You got to be getting leads, okay? And you’ve probably heard of networking but you got to do networking on steroids. You got to have passion for this. You got to talk to everybody about what you do and how you do it. So you should have a tiny, little infomercial that is no more than 30 seconds long so people remember you, all right?
You want to start development bird dogs, offering referral fees, talking to realtors, talking to other investors, talking to people on the streets, standing in line, picking up your kids at school. Okay? I hope you hopefully you have your business card. But on the business card you got to provide clarity, exactly what you do. Just don’t say, “We buy houses.” Say something different because you’ve got to be first. And that means you got to get in the habit of every single time you talk to somebody about a deal, make an offer. I don’t care if it’s a verbal offer or a one-page offer or even if it’s a 13-page offer, everybody you talk to gets an offer.
So the first offer in usually will probably get it. Yes, you do need to be pretty proactive, but so what. Even, I tell you what, set up alerts, just keep searching, do your online lead generation. Continue to do your postcards if need be, but follow up, follow up, follow up. The fortune is in the follow-up. And always smile. Smiling can be a competitive advantage if it makes everyone feel better and the situation brighter.
And make sure you have access to fast funding because when you start getting people saying, “Okay, what’s your offer?” you better be able to have your funding lined up. So go get it lined up now, so you’re ready. And get good on your numbers because you need to understand how renovations work and that expertise will make you a better offer writer. So if you’re a wholesaler, you can get the offer much more sharper and you’ll make more money and so will your rehabber, or even if you’re a rehabber, you’ll get much better if you know your numbers. So just become an expert. Grab a niche, focus on one strategy, don’t be average.
So, a competitive advantage is really the company’s ability to perform in one or more ways that competitors cannot or will not match. So just go out there, think about how you’re marketing yourself and be different, take action every single day, network like a mad dog, and just get out there and you’re soon going to be known as that local market authority and the guy to go to.
So thank you once again. My name is Duncan Wierman. You can catch me and my marketing advice on duncanwierman.com blog and I enjoy being the host today on FlipNerd because I’m a nerd at REI Classroom.
Mike: Passiverental.com is your source for turnkey, done for you rental properties. If you’d like to be an investor and not a landlord, please visit passiverental.com to learn how to purchase cash flowing, professionally managed rental properties and the hottest rental markets across the country. We can also help connect you with financing for your next property. Invest the easy way today and get started by visiting passiverental.com.
Please note, the views and opinions expressed by the individuals in this program do not necessarily reflect those of flipnerd.com or any of its partners, advertisers, or affiliates. Please consult professionals before making any investment or tax decisions as real estate investing can be risky.
Are you a member yet of flipnerd.com, the hottest real estate investing social community online? If not, you can join for free in less than 30 seconds and get access to hundreds of off-market deals, vendors in your market to help you in your business, and you can start networking with thousands of other investors just like you. Get your free account now at flipnerd.com.
Please check out the FlipNerd Family of real estate investing shows, where you can access hundreds of expert interviews, quick tips, and lessons from leaders across the real estate investing industry. They’re available at flipnerd.com/shows or simply search for FlipNerd in the iTunes store.
Duncan: Hello everyone, I’m Duncan Wierman. I’m your host today for FlipNerd’s REI Classroom. And today I’m going to be speaking about how to set yourself apart from all the other real estate investors and competition that you have out there.
Mike: This show was sponsored by passiverental.com.
Duncan: And it’s actually very easy to do. You got to be unique. You can’t keep saying the same things that every other investor is saying, else you’ll look like a copycat or a want-to-be investor. So let’s start with something that makes you unique, and that is you got to become the authority in your local market. If you’re an investor, you should be a master at some neighborhoods better than other ones. Okay? Just take a few neighborhoods and figure out, well, what’s going on in that neighborhood? What new businesses are moving in? How are the rents trending? What are prices doing? What’s the supply of housing, sales volume? Are there any demographic shifts? Where are people working? What do they earn in a given year? How are the schools–improving, stable, worsening?
So you got to figure out what makes you unique and becoming a local authority is one of them. And it doesn’t take much to research that stuff because it’s all online, and you can just become very good at getting this information together and just rehashing it in a way that makes it easy for people to understand and get to. All right. So you got to understand that your competitive advantage must be perceivable, it must be promotable, and something the market is going to pay for. So, becoming a local market expert, that is very easy to promote.
And you got to become an off-market referral machine. You got to be getting leads, okay? And you’ve probably heard of networking but you got to do networking on steroids. You got to have passion for this. You got to talk to everybody about what you do and how you do it. So you should have a tiny, little infomercial that is no more than 30 seconds long so people remember you, all right?
You want to start development bird dogs, offering referral fees, talking to realtors, talking to other investors, talking to people on the streets, standing in line, picking up your kids at school. Okay? I hope you hopefully you have your business card. But on the business card you got to provide clarity, exactly what you do. Just don’t say, “We buy houses.” Say something different because you’ve got to be first. And that means you got to get in the habit of every single time you talk to somebody about a deal, make an offer. I don’t care if it’s a verbal offer or a one-page offer or even if it’s a 13-page offer, everybody you talk to gets an offer.
So the first offer in usually will probably get it. Yes, you do need to be pretty proactive, but so what. Even, I tell you what, set up alerts, just keep searching, do your online lead generation. Continue to do your postcards if need be, but follow up, follow up, follow up. The fortune is in the follow-up. And always smile. Smiling can be a competitive advantage if it makes everyone feel better and the situation brighter.
And make sure you have access to fast funding because when you start getting people saying, “Okay, what’s your offer?” you better be able to have your funding lined up. So go get it lined up now, so you’re ready. And get good on your numbers because you need to understand how renovations work and that expertise will make you a better offer writer. So if you’re a wholesaler, you can get the offer much more sharper and you’ll make more money and so will your rehabber, or even if you’re a rehabber, you’ll get much better if you know your numbers. So just become an expert. Grab a niche, focus on one strategy, don’t be average.
So, a competitive advantage is really the company’s ability to perform in one or more ways that competitors cannot or will not match. So just go out there, think about how you’re marketing yourself and be different, take action every single day, network like a mad dog, and just get out there and you’re soon going to be known as that local market authority and the guy to go to.
So thank you once again. My name is Duncan Wierman. You can catch me and my marketing advice on duncanwierman.com blog and I enjoy being the host today on FlipNerd because I’m a nerd at REI Classroom.
Mike: Passiverental.com is your source for turnkey, done for you rental properties. If you’d like to be an investor and not a landlord, please visit passiverental.com to learn how to purchase cash flowing, professionally managed rental properties and the hottest rental markets across the country. We can also help connect you with financing for your next property. Invest the easy way today and get started by visiting passiverental.com.
Please note, the views and opinions expressed by the individuals in this program do not necessarily reflect those of flipnerd.com or any of its partners, advertisers, or affiliates. Please consult professionals before making any investment or tax decisions as real estate investing can be risky.
Are you a member yet of flipnerd.com, the hottest real estate investing social community online? If not, you can join for free in less than 30 seconds and get access to hundreds of off-market deals, vendors in your market to help you in your business, and you can start networking with thousands of other investors just like you. Get your free account now at flipnerd.com.
Please check out the FlipNerd Family of real estate investing shows, where you can access hundreds of expert interviews, quick tips, and lessons from leaders across the real estate investing industry. They’re available at flipnerd.com/shows or simply search for FlipNerd in the iTunes store.
