Today’s REI Classroom Lesson
Holly McKhann discusses how you can post on social media to get leads from friends.
REI Classroom Summary
Letting friends and connections know about your desire to purchase homes can give you new leads without paying for any type of marketing.
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 investment industry teach you quick lessons to take your business to the next level. And now, let’s meet today’s expert host.
Holly: Hi, there. I’m Holly McKhann, your host today for the REI Classroom. I would love to give you a short bio of myself and so you wonder why you should be listening to me. What I have to share to make your investing life better?
Well, my husband and I have flipped over 200 homes in Southern California in the last six years. We love doing what we do. It is really fun. We’ve bought houses anywhere from $13,000 for a junky little mobile home on the California/Arizona border, on up to a home in Studio City, Los Angeles that we plan to flip for $1.3 million, so you’ve got the full range of experience.
We mostly do higher end homes now, and something really unique about us and me and our business and I’m going to share with you today is I have never spent any money on marketing. Whether that is good or bad, I don’t know. That’s up for you to decide. I get all my deals through networking. I’m going to share with you one of my networking strategies today that is utilizing social media.
Mike: This REI Classroom real estate lesson is sponsored by AceBusinessFunding.com
Holly: So that free website out there called Facebook and the one called LinkdIn, both of those have been pretty helpful to me, specifically Facebook. So it doesn’t really cost you any money, just a little bit of time if you were to put on your Facebook wall that you’re an investor and that you pay cash for houses. What I did is I put a post out there telling my Facebook friends I’m looking to buy houses and who do you know that’s a realtor that might lead me to a good deal for a house?
I had a few friends put posts on there. I’m going to share with you a story of this one success that I had that was really exciting. My junior high friend, Laura, posted on my Facebook wall, “Hey, you should talk to my brother Curtis.” I live in California, Laura is in the Salt Lake City, Utah area, and she says, “You should talk to Curtis,” who lived about an hour away from me in what we call the High Desert in the Apple Valley, California area.
So okay, I’ll give him a call. We’d actually already flipped some houses in that area. I’m always looking for more realtors to bring me deals and I thought why not give Curtis a call.
I called up Curtis. He was really sharp and I was really impressed with him. He really understood when I explained to him what I wanted. Just to give you a real quick intro to what I tell realtors is I tell them, “Hey, if you bring me a deal, I’ll buy it with you and I will resell it with you. 100% guaranteed. I’m loyal that way, and I don’t want to do just one deal with you, I want to do a lot of deals with you.”
Curtis caught the vision. I explained to him how I need to buy at about 75% at the after repaired value just to give him a little idea. I don’t throw a big Excel spreadsheet at him or any formulas, just generally about 75% of what it would be worth when it is fixed up. I try to speak in layman’s terms, not high level investor terms. So he goes, “Okay.” He actually helped me sell one of my houses that hadn’t been selling and he found another couple of houses for me.
So I had put back on Facebook, circling back to that post that Laura found, that I would pay somebody a referral fee if they led me to someone that I bought a house with. Since I got two houses with Curtis I paid Laura $500 per deal and she was quite excited, I’ll tell you. I haven’t utilized that strategy this year and I’m just thinking as I’m sharing this now, I need to get back on that deal because you never know through all your different connections and circles who knows who someone where that might have a house to sell or might be a smart realtor that could really help you and be on your team.
So put on Facebook that not only are you looking for houses to buy so hopefully your friends will think of you when they hear about a distressed home, and you can be specific or general, like, “Oh, I only buy in California,” or, “I’ll buy anywhere in the country,” because maybe through your network you could wholesale it to somebody that’s not in your specific area, or you just say who do you know that might know someone that has a house that they need to sell?
Be general. Just try and stay at the front of people’s minds. Maybe on you Facebook cover photo, you put a before and an after of a house you’ve done. I’m also a realtor myself so I put a picture of me and a beautifully staged house to remind people this is how my house looks when I’m all done with it. I’m a house flipper, I’m a realtor. Just so they get that image in their mind so when they think of Holly, they’re thinking of realtor and they’re thinking of investor. You want to get at the top of people’s minds.
One more quick thing. On LinkedIn I have had people contact me that were interested in investing with me because I put a pretty complete detailed resume with my experience on LinkedIn. That was a really great tool to get people to notice me and contact me through there. So if you’re in the business of raising money or buying houses, those are both some good places to start.
Be careful if you’re raising money. I know you cannot actively solicit. You cannot go on Facebook and say, “I’m looking to raise money for a deal,” because that’s a violation I’m sure by the FCC. But in roundabout ways, if they are your friends, you can say, “Hey, if you know anyone interested in learning about how to invest in real estate with trust deeds,” you could put that on there, maybe some links to some information about how to do trust deed investing, and from there you can take it to the next level. But don’t put out there, “I have a trust deed available for a $100,000 and it’s 75% [inaudible 00:06:14] value, that’s a no-no. You can’t do that. Use your networks. Go to your Facebook friends list and see where it can get you. That is it for my short tip of the day. I look forward to seeing you next time.
Mike: AceBusinessFunding.com can help you get access to up to $150,000 in revolving credit lines to fund your business, with rates as low as 0% for the first 12 to18 months. Use the funds for startup costs, marketing, inventory . . . heck, you can even use it to buy houses and pay for rehabs or almost anything else that your business needs. If they can’t get you funding, you don’t pay a dime. Get funds for your business today atAceBusinessFunding.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 we host four great ongoing shows at FlipNerd.com/shows or simply search for FlipNerd in the iTunes Store.
Holly: Hi, there. I’m Holly McKhann, your host today for the REI Classroom. I would love to give you a short bio of myself and so you wonder why you should be listening to me. What I have to share to make your investing life better?
Well, my husband and I have flipped over 200 homes in Southern California in the last six years. We love doing what we do. It is really fun. We’ve bought houses anywhere from $13,000 for a junky little mobile home on the California/Arizona border, on up to a home in Studio City, Los Angeles that we plan to flip for $1.3 million, so you’ve got the full range of experience.
We mostly do higher end homes now, and something really unique about us and me and our business and I’m going to share with you today is I have never spent any money on marketing. Whether that is good or bad, I don’t know. That’s up for you to decide. I get all my deals through networking. I’m going to share with you one of my networking strategies today that is utilizing social media.
Mike: This REI Classroom real estate lesson is sponsored by AceBusinessFunding.com
Holly: So that free website out there called Facebook and the one called LinkdIn, both of those have been pretty helpful to me, specifically Facebook. So it doesn’t really cost you any money, just a little bit of time if you were to put on your Facebook wall that you’re an investor and that you pay cash for houses. What I did is I put a post out there telling my Facebook friends I’m looking to buy houses and who do you know that’s a realtor that might lead me to a good deal for a house?
I had a few friends put posts on there. I’m going to share with you a story of this one success that I had that was really exciting. My junior high friend, Laura, posted on my Facebook wall, “Hey, you should talk to my brother Curtis.” I live in California, Laura is in the Salt Lake City, Utah area, and she says, “You should talk to Curtis,” who lived about an hour away from me in what we call the High Desert in the Apple Valley, California area.
So okay, I’ll give him a call. We’d actually already flipped some houses in that area. I’m always looking for more realtors to bring me deals and I thought why not give Curtis a call.
I called up Curtis. He was really sharp and I was really impressed with him. He really understood when I explained to him what I wanted. Just to give you a real quick intro to what I tell realtors is I tell them, “Hey, if you bring me a deal, I’ll buy it with you and I will resell it with you. 100% guaranteed. I’m loyal that way, and I don’t want to do just one deal with you, I want to do a lot of deals with you.”
Curtis caught the vision. I explained to him how I need to buy at about 75% at the after repaired value just to give him a little idea. I don’t throw a big Excel spreadsheet at him or any formulas, just generally about 75% of what it would be worth when it is fixed up. I try to speak in layman’s terms, not high level investor terms. So he goes, “Okay.” He actually helped me sell one of my houses that hadn’t been selling and he found another couple of houses for me.
So I had put back on Facebook, circling back to that post that Laura found, that I would pay somebody a referral fee if they led me to someone that I bought a house with. Since I got two houses with Curtis I paid Laura $500 per deal and she was quite excited, I’ll tell you. I haven’t utilized that strategy this year and I’m just thinking as I’m sharing this now, I need to get back on that deal because you never know through all your different connections and circles who knows who someone where that might have a house to sell or might be a smart realtor that could really help you and be on your team.
So put on Facebook that not only are you looking for houses to buy so hopefully your friends will think of you when they hear about a distressed home, and you can be specific or general, like, “Oh, I only buy in California,” or, “I’ll buy anywhere in the country,” because maybe through your network you could wholesale it to somebody that’s not in your specific area, or you just say who do you know that might know someone that has a house that they need to sell?
Be general. Just try and stay at the front of people’s minds. Maybe on you Facebook cover photo, you put a before and an after of a house you’ve done. I’m also a realtor myself so I put a picture of me and a beautifully staged house to remind people this is how my house looks when I’m all done with it. I’m a house flipper, I’m a realtor. Just so they get that image in their mind so when they think of Holly, they’re thinking of realtor and they’re thinking of investor. You want to get at the top of people’s minds.
One more quick thing. On LinkedIn I have had people contact me that were interested in investing with me because I put a pretty complete detailed resume with my experience on LinkedIn. That was a really great tool to get people to notice me and contact me through there. So if you’re in the business of raising money or buying houses, those are both some good places to start.
Be careful if you’re raising money. I know you cannot actively solicit. You cannot go on Facebook and say, “I’m looking to raise money for a deal,” because that’s a violation I’m sure by the FCC. But in roundabout ways, if they are your friends, you can say, “Hey, if you know anyone interested in learning about how to invest in real estate with trust deeds,” you could put that on there, maybe some links to some information about how to do trust deed investing, and from there you can take it to the next level. But don’t put out there, “I have a trust deed available for a $100,000 and it’s 75% [inaudible 00:06:14] value, that’s a no-no. You can’t do that. Use your networks. Go to your Facebook friends list and see where it can get you. That is it for my short tip of the day. I look forward to seeing you next time.
Mike: AceBusinessFunding.com can help you get access to up to $150,000 in revolving credit lines to fund your business, with rates as low as 0% for the first 12 to18 months. Use the funds for startup costs, marketing, inventory . . . heck, you can even use it to buy houses and pay for rehabs or almost anything else that your business needs. If they can’t get you funding, you don’t pay a dime. Get funds for your business today atAceBusinessFunding.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 we host four great ongoing shows at FlipNerd.com/shows or simply search for FlipNerd in the iTunes Store.
