Short Sales Taking Too Long? 5 Ways to Generate Cashflow
Most investors (and real estate agents as well) have two big problems with Short Sales.
And sometimes these problems drive them close or even past the point of giving up.
Here they are (and I got them from dozens of emails and blog comments of frustrated
short sale investors (and agents):
1. Short Sales are taking too long before they generate revenue (either commission or profit),
2. Short Sales too often fall apart (eliminating any profit or commission you were counting on…)
Ok, so besides tweaking your short sale business by filling your deal funnel and increasing the closing rate, what else can you do to bridge the revenue gap? Here are my favorite, “Top 5 Ways”:
1. Wholesale Properties
Wholesaling properties is by far the fastest way to generate revenue quickly.
The characteristic of a wholesale deal is that you sell to a cash buyer at a discounted
price off the fair market value.
Two simple steps you need to focus on: Locate a handful of REAL cash buyers, and find
great deals according to their criteria. Great deals are everywhere.
And: Most great deals are MADE, not FOUND! Contact, talk, negotiate… (don’t
just look at lists or web sites and think the great deals will fall in your lap.)
Challenge: Make sure your buyers and sellers honor your position as wholesaler
both for the first deal and any follow-up deals! If you get this right, one successful
deal will lead to additional deals with more revenue for you. Don’t get greedy.
2. Free and Clear Deals
Free and clear deals (or “low-leverage” deals) are the kind of deals that can close
much faster than short sales. Free and clear deals can be sold to cash buyers at
a discount, to non-qualifying buyers with owner financing, or retail and outright
to qualified buyers (using the “Inverse Purchase System” works really well for
that last group!
These different exit strategies give you a lot of flexibility to time and structure
your revenue flow while you’re waiting for the big short sale pay days.
3. Land Investing
Land investing is another great and extremely underused niche. You will find that
there is a lot less competition when you venture into that area. An easy land flip
system can get you revenue within 30 days starting from scratch.
The simple steps to follow are: Market research (online), get a list (online or offline),
send out direct mail (online), make deals with land owners who respond (phone),
sell the deals (online).
None of these steps require that you see the property. Therefore, it does not matter
where you are located. To prove this point to yourself, just go through the steps in
a different state than where you live and you will see it works great. The best system
that I have used and recommend for this niche is Jack Bosch’s “Land Profit Generator”
(if you can still find a copy…)
4. Funded Proposal
A “funded proposal” is a way to help fellow real estate investors getting started with
the best resources, education and support. When you set yourself up as an authority
in your niche and/or area you can build up your network of buyers, sellers, agents
and investors using online marketing and social media.
Besides good and valuable content that you provide free of charge, you can also send
recommendations to your list from time to time. These could be for services, useful tools
or information. When someone in your network buys through your recommendation,
you get paid a referral fee.
This is a very powerful stream of additional revenue. Now, don’t get me wrong, it can
take some time to build up your network and trust, but once you have that established,
you can generate revenue with the push of a few buttons.
A variation of this method that does not even require that you already have a list is
to search for valuable offers and partner with someone who has a larger list for a
share of the revenue.
5. Lead Referral
A common misconception in internet marketing is that you need to build huge lists
before you will be able to make a significant amount of revenue. Particularly in real
estate where the “transaction value” for each client can be thousands or even tens of
thousands of Dollars, it can be much more lucrative to focus on the QUALITY of the
list.
You can do this in two ways: More specifically target your potential clients according
to their needs and wants, and develop your relationship more deeply. That way you
can generate high quality leads that you can refer to your network of professionals
and investors for a fee.
Sometimes real estate agents will tell you that they are not allowed to pay a “referral fee”
to someone who is not licensed. However, every agent spends significant amounts of
money on their own marketing and lead generating efforts. If you provide leads you
can get paid a “marketing fee”, and most agents will understand the difference.
This can be a great option for you if you want to focus on a specific niche for your
own investing, but keep getting leads that you can’t or don’t want to work with.
Summarizing these different ways of generating fast and steady revenue in your real
estate investing business, we need to point out that almost every revenue strategy
will work best for you when you understand how to set up your network so that you
provide real value to others.
The more people you have in your network and on your team who will benefit when
you generate revenue (either by making money or in some other way), the more and
easier will it be for you to have revenue come to you.
Please engage with this subject by leaving your comments, questions or suggestions
below! That’s one great way of building your network and get noticed by other likeminded
people.
The question is if these foreclosures are good 
