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Does Networking Really Pay Off?
September 1, 2010 by Scott Costello · View Comments
By reading the title you probably thought that I had a deal come my way through my networking channels. Unfortunately that is not the direction this post is going to take. What I’m getting at is that I can officially say I have a coach.
Over the summer I’ve continually offered up my website development “skills” at my real estate meetings in order to help myself build relationships with other successful investors. Almost immediate Jon Zorrer (the organizer of the rei group) came to me with some projects he needed a website set up for.
What he needed me to do was not hard work by any means, just the technical stuff behind the websites like…
- Installing WordPress
- Setting up the theme
- Installing and setting up the plugins
- Getting Audio, Video and other media displaying correctly
- Creating and setting up aweber opt-in boxes
The only thing I’m not really doing is supplying content for the sites or ad-copy. I’ve actually learned a lot of things by doing this. Such as what has worked for Jon in terms of internet marketing and how he words things in order to attract seller, buyers and who ever. That is invaluable stuff right there!
It gets even better though. Jon has been so appreciative of my help (I do it all for free) that he gave me a deal I couldn’t pass up ($7000 off his $7000 price…ie free!) on his coaching program. This is awesome and a great example of how building good, solid relationships can pay off over and over again.
SHIT!!!
My stress level actually got a bit higher after getting this awesome gift. Why you ask?
- Because now what do I do?
- What am I to expect out of this mentoring program?
- How should I use Jon to get the most out of myself?
- This is the sort of thing where I’ll only get out what I put in, but what do I need to put in?
So many questions and looking back is probably the reason why I never fully sought out a mentor coach. I may have been afraid of being told I was doing something wrong.
What I’m going to do
Someone once told me that you never go into a meeting with out an agenda. I’m going to take that same approach with Jon’s mentoring. The first thing I’m going to do is put together a small list of what I want to get out of the coaching.
- Bring in more leads through internet marketing
- Help with putting a deal together (paper work, legal contracts, creative strategies, etc..)
- Experience a deal from start to finish
That should be a good start. The next thing I want to do is schedule a meeting with Jon to talk about the above topics and get the ball rolling.
If you have a mentor/coach, I’d love for you to leave a comment and tell us how you take advantage and what sort of things you do to get the most out of the situation.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Probate Monday: A little negotiating going on
August 30, 2010 by Scott Costello · View Comments
This is going to be another busy week for sure. Even though the last letters I sent out where in the first week of August, my phone rang with a call from a lady who had been holding onto my letter since I mailed it back in January. Took me a bit to find her name because when she said it on the message it sounded like “Cook”, but in fact it was “Cope.” I managed to to do a search on the address she left in the message and find what her real name was. If I couldn’t find her name the return phone call would have sounded something like this, “Hi, my name is Scott Costello. Someone from this phone number called me and left a message about selling a house at 123 Main St. I apologize but I could not understand the name given in the message, is this house still for sale?”
Mrs Cope, wanted to know if I was still interested in buying the house. She said the house was currently under contract for $160k but she didn’t sound confident it would go to closing and wanted some back up offers. My research got me to a figure of about 100k for a cash offer. Besides the house already being under contract, another monkey with this house was that it was an Illegal two family home that was grandfathered in. Not really sure what this means for someone who wants to fix and flip it or how to find comps. Should I comp it as a single family or a multifamily dwelling?
When I gave my offer to the seller, she said that she had a few higher offers on the table but if I could get it closer to 160 then we could talk. I haven’t seen the house yet and the repairs might not be that bad (I assume 50k repairs if I haven’t seen the house), but I don’t see an offer of 160k coming from me with an ARV of $245k.
I do believe I took another small step forward with this opportunity though. I actually talked with Bruce and he said he’d be interested if I got my number. I say this is a step forward because in the past I just handed over the lead to Bruce to negotiate, but this time I talked numbers first. Baby steps right??
Last Weeks Goal Review
My original thought about last week was that I got a lot accomplished, but now that I review my goals I actually did not get any of them completely done. The main reason for that was because I never reviewed my weekly goals like I should. Every morning I should write my goals down on a piece of paper. This I did not do.
- Modify Postcards: Didn’t even think about this one because it completely slipped my mind. This is going back on my todo list for this week.
- Prepare September Mailers: I put this off three times last week. I kept telling myself I have time and then I ran out of time. Perfect example of what not to do right there! Learn from me
- Research Proof Of Funds Options: Early in the week I came up with about 10 different proof of funds options. However I never did any deeper research.
This weeks Goals
- Modify Postcards
- Prepare September Mailers
- Finish Proof of Funds Research
They will get done this week!
Popularity: 6% [?]
Create Extra Marketing Money With Your Real Estate Blog
August 25, 2010 by Scott Costello · View Comments
For those people who have been reading my blog for a while know that I’m pretty limited with my marketing budget of $200 per month. This gets eaten up quickly when half of that goes to my probate list provider. That leaves me with only $100 for Stamps, paper, ink and envelopes. Sending out 80 to 100 mailers each month is all i am about able to do.
This causes a problem because I want to send out a multiple mailings to each lead over a 7 month period. Lets quickly do some math and see how much that will actually cost me.
Here are my assumptions
- Sending letter (stamp, envelope, ink and paper): $0.60 each
- Sending Postcards (click2mail.com): $0.35 each
- 100 mail pieces in each list
- First Mailing will be a letter and
- We will go cheap on mailings 2 – 7 and use postcards
Month #1
- List 1: $60
Month #2
- List 2: $60
- List 1: $35
Month #3
- List 3: $60
- List 2: $35
- List 1: $35
Month #4
- List 4: $60
- List 3: $35
- List 2: $35
- List 1: $35
Month #5
- List 5: $60
- List 4: $35
- List 3: $35
- List 2: $35
- List 1: $35
Month #6
- List 6: $60
- List 5: $35
- List 4: $35
- List 3: $35
- List 2: $35
- List 1: $35
Month #7
- List 7: $60
- List 6: $35
- List 5: $35
- List 4: $35
- List 3: $35
- List 2: $35
- List 1: $35
Totals for each Month
- $60
- $95
- $130
- $165
- $200
- $235
- $270
That means after seven months of lists I’ll be at a steady cost of $270 per month to send out all the letters and postcards I need for follow up. Obviously I’m $170 short and pretty much need to double my budget to accomplish my plan.
How am I going to get an additional $200 a month?
If you face a similar situation you shouldn’t just resign yourself to the fact that you can only send out $100 worth of mailers per month. I’m going to figure out a way around this road block because follow up mailers are so important!
I began brain storming some ideas
- get a part time job
- sell some of my belongings like old computers or things I don’t really need
- build some websites for people
- get a loan
- use credit (hurts even to write that)
- get a partner
- use my blog and earn extra money with affiliate sales
- sell advertising space on my blog
- use adsense on my blog
After listing all of these items it didn’t take me long to realize my best option(s). Leverage what I’ve built already and my current knowledge to earn extra money with affiliate sales and adsense.
I already have had some success
From the beginning of my blog I’ve played around with Adsense and affiliate products and have had some moderate success. All the links in the How I learned section to the right are affiliate links. So are the square banners.
If you aren’t sure how affiliate marketing works, it’s pretty simple. You get paid a percentage (up to 50% and more) of a sale if the buyer clicked through one of your links to the sales page and purchases a product. It some cases like amazon, it doesn’t matter what item is bought, just as long as the buyer clicked through your affiliate link to their site.
Another way I can make a few cents is by using Google Adsense ads on my site. These ads you’ve probably seen in my side bar at the top (large square banner ad) and also in posts that are older then 7 days. Adsense ads are CPC or Cost Per Click. This means that every time someone clicks on an ad, I earn a few cents (could be 1 cent or all the way up to $10). There is an entire other side to adsense that I don’t really want to get into, but the simple of it is the ads that appear in Adsense are through another Google service called Adwords.
I believe in being totally transparent with my blog and want to make sure you know that if you see a link for a product on my site, it may contain an affiliate link. Rest assured though that I will only have links for products that I have tried myself and think highly of. I will have no hard feelings if you decide to not click my affiliate link and go directly to the site and buy the product that way.
Over the past 6 months, I’ve averaged between $30 and $50 in additional income from the above methods. about $20 of that pays for my domain name renewals and my hosting fees.
I think I can up my earnings significantly and over the next 6 months am going to work hard to do so. Don’t worry, this blog won’t get over loaded with ads and affiliate links. I plan on creating other blogs and using facebook to build lists that I can leverage. I will give a monthly update on how this is all going.
Has anyone else had any success with affiliate marketing and adsense? Or how about selling ad space on your blog? I’d love to chat with you.
Popularity: 6% [?]
Probate Monday: Gearing Up for Another Mailing
August 24, 2010 by Scott Costello · View Comments
With the end of August looming large, I’m going to be preparing my next batch of probate letters to be sent out. Unlike most prior months I’ve been waiting for the beginning of the month to put all the letters together, stuff and stamp them. This usually takes me a few nights and the letters don’t go out until the end of the first week. Not this time! They will be sent out on the 1st.
I also have post cards going out to my June list. I’m still going to be using the same old postcard, but I’m going to try and add one new item to it. I haven’t figured out what the is going to be yet though. The reason is that I want to continue to test and tweak, always looking for the best combination of words, styles and colors.
So far no lead has worked out yet, but that will never stop me. It’s motivating to see people like Shae, Jason, Esi and others making direct mail work for them. That is why it is so important for newbie investors to communicate and network with people who are actually making things happen. They let you see that light at the end of the tunnel and provide you with a map to get there.
Review of Last Weeks Goals
Goal #1: Give my wife an awesome birthday week. SUCCESS! She couldn’t have been happier with how it turned out. We had a one on one birthday celebration on her actual birthday where I cooked her dinner and made her 4 giant sized cup cakes (basic chocolate cake with vanilla icing). I also gave her her presents which included a Hot Air Balloon ride and tickets to go see the Broadway show Rock of Ages.
On 21st we threw a huge birthday bbq with 45 of our closest friends and family. Being the host, I was relegated to grille duty. I don’t cook anything spectacular like ribs or steak but can cook up burgers, hot dogs and chicken with the best of them.
All in all we had a great week and I’m sad to see it go. Next up my birthday come this November 8th.
Goals for This Week:
- Modify Probate Postcard
- Get Mailers Ready to Send
- Research Proof of Funds options
Popularity: 4% [?]
Probate Monday: Mid Month Slow Down
August 18, 2010 by Scott Costello · View Comments
Before I get started, I want to wish my beautiful bride a very happy 30th birthday today. She is the love of my life and with out a doubt my best friend as well. Can’t beat that combo! In our family we like to celebrate birthdays over a week period, not just on the date itself. We get together with family, have a party with friends and do things throughout the week to make it a really special time. With that being the case, this week is going to be light on Real Estate Investing.
Last Week Goal Review
I had three goals last week and I only managed to complete 2 of them. One of which I just finished up today.
Goal #1: Setup an automated email from the mls to send myself new properties that meet my criteria. This wasn’t as straight forward as I thought it might have been. I wasn’t really sure how to make it so that i’d only get houses that have changed status or are new. Other wise the list of houses would just grow and grow and grow. My temporary solution for this was to only include houses that had DOMs (Days on the Market) of 1 day. I’m sure I am missing out on many properties though.
I did find another solution, but it requires me to log into the mls everyday. It’s called the hotsheet. You setup your search criteria and then it will only show you properties that have changed since the last time you viewed it. Email would be better because then the list would be put right in my face instead of having to remember to log into the mls, but this will do for now.
Goal #2: Call up my new broker and get my license hung with them. I don’t know why this took me so long to do, but it did. I guess I was afraid of what they would say because I had not spoken with them in 4 months. After initially contacting Donna to get my license transferred I ran into some road blocks. It took me 3 weeks to get deactivated from my old broker and get my license. This needed to be done before Donna could proceed. I then, if you remember, had thoughts of just giving up my license and saving money. Well it took me forever to decide and call back Donna. Please don’t ask me why I was nervous about this, I really don’t know.
With this new broker I’m going to be joining them as a referral agent, which should save me some money on Agent fees. I’m still not completely sure what the restrictions of a referral agent are but I’ll find them out.
Goal #3: Make an offer on another MLS property. I’ve got the house identified and my offer about set and hopefully today I’ll get a chance to put the offer in. One obstacle that I need to get over is finding a solid proof of funds. I always feel funny sending in the POFs from a transactional brokerage. I’m going to have to do some research on what can be used.
Property and Lead Updates
This months mailing only yielded 3 phone calls and 2 return to sender mail pieces. I’m going to give the new letter one more shot and if the response rate doesn’t increase I’m gonna try a combination of the old and new letters next.
One new thing I added to this past letter was the webpage address of my sellers squeeze page. Normally that site gets 1 hit a day, but the few days after I sent the letter out the site received 15 to 20 visits. That tells me that at least 20% of the people are slightly interested. If I can come up with a way to track exactly which person is visiting my webpage I can hit them up with a different, more direct mail piece in the future. This might be a great use of the PURLS idea that Pat Flynn wrote about in his guest article Improve Your Marketing Conversions with Personalized Urls.
Goals for This Week
- Make Sure My Wife Has A Incredible Birthday Week!
Popularity: 5% [?]
