How to Find Discounted Property Like the Pros - Part I

Are you looking to learn how to find discounted property?

In this article, we'll teach you how to find investment property with big discounts and the ins and outs of property lead generation.

First off, it's a good idea to understand what makes a property discounted... Unless the seller is unaware of the value of their property, it will be discounted because the seller needs to sell.

In other words they are motivated.

If you are dealing with someone who just wants to sell and not someone who needs to sell, then you are wasting your time!

Where to find discounted property

Estate agents can be a great place to find discounted property, especially in slow markets. But...

Many of the best deals are not even on the open market!

So how do you find them?

Answer: get them to come to you!

How to find investment property - Marketing

Just like in any good business, you need to have a varied marketing plan, with several different methods that get you leads.

Try a new method every few weeks or every month, perfecting each before moving on to the next.

It is imperative that you test and measure any marketing that you do. There is no point in paying for an ad in the local paper week after week if you have no idea if it is working.

This means that you need to ask everyone who gets in touch with you how they heard about you. And record it.

If you do this then you will know which marketing is working and which is not. You can then spend more on the stuff that's working and stop the stuff that isn't.

Marketing 101

Here are a few marketing basics that should save you making expensive mistakes:

• The usual temptation is to put your logo at the top of an ad or leaflet. Your customer doesn't care about you logo! Put your headline at the top.
• Headlines should grab your prospects' attention by speaking to their situation. There are several different types of marketing headline; here are a few of the most popular:
  • Benefit headline: benefits sell... features do NOT! Example: "Sell your house in 30 days"
  • Question headline: ask a question that your ideal customer will answer "yes!" to. Example: "Looking for a quick house sale?"
  • Guarantee headline: guarantees are powerful too. "Cash offer on your house in 48 hours, guaranteed". (But always make sure that you can deliver on your promise!)
• Always have a clear call to action. I.e. what do you want them to do when they read your ad: "call Karen now on 07834...." or "check bolton-house-buyers.co.uk for more info".

Marketing methods - use your imagination!

The list below could go on and on - it is limited only by your imagination! Test some of your own ideas... use the good ones and throw away the bad.

• Internet marketing: this is my absolute favourite way to find discounted property, and not as hard as you might think! See the dedicated section in part two of our guide for more info on this amazing way of generating unlimited amounts of motivated seller leads on autopilot.
  
• Fliers / Leaflets: best distributed on their own rather than with other material. Be very careful who you choose to distribute them otherwise they may end up in a local skip. And, yes, this has happened to me! It will always take a few leaflet drops before you get much response. It takes a while for people to get used to your message.
• Newspaper advert: pick something that stands out from the rest of the page; if the rest of the ads are colour, use black and white. If the rest have borders, don't use a border.Always ask for a right hand page as people see this more and it gets a better response. Test a small ad before scaling up to a bigger one. Get better rates by calling up just before their advert submission deadline.
• Bandit signs: correx ad boards on lamp posts or railings can be a very low cost method but note that most councils do not allow them and you could face a fine if you get caught!
• Business cards: a bright colour will get you noticed. Hand them out to everyone you meet. They can also be put on notice boards in hallways of blocks of flats or public buildings.
• Bird dogs: offer finder fees to people who know what's going on around your neighbourhood. Maybe a postman or a neighbourhood watch organiser...

Offline property marketing

Offline property lead generation is something that got me some of my most discounted properties and you can see some examples of these deals and hear about a course I put together about how to do property lead generation here.

To be continued...

In part two of our guide, we'll look at my favourite property lead generation method... internet marketing.

What's your favourite way to find discounted property? Share it with us by leaving a comment below...

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