Hey everyone, if you are reading this, chances are you are into Chicago real estate investing. I myself have been building a buyers list in Chicago for quite sometime and I wanted to share with everyone what I do. Just for your information, in the last 3 weeks I have helped sell 4 wholesale deals. Not bad for not having a dime to my name and a credit score that resembles a MLB hitting average.
When I tell people that I am a real estate investor, I mean it! People look at me and tell me how much they want to do what I do, but then complain about not having money. These people DON'T want to do what you do or else they would have realized that they don't need money to begin. The fastest way to start is just building a list of Chicago buyers and then figuring out how to find them property. Let's take a quick look at some things I have done in order to find buyers.
Here are the four simplest ways to find investors for your deals
Networking - Go to your local REIA or investor club and begin asking people what they are looking to buy. If they say that they are not buying, take their business card and follow up in a week or so. You want to look for anyone that asks "where do you get your properties?", that way you can follow up by saying, "all over the place, where you looking to buy?" Simple enough, but the hard part is following up, scheduling a time to meet and go over their buying criteria. Use this criteria to then find wholesalers or flippers in the area and if you can team up the wholesaler with the buyer, you get a piece of the pie. Simple to do!
Social Media - Get on twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. On each you will want to build friends and contacts that are in the real estate profession throughout your city or area. Yahoo groups are another great source. Also, set up a blog on WordPress and start writing about real estate investment deals in the area, or why your area is great to buy in. You post this article in your twitter and Facebook and you will slowly yet surely get responses! This is more of a credibility builder than anything. Buyers will go online and read articles you posted about property and they will contact you, trust me, it works!
Bandit Signs - For as low as 50 bucks you order yellow bandit signs and stick them at the exits of highways and main cross sections. Please get a phone number that is NOT your cell phone. This works in case the local law gets mad and drops you a call, you can say you're an out of state investor and you paid a local guy to put them up. In any event, just create a map of the area you want to attack, and as you put up your signs, mark where you put them. In a week, just change the map and stick to the same area. On your sign have something that a buyer will recognize like, "Foreclosure for Sale. Asking: 36K, ARV, 110K", plus your phone #. Once the buyer calls, ask him/her what they are looking for and take their email down. Follow up ever other week or so. Chicago real estate buyers will be calling everyday so be prepared!
Real Estate Professionals - If you have business cards from realtors, mortgage brokers, title agents, and real estate attorneys, just call them or drop them an email and say that you are looking to help investors currently buying property. Once you are put in contact with them, be up-front. Say your experience level and that you want to help their business. Each professional should have access to a buyer or investor someway shape or form. Just keep asking and you will get pushed in the right direction.
Hope this helped, and if you have any other questions, my contact info is below!
RJ Cid
http://www.chicagocashflowproperties.com
twitter.com/chicagoinvestor
Marketing Your Investment Property Online Using Video: Pat 1
Did you know that 80% of potential buyers are going online before they ever walk to their car and view a property? That means all real estate investors that are not using the internet are fighting for 20% of buyers!Obviously this signifies the importance of how the web is changing the game.
Sites such as Youtube, Metacafe, Howto.com, Zillow, and others, are changing the way potential customers find out about your product. Today, people are online actively looking for products buy and researching how to maximize their purchase. The days of asking the Best Buy guy are behind us and Real Estate is no different. The internet is helping increase interest, activity, and sales of real estate property. So if you aren’t up to date, just keep reading.
First: GET A YOUTUBE SPECIFIC CAMERA! What camera should you get? Get a Flip Cam by Pure Digital. Go to Ebay, and buy any version you’d like. Although there are many styles, like the mini, and HD, I prefer the original 30 minute Flip because it is only about $80 and does the job. All you have to do is push a record button and the plug it in your USB port. The Flip come with it’s own editing software the opens up whenever its plugged into the computer. If you have never taken a film class don’t worry, there are some basic rules that you can follow when shooting a video
1. Never film and walk, never. You will get people dizzy.
2. Each shot should be a minimum of 5 seconds and last up to 12, anything more will bore your audience.
3. Play with panning and zoom. If you zoom into the kitchen, and slowing zoom out while you pan over to the bathroom, you keep the shot clean and up beat. When you edit, it will give a nice flow feeling.
4. Make it 3 minutes or less. You know, for us ADD folk = )
For an example of a recent property video I took: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3TH4iNeGOrY
Side Note: Being on camera is not for everyone. When I started doing wholesale videos, I was a terrible speaker and I did not sound like I knew much of anything, even though I did, which was embarrassing. So if you are not comfortable, or don’t want to jeopardize your credibility, don’t talk, just shoot. Edit the shots and add music. The flip cam comes with some tracks you can easily ad for the background. Simple eh?
Second: Upload the Video! Once you have a camera, go to TubeMogul.com, setup a account in order to blast it all over the web. In order to make a long story short, go to Tubemogul, and sign up to all the video accounts possible. This will take a while because there are many video share sites that will require you to fill out tons of info. Once this is done, there are 3 main sites you need to make sure have detailed information: Myspace, Yahoo, and Youtube. The biggest file you can upload is 300MB, hence keeping the video short.
Third: KEYWORDS! When your video is done uploading, make sure the title has specific keywords to the location and propose o your product. For example: Chicago Wholesale Deal in Bucktown. Load the description and keyword box with specific terms and words regarding your property. Ready? Good, now LAUNCH IT.
Five Things Investors Should Consider For Their Rentals
Location to Public Transportation
Many people who live in Chicago are not immune the financial mess going on throughout the country. As such, people are looking to save and gas is one of the first places tenants look at. Chicago residents of Logan Square, Lincoln Park, and Wicker Park use the EL to get to work and back, so having this close must always be promoted. Many tenants have a 4 block threshold for walking when it comes to the L, if that!
Stuff Included
In a down economy, it is all about adding value to your product and apartments are no exception. Does your building offer laundry? How about free laundry? By placing a washer/dryer even a dishwasher in a unit, more people will reply to your ads because of it. Also, think about incentives such as Cubs tickets, one month free, and gift cards. This will not only get your apartments noticed more, tenants will have a positive experience and tell others. People love free, so find something you can provide and try it out!
Hardwood Floors
If your apartment is advertised as having hardwood floors, please shine them! By keeping the floors up to date and shining during a showing, renters will take notice! If the floor has miss-matched patterns or significant evidence of wear and tear, it is no longer a selling point.
A Sense of Community
Is there constant communication with the tenants who live in your building? Is there a monthly newsletter welcoming the new tenants and showcasing their talents? Imagine if you could help tenants connect to one another and promote a sense of community? Nobody, I mean nobody does this! As an investor, you not only invest in the building but also the people in it because without them, there’s no point.
Along with the sense of community, tapping local pubs, gyms, and stores for discounts and incentives will encourage the owners of those locals to cross promote your units as well. If you can offer a gym discount to your tenants for example,
No Security-Deposit
Yep, that’s right! No security deposit. The alternative to this is to have a non-refundable move-in fee, paid when the tenant picks up their keys before moving in. This small detail can bring your ads online much more attention if you promote this as an incentive. If you have a $700 move-in fee for a three bedroom apartment that is renting for $2,300 your tenants will feel as if you’ve saved them $1,600.
Visit My Wholesale Deals site: www.ChicagoCashFlowProperties.com
For more information, follow me on twitter: twitter/ChicagoInvestor
Facebook Me: Roberto Jorda-Cid
If you are a landlord, one of your biggest issues can be high turnover and vacancies. Many investors are great at buying buildings, fixing them up and putting up “for rent” signs but they are not great at marketing the units. What good does it do to have a beautiful building but nobody in them? It’s pointless! For a while now I have been helping investors and property management companies with their marketing in order to find tenants faster, and ensure that they are low risk.
Nowadays it is not as simple as putting an ad in the paper because lets face it, less people are buying the paper and reading it. The best choice is Craigslist.org. I love craigslist, but many landlords do not know how to effectively use this website. The listings on craigslist are listed based on when it was posted, the most recent post the higher it is listed. As the day progresses, that same listing will be on page 3 or 4. Most landlords are satisfied posting once, but fail to realize that their ad will be irrelevant within 8 hours.
Quick Tip: Create 2 accounts with craigslist. Post the first ad in the morning and paste the same ad in your second account at 5 30 pm. If you use a product like vflyer.com, you can see at what times of day the ad is being viewed most and it’s always going to be between 6-10pm.
I suggest you use a flip video camera to record the apartment and up load it to youtube. This allows people to not only see the pictures, but get a better 1st time experience of the place. Place the youtube link into your ad For example check out a video I did that got over 300 views in 20 days: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1cmzzdae08 I found the landlord a tenant in less than 15 business days.
The headline is important, make sure you are to the point give a highlight and make it witty such as, “3 bed + 2 bath + Utilities Included + Video Tour = Yours”. This headline will get attention.
Make 3 different versions of the same ad and post it once a day on each account for 3 days. To go your account, view your postings, and delete the ad you placed 4 days ago. Once you hit the delete button, hit the “back” arrow on your browser and craigslist will allow you to repost the same ad without having to redo the whole thing. Repeat and repost until you get the responses you feel comfortable with.
Once you get people calling you and asking to view the apartment make sure you have the following available forms: A tenant verification sheet, employment verification form, background and credit check authorization form, and a cosigner sheet if needed. Application fee should be 20-25 dollars cash. Go to CitiCredit.Net where it is only $12.95 for a quick credit check, and get the info.
Enjoy!
RJCid
www.ChicagoCashFlowProperties.com
Investing in Chicago’s South Shore will Earn You GOLD!
This monthhas been a very exciting month for Chicagoans. The same day we hear about Jay Cutler being the future of the Bears franchise, the IOC arrived to a potential host for the 2016 Olympic Games. For me this has a lot of meaning. I have made a life commitment since I was 20 to attend every summer Olympiad. Since 2004, I have been to Athens and Beijing. These unique and exciting opportunities for our city wil allow me to combine my passion for world sporting events and real estate.
For real estate investors, the 2016 Olympic Games in Chicago mean one thing and one thing only, BUSINESS! Some will argue that if the city does not win the bid, then not much will happen. Not true. Irrespective to whether or not Chicago gets the Olympic Games for 2016, the city will redevelop the south lake and south shore area. For anyone who is familiar with the Bucktown neighborhood in Chicago, you have an idea for how that area is going to be. Chicago has already pledged $57M to renovating the south shore area and prepping it for development. As its stands right now, the Olympic Stadium is going to be smacked in the middle of South Shore Neighborhood. Take it from someone who has been to 2 Olympics, the area around the stadiums are always beautiful, modern, and expensive.
For those not familiar, the South Shore area is east of Chicago Skyway between 67th and 79th. This area is currently in need of some tlc. The area is mostly full of lower-income renters who use CHAC vouchers. The area has greatly benefited from the mortgage problem and 2-4 unit buildings are being bought 50-90k and sometimes lower. Most repairs will run you $15k - $20k per unit. The after repair values in the area for a brick 3 unit building is $320k!! It gets better; taxes are dirt cheap compared to similar buildings in post-gentrification areas like Bucktown, Wicker Park, and Roscoe Village. DON’T WAIT!!
This year the city is planning on buying up property all over this area and appreciation will increase steadily in the next 2-3 years. So if you want to get in before its “cool”, the next few months are important. Luckily, www.ChicagoCashflowProperties.com is getting properties throughout all the Olympic areas in the south side, especially the South Shore. Go to the website, sign up, and get exclusive access to all the wholesale properties other investors don’t know about. For complete information in regards to the city and its plans for 2016, click here http://www.chicago2016.org/bidbook.html
Basic: I know how to do loan modifications and short sales. Had success doing both. My passion: I try to help entrepreneurs and investors by marketing their properties online.
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