First and foremost you are a marketer, second you are an investor. You must know how to get leads in order to even have a chance to put your investment knowledge into action.
So, to get private money lenders for your real estate investing business you must find the people who have money.
Who Has Money?
* Your Family and Friends -
Do you have family members who have money that they are earning between 0-5% on? I'm sure you do. Do you think they would want to double the rate of return on their money? I bet they would.
So, why not bring the opportunity of becoming a private lender for your real estate business to your family members first, so you can help your family become more wealthy in the process? Many people hate to ask family members for money... this is a common thing; however, why would you feel uncomfortable helping your family members make more money? You shouldn't.
The first property I bought (and still own) was bought with 100% private money. A 95% first mortgage (seller carried), and a 5% second which was borrowed from my father. My father is earning 6% on his money rather than 3%, the property cash flows and has gone up in value... if for some reason I screw up and don't pay my dad (not going to happen), he is in 2nd position on a property with over $100k in equity. It is a no lose for him... and great upside for me.
* Other Real Estate Investors and Businessmen -
Other successful real estate investors have money... and often like to lend out their money to other investors. These are often great private money investors to have on your side because as you're starting out, they can help you analyze deals... and teach you a ton as you grow as an investor. Also, successful businessmen are great because they know the security that real estate can hold, and know that when the loan is structured correctly they are protected with very little downside.
Talk to other investors and business people that you know and let them know what you do, and that you can provide them real estate secured returns of 9-12% (or whatever you are willing to pay) when they become a private money lender for your company. If there are holes in your presentation or your business model, they'll likely point them out, which will help you to make your business stronger over time.
* People Nearing or in Retirement -
Think about it... who has a bunch of money just sitting around? Well, people either in or nearing retirement (people 10-15 years away from retirement, up to people who are already retired). Even better, the stock market today sucks and I've personally seen many people move their money from the volatile stock market and place the funds in "more secure" investments like CD's, gold, etc.
It's your job to find these people and present them another option to lend money to your company for a much better annual return (usually private money lenders are paid between 8-12%). Show them that you know what the heck you are doing, that the risk is relatively low with the strict buying guidelines your company employs, and that you are looking for long term relationships with lenders who want the same.
These people can move their under performing investments (401k, IRA, etc.) into your short term private money loans. It's a win-win. Again, you as the investor need to be honest with the private money lender, and you need to make responsible decisions on the properties that you invest in.
That's just a short list of people who you should be going after to recruit as private money lenders for your real estate investing business.
Marketing to these people can be everything from simply handing them your business card that has a blurb saying you are looking for private money lenders who want to earn 10% secured by real estate, and to call XXX-XXX-XXXX or visit www.yoursite.com for more information
... to sending out mailers to a list of retirees... to teaming up with a financial planner, to putting on free seminars about the opportunity, etc.
***FYI, I am not an attorney, and don't claim to be. I am just throwing out ways you may be able to market to potential private money lenders, to my knowledge they are legal, but advise your attorney before you use any of them.***
Here are a few ways you can get in touch with potential private money lenders:
* Ask sellers of the properties you buy if they'd be interested in becoming a lender for your company
* Talk to family about the opportunity and ensure to structure the deal so they virtually can't lose, and that the risk is on you (unless you want to lose a family member if a deal goes south)
* Ask other investors at real estate investing clubs in your area
* Put up a website and get it optimized in the search engines (we're creating a training session on this)
* Network at events (chamber of commerce, etc.) and let people know what you do, and how they can be involved
* Send out postcards to a list of people with over $500,000 net worth (you can buy lists from companies who can break it down by net worth and other factors)
Really, there are endless ways to recruit potential private money lenders; however, in my experience... the best ways are to network, let people in your area know what you do, create a website which educates potential lenders, and get referrals from happy investors.
How To Find Market Share
Well what is a niche? Its simply a section of a market. Its not for example the dieting market as a whole but it might be dieting for children or losing weight with the newest diet.Its a question of "drilling down" and finding the sector that might suit you.
The importance of finding a niche cannot be overstated but its not easy to find one that is not over populated with other internet marketers or alternatively is not overpopulated with potential customers!
Where do you or I start? Well I got thinking about this while I was looking at Ebay. There are a lot of niches in there.
Niches are everywhere and you have to get into the mindset of looking for them.Obviously not all of them will make money and you have to find a decent sized market. There might be a number of people collecting crisp packets or old horseshoes and they might be fanatical about it but there may only be a small number involved and it might not be a market that either interests you or you haven't got a product to sell to them.Unless you have a lot of old horseshoes lying around that is.
Think about what interests you. Find your passion and do some research. If you like gardening, is there a specific part of it that you really love? Is it looking at seed catalogues, propagating, digging or no dig, flowers or vegetables? Think niche within niche.
Here are a few sites to get you thinking.
Ebay http://www.ebay.com. Or http://www.ebay.co.uk for those readers in the UK (although there is nothing to stop you looking at both.)
If you go into the categories list on the left hand side, for example Home and Garden, you will get a list of categories within that category. In this example, there are sub categories such as Hydroponics and Seed Starting; Pest and Weed Control; Planters,Pots and Window Boxes and Plants Seeds and Bulbs. Scroll to the bottom and you will see popular searches.This will give you some ideas of what might be selling well in that category.
In association ,with this, may I present EBay Pulse http://www.pulse.ebay.com. I hadn't heard of this until recently and you may not have done either but its worth a look.It gives a daily snapshot of current trends and popular stuff on eBay. Again it may give you some ideas.
Have a look at Google Trends http://www.google.com/trends. Its updated daily and gives you an idea of whats going on. It gives the top 10 but you can drill down and see more.
Another site to look at is http://www.Digg.com It's a social bookmarking site. People post stories which others vote on.For every user that "diggs it" the count goes up and the story gets promoted. It gives a flavour of what people are finding interesting at a particular moment in time. Think laterally, get the ideas.There might be a niche there.
You could try Google News as well.Apart from keeping you up to date, you can search against specific terms and see if there has been anything happening or any new press releases which might give you an idea for another niche.
What about thinking seasonally? You have to plan in advance but Christmas would be a great time to think about selling gadgets, jewellery, toys etc. Another angle could be helping those people with the emotional fall out, financial or otherwise. If you had access to a product that helped with that then there might be a market there.
If despite all of this, you are still finding it difficult to think of a topic, try some brainstorming. Draw a Mindmap.Think of a topic and write it in the middle, then draw lines radiating away from it and lines radiating from them. For example, lets say its beer.(a topic close to my heart!).Think, different types, breweries, countries famous for their beer, methods of production, things used in manufacture, history etc. Then draw lines off those words and think of more words that associate with your main word and the word it is branching off. The idea is to create a chart of ideas by brainstorming. Use a thesaurus if it helps. Get your mind thinking.
So brainstorm,visit relevant websites and keep an eye at what's happening around you.
Got some potential niches now? Good. Now you need to research them.Thats another topic altogether!
Both Trevor Mauch & Jane Robinson are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Trevor Mauch has sinced written about articles on various topics from Computers and The Internet. Hey, my name is Trevor Mauch and I'm the founder of The REI Brain (www.thereibrain.com)and a real estate investor since the age of 21. Right now, my focus in real estate investing is multi-family income properties and I have plans on moving more into the. Trevor Mauch's top article generates over 590 views. Bookmark Trevor Mauch to your Favourites.
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