I recently asked an agent what they were doing for lead generation. Zillow was one of their sources. Here’s how the conversation went with one prospect.
Agent: “Hello, this is Luke Skywalker (names have been changed to protect the innocent). How may I help you?”
lead: [weird, heavy breathing] “Hi, this is Darth. I had a question about 123 Tatooine St.
Agent: “Great, I know that property very well! What would you like to know?”
Lead: “Is that wallpaper green or gray in the dining room?”
Representative: [facepalm]
Not all leads are created equal, but all is often equal when it comes to online real estate leads. In this article, I want to tell you that not only are investors (and investor leads) easier to deal with, but they are also much more valuable. Plus, I’ll give you some tips for finding more investors to work with.
data over drama
When I first started my journey in real estate, I got my real estate license with no intention of quitting my terrible job. that was it. I worked hard for eight months and was able to do this. At the time, I didn’t know what Biggerpockets was, nor did I know what real estate investing was. That was about to change, but not immediately.
In my second year selling real estate, a property manager friend of mine sent me a link to the latest BiggerPockets podcast. I listened to it on my way home from the evening show and was hooked. Where was this all my life? And how can I start investing today?
Fast forward a few months, and I started investing with a partner. We were off to the races.
When we started investing, two things came to my mind. First of all, it was a lot more fun on the investing side of things. I was really looking forward to finding and showing properties for my investor clients. Not only did I have some insight for them, but I also learned from their experience.
The investors I worked with didn’t care about pink curtains or old cabinets or pet odors. He only cared about numbers. How much is it to fix? What is after-repair value (ARV)? What will be its fare?
It was very different from the retail buyers and sellers I worked with. I used to turn clients away from great properties because of smells, paint colors and mismatched equipment. what you say!
This is what I call “data over drama”. Investors are a different breed who usually only care about one thing, the numbers. It’s emotionless. If you’re working on the retail side, it’s almost 100% emotion, and not always in a good way.
lifetime value
I made a mistake the other day when I was talking with an agent about our Featured Agent Program when I referenced a statistic about retail buyers and sellers. The old stat said that buyers and sellers trade real estate every seven years, on average. The agent corrected me and said that new data shows it now happens every 10 years. Some of the most recent findings even suggest that it is as much as 13 years old! That’s a long time to wait for a resale.
Investors are obsessed with acquiring more and more assets. I have yet to meet a real estate investor who owns just one property unless they are just starting out. Real estate investors often trade to best position their portfolios for long-term wealth. I don’t have hard data on this, but if I had to guess, I’d say the average investor buys or sells every three years. It’s much better than 10! And the number gets bigger with each transaction.
As a one-time example, if I’m looking at my investments over the last seven years, I bought an average of more than five units per year based on my current portfolio. If you were a real estate agent wouldn’t you want to work with someone like me?
The Riches Are in the Niches
You’ve probably heard this before, haven’t you? Come on down, and don’t be a clown. I made that last one up, but you can’t deny that there’s something to be said for specialization. Most agents don’t give any thought to this when they start out, and it hurts them. 87% of agents quit within their first year! There are many factors at play here, but when you jump in the deep end, and you can’t swim, you’re in big trouble.
There are approximately three million licensed agents in the US. The problem is that 90% of agents are competing for the same clients—retail buyers and sellers! Would you rather compete with 2.7 million agents or only 300,000?
is understandable. now what?
Let’s assume that I have influenced your opinion of investors to work with. How do I go about doing this? I’m glad you asked.
That’s the question I asked myself when I started investing. The obvious answer was BiggerPockets. Let’s dive into some of the ways BiggerPockets can take advantage of you for more, and sometimes bigger, commissions.
Free, Pro, Premium?
There are three membership levels on BiggerPockets. You must be at least a free member because, well, it’s free! Pro and Premium offer some additional benefits like unlimited use of the calculator, which is, in my mind, totally worth it. Premium also has a lead capture function that can help you get more organic leads on BiggerPockets.
post, post, post
Once you know which memberships make the most sense to you, it’s time to get engaged in the forums. Now, this isn’t for everyone. But, for those who are willing to put in the time and effort, posting can lead to connecting you with the right investors for your business. Let’s look at some quick tips:
keyword alert
In Settings, set up your keyword alerts. This will most likely be the city, suburb and area you serve. Enter all names, zip codes, and any other topics that interest you. When these are mentioned in the forum, you’ll get an alert! Then you can add your two cents to the conversation.
create your own post
What’s even more powerful, in my mind, is creating your own posts on BigPockets. I recommend weekly market updates or something similar. When you’re the original poster, a few things happen. First, you control the topic. Second, people see you as the expert in that market and will always respond to you. Third, investors who have set up their keyword alerts will be notified when you post! And, in the long term, BiggerPocket is very searchable. I still get clues from posts I made five years ago.
Meat
Real estate investor meetups are, quite frankly, terrible. You meet like-minded people who have similar goals. However, not all meetings are created equally. Some are big. Some are small. Some are paid. Some are free. When I was looking for a local meetup, there really wasn’t anything close by. So, what did I do? I started mine.
If you’re a Pro or Premium member, you can post meetups to the Meetup thread on BiggerPockets. The advantage of hosting yourself is that you are in control. You can make it formal or informal or require all participants to wear Waldo hats to attend. this is up to you.
When you’re the founder of the group, guess what? People look up to you. Even if you don’t have much experience. You are seen as a leader and connector. Even though my first group was small, I collaborated on many deals and met a lot of great people.
Become a Featured Agent
If the last few paragraphs didn’t do it for you, that’s okay. There is a shortcut. This is called the Featured Agent Program. Full disclosure, I am a representative of that program. So contact me if you want to earn more money!
When investors are ready to connect with an investor-friendly agent, they jump to BiggerPockets, click Find an Agent, enter a location, and then before being shown our Featured Agents page for that market Some are guided through questions. You can think of that page as a dating website. The investor is looking for the right match. Will you make his dream come true?
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Become an Exclusive Agent on Agent Finder, a resource that helps investors find the right agent fast. Match buyers instantly to fuel your pipeline with better leads.
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ground level
If you are an agent and an investor and love working with other investors, then working in this space is in your best interest. You’ll work less, earn more and have more control over your time. Sound too good to be true? no way. Welcome to Freedom.
Note by BiggerPockets: These are the views expressed by the author and do not necessarily represent the views of BigPockets.
