How To Get Started With Real Estate Prospecting

Video Transcription

Sean Wade: All right. Good afternoon everybody. My name is Sean Wade. I am the sales director here at the Share Group, filling in for our owner, Jared, on the J & A Show with our friend and partner, Andy, here. How are you today?

Andy: I'm good, man, but I am missing Jared's little jingle at the beginning of this thing, so...

Sean Wade: Yeah, I'm not exactly musically inclined.

Andy: Got to step it up, brother.

Sean Wade: Yeah, all of the music talents went to my brother, actually, they skipped right over me.

Andy: All right. What do we got today, man? What are we talking about?

Sean Wade: Just kind of dovetailing off of your and Jared's last video. Just some best practices, and just things to know going into your marketing and prospecting after you received a list from the share group. So, number one, I think something that's really important, is just knowing the pain points of who you're looking to target. If it's an absentee owner, most of those are low-level landlords with a few investment properties. You can cash out while the market's still high and get that time and stress off your hand.

We also have a lot of customers that tell us, these absentee owners, they got kicked in the teeth during the pandemic, and that really does vary from state to state where you're at. But our friend Carrie in New York, they went through probably a year, if not more, of the rent forbearance and not being able to do anything there. So just relieving that financial burden that can be placed on somebody, is a huge just advantage in the back of your head, knowing why they have a little more incentive to sell that property.

Lead List Marketing Best Practices

Andy: Yeah, I mean, you're talking specifically about the absentee owner side of it. I think it's interesting, because that for me that has, for the past three years, give or take, that's been obviously a huge piece that I've been pushing inside of the coaching realm and talking with my agents about the pain points is always something that is, it's good to acknowledge, it's good to understand. I think going one step further as well and making sure that one of the best best practices that you can... best best practices, I don't know, you guys get it. One of the best practices for you guys to have is understanding what your value proposition is for these people as well. So before you go in, yes, the pain points are huge, but understanding what you do as a solution for that. So what services do you provide? What consultation services do you provide? What marketing services do you provide? Do you have cash offers? Do you have sell and stays? Do you have other investor pools? What else do you have that can alleviate some of the stuff that you're talking about in terms of the pain points?

I think the other piece of this too, man, is actually going into the calls with a purpose. So it could be, inside of absentees, I think one of the biggest purposes that you can go into those calls because they will sell at some point in time. So the primary purpose is, “Can I develop a relationship?” That's number one.

Best practice is huge in terms of getting together with them in terms of relationship. And then from there, putting them in the line of, “Are they willing to sell now or are they ready to sell now, motivated to sell now, or are they looking to sell later?” And then also, again, going into your point, going into the pain points of what they're experiencing or what they have experienced, and really with their long-term plan is. So I think having a purpose in understanding what your value proposition is, are two that really couple nicely with those pain points as well. And it's not just absentee owner, I mean all the other lists too, right?

Sellers Statistics

Sean Wade: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, you think of our likely-to-sell or our down-sizer list modeled on age, equity, length of residents, and a few other factors. Now, I was just reading a NAR report, 42% of all sellers are baby boomers and over 90% of those sellers, do not have a kid in the home. Those homes are where they raised their family for the most part.

Andy: Insane.

Sean Wade: It's getting too big.

Andy: Yep, yep, absolutely. The move-down list, man. So this came out probably right during the pandemic. They were doing, I say right during the pandemic, let's give the specifics. So middle of 2021, end of 2021, there were reports coming out from realtor.com, NAR, one and the same, but moving forward with the baby boomers have not sold, because they were simply afraid of selling. We're still seeing that backlog of people starting to come forward and push forward. So that percentage, would you say it was 48%? Is that what you-

Sean Wade: 42.

Andy:  42. So that percentage is actually only going to go up, because those baby boomers were waiting to sell, for everything to settle down, and now they're finally starting to catch back up. So there's been that piece of it. Another big one that we're seeing come around right now, outside of the move-down folks, the financially distressed, that list is freaking huge. So all of those have, if you put the pain points that you were talking about, unique value proposition for each of the agents to understand what that looks like... And then again, each of the purposes of the calls, and again, the beautiful part of what you guys deal with, absentee owners, move up, move down, likely to sells, again, financially distressed and everything else, each one of those people, if you develop a relationship, they will sell at some point in time.

Build Relationships With Investors

So it's not just wasted on, “Hey, well this guy's not interested in selling.” Develop the relationship, cultivate the relationship, convert when they are ready. So no matter what you're doing, dude, the phone calls obviously, and this is piggybacking off of last week, but the phone call side of it is absolutely huge. And then obviously driving home the relationship at that point.

Sean Wade: Yeah, absolutely. And I mean relationships, that should be at the top of really everybody, regardless of the industry or role you're in. I mean, that's how it is with me. I like working with people I enjoy. Nobody likes working with an. I think that's-

Andy: True.

Sean Wade: ... pretty straightforward there.

Andy: I like to have some fun on a Saturday once in a while.

Sean Wade: Absolutely. But just kind of off that relationships, if you build a relationship with an investor with four or five properties and you call him, say, “Hey, have you ever thought about selling this property?” “You know, I haven't, but now that you say that, I have a tenant moving out in four months.” The follow-up piece on that is key.

Then on some of the more financial stuff on the relationship side, for most average people, that real estate they own, is one of the biggest assets. That's probably the biggest financial decision they're making in their lives. It's important to have a professional who knows what they're doing and can walk you through that whole process.

Andy: Yeah, I'll give you the foreshadowing. All right?

Sean Wade: Yeah.

Andy: So I'll give the golden nugget at the end of this thing as we're wrapping this up. The list that I think is going to be up and coming, similar to how I approached you a couple years back, or we connected on the whole absentee owner thing, and then we started to really navigate through and manipulate some of the data. The list that will be coming forward are the family investor. So the people who own a primary residence, they have equity in their home, they don't have a second mortgage, but they can do a HELOC on the property and then purchase a couple investment properties. Because of how the real estate market is changing, watch what happens to those lists and watch what happens to those opportunities.

Because again, foreclosures are going to start to hit. They're backlogged right now, but they're starting to come back around. You have some of the financially distressed people, you have the baby boomers that are coming back around. And my goodness, the vacant properties. So those folks are primed to invest in property. They just simply don't know how, man. So that list is one that will be up and coming, and I'll definitely be talking with my [inaudible 00:08:26] clients about it too.

Sean Wade: Absolutely, yeah. I mean, I can think of just a few examples of people I know personally who, they have been in their homes for a while, good amount of equity in there, and they're looking at purchasing that second investment property or purchasing a new one, moving...

Andy: Yeah, vacation rental, whatever. Right.

Sean Wade:  Yeah. So, absolutely.

Andy: Yeah, love that dude.

Sean Wade: Awesome. Andy, well, really appreciate your time today. Always good to see you and catch up, as always. Thanks for tuning in and give us a shout with any questions or if you need help with anything.

Andy: Looking forward to next week, dude. Have a good one.

Sean Wade: Yep. Later.