Outside Company Distribution

There are companies out there that do distribution of post-it notes. There’s a company called Markot. I ‘m not going to recommend them because I tried them and I was not particularly happy. There are others and you can look them up on Google under “post-it note distribution” and your city name. Try one and see how they perform with small batch before you give them more business.

You tell them what neighborhood you want, you give them the post-it notes, and they’ll go out and distribute them on each and every door. They’ll walk up and down the neighborhood and put them on the doors.
I had some problems with one of my vendors. First, was they’d tell you they were delivering them this week, and then something would happen and it would be next, and then the following week. I had some problems getting them to deliver them on the dates they chose.

Second, I was always concerned when they did finally get around to it, because it seemed like my response was fairly muted compared to when I would have the post-it notes delivered myself by my people I trusted. It always made me wonder if they were getting out there in the exact number they stated.

Hire Someone to Distribute

Again, there’s nothing wrong with paying somebody to do it. In fact, that’s what I recommend, that you eventually get somebody to hire to go out and put them on doors. It’s very easy if you know some people – some young kids, 15 year olds or something like that. You can pay them 10 or 15 cents per post-it note to deliver. They can do it after school or on the weekends. It’s a nice part-time job for a kid.

For the most part, if you know the kid and you can trust they’ll actually deliver them and they count how many they delivered – you pay them after they’re completed. You should know when they’re being delivered almost to the moment they’re being delivered. That’s how often you’ll get calls.

If they start delivering them on a particular street at 4:00 in the afternoon and they deliver 300, 400 or 500 of them, it is almost inconceivable that you wouldn’t get a couple of calls. That’s how effective these are.
Some of these calls might not be very productive. You might even occasionally get a cranky person calling to complain. Tell them you’re sorry, apologize, and maybe you’ll have the kids run over and pull theirs off the door of something. Just deal with the cranky calls.

You will be getting calls almost immediately so you will know that they’re being delivered. I know for sure the date they’re being delivered because I get calls. If they deliver on Tuesdays and Thursdays, then I get calls on Tuesdays and Thursdays. If they don’t deliver on Wednesday then maybe the phone is quiet on Wednesday. That’s how effective these are.

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Real estate terms are not very complicated but they can mean the difference to becoming wealthy or just average. When you learn about something new you should always learn the real definitions for the most commonly used terms so that you avoid misunderstanding the experts when they give you advice.

Real estate investing is not only fun to get involved in but it has very basic terms that require you to understand them before taking advantage of the industry.

Lets start with the most basic real estate terms;

Realestate broker: An agent employed on behalf of the buyer to find listed properties on their behalf.
Realtor or real estate agent: An agent hired on behalf of the buyer by the seller to sell the sellers property. Please note that although the agents commission comes from the buyer the agent works for the seller predominantly and will make sure the deal favors the seller.

Property lien: A legal claim or ruling attached to the specific property that demands certain actions from the current and future owners. It is a serious potential pit- fall for the enthusiastic buyer who fails to do his homework before closing their real estate deal. Always check public records for unresolved land claims by certain population groups especially in Cape Town South Africa.

Commercial real estate: Property that is used for the purpose of providing a service to more than one person or entity; such property must be properly rezoned and registered with the local municipal council. Banks frown on owning more than 80% of such property because of the inherent risk associated with the business sector.

Residential property: Is property mainly used for the shelter of individuals and need not be registered as a place for running a business. This type of real estate sector is the most popular with junior property investors because banks will finance up to 150% of the property in good economic environments. Because of the high demand for shelter the risk involved is much less than most of the other real estate investment types.

Lease agreement: An agreement between the property owner and the current, past or future tenant. This is the most powerful weapon any property investor can have in his or her arsenal. There is no such thing as a standard lease agreement and people who try to convince you of this are the most ignorant or are trying to hide something. You can put anything in your agreement; the only snag is that it must comply 100% fully with the local tenant laws of the country where the property is located or you could be sued.

I always include what I want the tenant to do when they occupy any of my properties and I am very careful that I read the corrections that my tenants make on the contract. The contract must be dated, initialed on each page and each pen correction signed otherwise you open yourself up for loop holes.

Do not forget to make copies of the original so that any changes can be proven to come before or after signing.
Conveyance: The transfer of the ownership of the newly bought or traded property from the old to the new owner including all the attached rulings and rights linked with the closed real estate deal. Conveyance of property can be rushed or delayed by either the buyer or the seller to their convenience. Many deals often collapse during the period of conveyance using the escape clause.

Escrow: Is another term used intermittently with conveyance in the American and European real estate transfers. It is also the transition period where property ownership is shifting to the new owner when the buyers requests and the sellers demands are met.

Trust account: An account set aside by the realtors lawyers or the escrow agents to hold the buyers deposit or cash when the ownership is still in escrow.

Offer to purchase: It is a document that identifies the property that the buyer would like to purchase and the price they are willing to pay for the acquisition of that real estate. The seller can reject the offer if they do not wish to sell or amend the document if they would only sell under specific conditions. If the seller accepts the terms on the offer to purchase then they can sign the offer at the appropriate place. The buyer or the realtor now has to prepare the agreement of sale.

Agreement of sale: When a buyer and seller agree on the offer to purchase an agreement of sale is drafted with the seller and the buyers specific requirements listed clearly with dead- lines printed for all to see. The agreement of sale has clauses that both parties must be aware of that will suspend the agreement. A deposit must be placed into the trust account and the property must undergo repairs, evaluation and escrow. The deal has been made and it is legally binding but can be cancelled under certain and specific conditions.

As a junior real estate investor; the legal terms can often seem daunting and scary. The most important thing I will emphasize is have the legal documents in a language you have mastered very well (do not take chances relying on other people to be considerate as the conditions in the binding document can be anything under the sun).
So unless you want to end up paying the seller or buyer for the rest of your life I suggest you read everything before you sign even if your lawyer has given his or her ok. You can cancel those clauses that you genuinely feel do not apply or you simply do not agree to BEFORE you sign. After you sign you any document you are then bound by everything in the contract even if it violates your basic human rights!!

Not even the United Nations can break such a contract. So make sure you know your real estate terms very well.

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he Top 7 Fears of Real Estate Investors Today

1. Lack of Cash – Personal incomes are dropping. Unemployment is nearing record highs. Renters in most markets are defaulting. Credit card companies

are cutting the amount of cash available even for those who have amazing credit scores

and always pay back on time.

2. Lack of Confidence – Many investors are lacking confidence in their ability to get through the next three years of this huge downturn. For example, many investors are finding that it’s taking months to close a property deal. If you’re working real estate short sale strategies, because banks are so burdened with offloading inventory, you could wait six months just to receive a BPO (Broker’s Price Opinion).

3. Loan Challenges – A friend of mine couldn’t even refinance

his house for a lower mortgage payment than what he’s paying right now because the household income dropped since his wife’s death. If he can’t refinance his home for a lower payment, what do you think your chances of getting a loan are? What’s more, banks have raised down payment requirements on residential and commercial properties to as much as 40%.

4. Can’t Find Deals – The majority of housing and condo sales are foreclosures, as homeowners don’t want to sell now and lose all the value that they put into the house.

5. Not Enough Buyers – Yes, incentives like the tax credit are beginning to enter the market. Yes, we are starting to see a reduction in new inventories. The key word is “starting.” Yet in many markets, investors are finding a lack of buyers even at bargain prices!

6. Takes Too Much Time – Many old-hat real estate investors are spending their days and nights trying to close deals. Most of their time is spent late at night on their computers, or traveling around the country hopping from one airport to the next, in hopes of getting that six- or seven-figure real estate deal done, just to be disappointed again and again.

7. Lack of Knowledge – Old-hat real estate investing requires you to understand negotiation strategies, NLP mind tricks, what’s-working-now techniques, real estate contracts, and how to adapt to opportunities in more than one marketplace, using more than one investing strategy.

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