Should I Find Deals First Or Buyers?

Howdy Moguls, Cody Sperber here with a sort of chicken-or-the-egg lesson…

What I’m talking about today is actually an age-old investing question: Buyers first or sellers first?

I've probably heard arguments for both sides a million times!

And when it comes to marketing, newbie real estate investors can get bogged down very quickly. It’s like they come to a fork in the road and stop – shall I go this way and market to sellers or shall I go that way and build my buyer’s list?

And they stall out.

So, I’m going to help point you in the right direction and take the guesswork out of this little dilemma.

Here’s my take on it...

I always suggest – especially when you’re new – that you market to sellers first. Why? Because if you don’t have sellers, you have no product to sell to buyers.

Here’s the good news... if you have a good property, it will “sell itself.”

Let’s say you have a property worth $100k, and your offer of $50k is accepted by the seller. You turn around and post that deal on Craigslist. Fasten your seatbelt because you’ll be run over with buyers who are more than willing to take that property off your hands. At that point, you wouldn’t even need a buyer’s list – just use good old Craigslist.

Maybe you’d rather market to some of the Realtors in your area. You can give them a call and say something like:

“I have a property under contract for $50k – it’s probably worth around $100k. Bring me a buyer who will take it for $63k, and I’ll pay you $3k for your trouble.”

You net $60k and pay them the $3k that you offered. Any agent worth their salt knows an investor in the area who’d be more than willing to buy that property from you.

Another route to take is at your local REIA meeting. You announce that you have a contract:

“I’m looking to assign this contract. It’s worth $100K, and I’m looking to assign it for $63k or $62k, or $61k.”

You’ll find buyers in a heartbeat.

Is a Buyer’s List Still Important?

Now you should be able to understand what I mean when I say that you can sell a good property and not even need a buyer’s list.

mail But - a buyer’s list is certainly still important!

If your goal is to become a successful wholesaler, you must begin to build your buyer’s list. I just don’t think it’s the most important thing to focus on at the outset.

You’ll hear me say this over and over and over again – it’s crucial to keep your marketing machine running at all times. If you have no leads coming in, you have no business. Pure and simple.

For new investors, I always advise to begin with these 3 marketing strategies to find sellers:

Bandit Signs
Direct Mail
YouTube Commercials

Focus on these 3 strategies and you’ll find that all the rest will almost build itself. And that includes building a buyer’s list.

Build this strong foundation, get things moving and your systems working smoothly... then take time, money and effort to focus on creating that big list of cash buyers.

No matter what – never stop the marketing flow.

I’ve seen this happen many times, the new investor focuses on their buyer’s list and drops the ball when it comes to marketing for sellers. I can tell you right now – that will never work.

Don’t make that mistake. First rule – never stop marketing.