Tentmaking Tips

This is a great question.

When most people talk about real estate investing, they think in terms of long-term rentals. And you haven’t heard me mention it much here.

There’s a reason for that.

I’m going to share my personal opinion. Clearly not everyone will agree with me, but you’re reading this blog because you want my perspective. So, I’ll give it to you.

In most cases, I think you should only buy long-term rentals if you can pay cash.

And since most people can’t pay cash, I focus in this blog on income producing forms of real estate that don’t require you going into debt.

Now, having said that, I think rental properties are great. My wife and I own rental properties. I just happen...

Direct mail, calls, texts, & web forms of marketing all work. But nothing is quite like being face-to-face.

The problem with face-to-face is it’s hard to scale. And because it’s hard to scale, you won’t have a lot of competition when you show up at someone’s doorstep.

We’ve bought so many houses this way, especially personal ones.

Here are some advantages:

1. People like selling their home, especially if it is sentimental, to people they know & trust.

   As you meet a homeowner at their door & build a relationship with them, you’ll often find that they become more comfortable with the idea of selling to someone they’ve met. When Realtors are involved, it’s more uncommon that the seller actually meets the buyer.

2. You’ll...

Most of us want extra income for our families, but we want it in a way that allows us to still be devoted to ministry full-time.

That’s why it’s essential that if you flip houses, you do it in a way that frees up your time for what matters most to you!

When we started flipping houses many years ago, we did all of the work ourselves. I was in full-time ministry & we were doing it on the side to supplement our income (and ultimately to help us pay off our house).

We couldn’t flip many houses this way or it would’ve taken way too much time.

I knew there were 2 keys to turning this side hustle into a business where I could work only a few hours a week.

1. Great people

2. Great systems

Great people are what make a great business. No doubt about it. You need to find and hire the best people you can. I did this by only hiring people I knew or people that someone I...

Direct mail refers to any type of mail piece you send directly to a seller. It could be a letter, a postcard, a brochure, or any other type of mail piece.

I can’t even tell you the number of houses we’ve bought by sending people letters & postcards. It’s likely more than 100 by now. We’ve bought both personal homes & investment property this way.

Our best-performing letter usually had a picture of our family at the top & a short note letting the seller know we were looking for a house to buy in their neighborhood. We’d mention some of the benefits of selling to us like:

• Not having to pay 6% in real estate commissions

• Not having the hassle of listing it, cleaning it up & showing it

• Not having to worry about making any repairs

• Not having to wait for a long closing process

And so...

In this post, I want to talk about our 1st Quick Flip.

Remember, with a Quick Flip, you don't fix up the house at all. You buy it and sell it again as-is, usually a few hours later. You don't make as much money as you would on a Cosmetic Flip or Fix & Flip, but it's more convenient and you can do more of them quickly.

Here's the story behind our 1st Quick Flip:

1. We built a list of investors who we knew could close quickly with cash & were looking for investment property.

2. We sent out letters to homeowners in multiple zip codes where we knew these investor buyers were looking for houses to purchase. In the letter, we offered to buy the seller's home quickly, as-is, & with cash. We knew this would likely appeal to sellers who had...

The process to flip a house is simple.

1. Find a property off-market that's in need of some work

2. Buy direct from the seller at a discount

3. Fix it up (fix & flip) or leave it as-is (quick flip)

4. Resell it for a profit

See. It's simple.

What's difficult is taking action.

A lot of people understand how flipping works, but they never take action and actually do it themselves.

Here are the common objections:

1. I don't have enough money to flip houses

2. Flipping houses would take way too much time

3. I'm afraid I might lose money flipping a house

The problem is, these objections don’t apply to all types of flips.

Remember, there are 3 Ways to Flip a House.

The one I focus on and teach other pastors, missionaries and Christian leaders to focus on is Quick Flipping (aka Flip Hacking).

With Quick Flipping:

1. You don't have to have money to buy or remodel the house

2. You don't have to spend as much time as a retail fix & flip

3. There's...

How do you find deals like this?

Contrary to what people may tell you, deals are everywhere. That doesn't mean they're always easy to find. But if you're persistent in looking, you'll find them.

On this particular deal, we just happened to be attentive to what the previous owner of our house told us. He mentioned the owner across the street was looking to sell, and we knew we needed to talk to him.

One of your first steps to finding deals is to let people around you know that you're looking to purchase a house that needs some work. Tell them to contact you if they ever hear of anyone looking to sell.

In addition, you can start proactively reaching out to people in neighborhoods you'd like to flip in. Drive up & down the streets. Look for people outside. Pull over & talk to them. Let them know you're looking to buy in the...

Prior to this story I'm about to tell, we had flipped our own house several times (live-in flips). I often refer to that process as House Hacking.

But I'm going to tell you about the first flip we did of a house that we didn't live in. This is what I often refer to as Flip Hacking. We specifically bought this house to flip it & sell it soon after.

It will probably help you to read the blog post entitled "3 Ways to Flip a House" first, if you haven't already. That will explain some of the terminology I use in this post.

Here's the story:

My wife told me about a house she really loved in a great neighborhood we had lived in before. The house wasn't currently for sale, but I contacted the owner anyway to see if he'd be interested in selling. The timing was perfect & the owner let us know he had been thinking about selling soon & liked the idea of...

Well, I’ve got good news! There are other alternatives that can save you potentially thousands of dollars, even tens of thousands of dollars. Remember, Realtors make money as a percentage of your purchase price (often 6%), which can add up fast.

Here are a few of your other options:

1. Consult with a family member or friend who has done a FSBO transaction before. They can guide you through the process.

2. Call a local Title Company and they'll be glad to help because they make money when they close the transaction. They'll often give you the standard forms to use along with some tips on which sections to pay attention to.

3. If you want to spend a few hundred bucks to make sure everything is exactly...

You see these properties around you every day, but you probably aren't accustomed to seeing them as an opportunity to earn extra income on the side to support your ministry.

Let's discuss this.

So, what is a distressed property?

Here are common exterior signs that could indicate distress:

• Grass overgrown/landscape deterioration

• Trees hanging down into the yard

• Significant peeling paint/fascia damage

• Boarded up windows/very old windows

• Siding/brick deterioration

• Loose/missing shingles

• Trash strewn across the property

• Mail overflowing from mailbox

• Garage door in disrepair

This list could go on, but you get the idea. You're looking for properties whose exterior shows that the home probably needs some work. Often the exterior gives you a good idea of what the interior is like.

Distressed property owners sometimes want a cash-paying investor to get involved as they know...