Lesson 4 - Getting Started:

If you are like me, by now you’ve had all that you can take on definitions, team members, etc. You want to know how to start making money.

Let’s do that. I use three methods to find pre-foreclosures and foreclosures. The first one I use is the title company’s web site. I don’t pay any online or offline service to give me the latest up to date information I can get for free right here in my county.

If I wanted to go to the county recorder’s office daily, I could have the most up-to-date information at my fingertips. NODs are filed almost daily in every county in the United States. Yours is no exception. Simply show up around 10 a.m. and you’ll have the latest filings.

You wait until 10 o’clock because the trustees begin filing immediately when the recorder’s office opens. I remember once showing up at 10 a.m. and having to walk past a line of trustees still waiting to file. That’s how many NODs had to be filed that day.

I’m telling you, you will never run out of inventory. This is a great business. Now that all of this info is online, I don’t go to the recorder’s office anymore.

Instead, I go to my title company’s website, sign on and surf the NOD filing page(s). I look over the addresses and cherry pick only those neighborhoods in which I would buy to live.

You really need to get to know your city. For example, a certain neighborhood about a mile from my house is a gang neighborhood. Its residents make the morning newspaper about three or four times a month. Drive on its outskirts and you almost always see one or more police cars on its streets.

I don’t even consider that neighborhood for inventory. I let someone else work it. We also are spread out geographically and since I’m not a big fan of driving 20 to 25 miles one way, I don’t work those subdivisions either. The only exception is if I get a call from a person who wants to save their house.

I know I can earn a fee for doing the negotiation with the mortgage company on behalf of that homeowner. If I am successful in negotiating a workout, I get paid my full fee. If I am not successful, I only ask for half of the fee. My fee is generally $900.

I feel bad for the homeowner but I do my level best to help him save his home and deserve to be paid. If you decide to add lender negotiation into your portfolio, you will definitely deserve to be paid. It is stressful work but offers fantastic rewards.

By the way, some people call lender negotiation loss mitigation. They use the term loss mitigation because that is the department with whom you will be negotiating whether you are trying to save the home or buy it in a short sale. No other department has the authority to agree to your offer. I will cover this in greater detail in a subsequent chapter.

That really is all there is to finding homes in foreclosure in your county. You can either use the title company’s website or you can go to the recorder’s office. You decide.

The second method I use is our local throw away newspaper. It comes out once a week on Thursday’s and I have an ad on the front page each and every week. In fact, all it has is ads. It has absolutely no content or news at all. This method yields the pre-foreclosures.

Here is what my ad says:

FORECLOSURE CONSULTANT
Free and Confidential phone consultation.
Tom 775-XXX-XXXX

I pay extra to have it on the front page and to have the headline in bold letters. If you remember what I said earlier about the term Foreclosure Consultant, you may or may not be able to use it in your state.

If you can’t, use this ad instead:

FORECLOSURE HELP
Free and Confidential phone consultation.
Joe 123-456-7890

Pay the extra few bucks to have the ad’s title in bold type and to have it on the front page.

I use this method to get my pre-foreclosures. People who are behind in their payments know the lender intends to foreclose so they start looking for help. If you remember the definitions from above, you will know these are the people the lender hasn’t filed a NOD against yet. In other words, the lender hasn’t initiated the foreclosure process.

Your ad will pull. In fact, you may get so many you won’t be able to work them all. I average three to four calls a week. That isn’t setting the world on fire but multiply those numbers by at least $10,000 each and you’ll see closing just one a month means I’ve made at least 10K.

By the way, if you can write a better ad, please do. I don’t claim to have cornered the classified ad writing market. All I know is the above ad works for me.

The third method is plain old word of mouth. If Joe and Mary Homeowner are in, or facing, foreclosure I guarantee they know someone else in the same boat. People of a certain means usually socialize with others of the same means. So, you have a built in market.

All I do is ask, “Do you know anyone else facing foreclosure or having problems meeting their monthly mortgage payments?” That one question is pure gold. It is unobtrusive and doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings. It gets to the point and allows them the opportunity to say no so they can save face if they think they have to avoid embarrassment.

There you have it. The three most powerful methods for locating your inventory. Some people tell you to place signs advertising your business on every telephone pole, on every vacant lot and anywhere else you can place them.

Our county has a strict ordinance on sign placement. Violators are subject to stiff fines and other penalties. Yes, someone has to enforce the ordinance in order for you to be fined, but what if your county has a strict ordinance and they enforce it against you?

I don’t put up signs. Let someone else do it and pay the penalty.

You are probably wondering about business cards. Yes, I do have business cards that my son designed and printed on his computer. I bought high grade business card stock at the local warehouse type stationery store and he printed them for us.

They are three color cards that catch your eye. If you don’t have any artistic talent, hire someone to design your cards. Or, if your printer will design it for free, let him do it. Always carry 20 cards with you.

I also never let an opportunity pass to tell someone what I do. The other day I was standing in line at the grocery store and overheard two people talking about a friend about to lose his house.

I politely butted into the conversation with these words as I was handing both of them my card: “I couldn’t help but overhear about your friend. I am in the business of helping people in his situation. Please give him my card.”

Both people took my card and said they would pass it along. As it happens, I have not yet heard from the person in trouble. He may not have received my card, is too embarrassed to call or who knows why. Regardless, you will get calls and they didn’t cost you a dime.

This is a great business for anyone not shy or afraid to help someone out of a jam. The rewards naturally follow. Plus, almost everyone you know knows someone in trouble. That’s how rampant the problem is today. Step out there and get your share of the business.

Here’s a byproduct of your efforts. Once some of your friends know you help people they will become natural bird dogs for you. They know people at their job or school or church who are in trouble and need your help. Because you are their friend they will recommend you. That is like walking down the street and finding a $10,000 bill on the sidewalk.

Those are the easiest ways to get clients. Use them, they work.

---

That concludes the free portion of our foreclosure course. The four remaining chapters really dig into the entire process of a foreclosure deal and making killer deals in this booming market. In order to gain access to the remaining 4 chapters, it will just cost you a one time fee of... SIGNING UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER... aka FREE. Hope that is fair enough on our part. As soon as you sign up, you will be given the secret links to the rest of the course. We hope you will take advantage.

Name:
Email: