Tips for crafting an effectively ad that demands reader attention

I’ve marketed my rental properties online for the past 8-years. My advertisements have featured a variety of property-related needs—to find buyers, sellers, and tenants for my rental properties. However, over time, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t when it comes to crafting an effectively ad that grabs the customer’s attention.
For my primary property investment marketing, I use free advertising sites like Craigslist. The following tips are what I consider “must haves” when it comes to crafting eye-catching ads for property investment purposes…

1. Set your ad apart with unique content
“For immediate rental, 2-bedroom condo, 950-square feet, en-suite laundry, utilities included, $800 per month, contact blah, blah, blah…” Sounds like every other property rental ad—doesn’t it? All of my ads used to sound something like this. They included just the basic information about the property, the price, and a phone number. However, I soon learned that this basic ad doesn’t catch as much attention as I’d like. After a weeknight seminar with a very successful property investor, I learned that taking the time to write an eye-catching, descriptive title (i.e., “Stylish, Modern Condo for Rent in the Heart of the City”) was enough to grab the reader’s attention long enough that they would read the rest of the practical information about my listing and actually call me for a viewing.

2. Provide a clear call-to-action
A real call to action is vital when writing a rental ad yet so many posters forget a contact number, an email contact form, a website that asks the user to sign-up, or some clear call-to-action that gets the user to leave their information in your lead system. This method not only provides one clear way for the reader to contact you, it also organizes or directs potential renters in one clear direction (your email, cell phone number, website, etc.) keeping those who’ve called organized and easy to follow up with on your end as well.

3. It’s all in the timing…
Did you know that free online classified sites, like Craigslist, automatically post new ads at the very top of the page? That means the older posts get pushed towards the bottom. What this says to me is that I want to ensure I post my ad when the majority of my target audience is look—otherwise they’ll never see my ad. For instance, I used to post my ads late at night when I got back to my office. That means I was posting at 10 or 11pm. However, once I did a little online survey, I discovered that most people were surfing Craigslist to find a rental either over their lunch hours or right after dinner. You better bet I reorganized my schedule so I posted my ads just before noon and just after 6PM at night, which increased my chances of my ads being seen by my target audience. I’m happy to report that my responses from interested renters have greatly increased as a result.

Five ways to improve your first impression with business contacts

As a real estate investor, or any business owner, your business card can say a lot about your professionalism. Firstly, a business card is often makes the first impression on colleagues and potential clients.
A poorly designed business card can negatively impact your personal brand—as well as reflect negatively on your services and expertise as a property investor. In order to make a good first impression with your business card, here are five tips that will improve your initial impression and increase your business opportunities…

1. Respect business card etiquette
Business card etiquette recommends that if you give a business card—you ask for a business card in return. It’s all about introducing yourself and making a good first impression, so if you give a colleague or a potential client your business card, you should ask for one in return. And don’t just shove their business card in your briefcase, take the time to give it a look and ask a question about what they do. This attention to detail shows respect and will also ensure you are remembered the next time you touch base with the contact.

2. Always have a few business cards on your person
It doesn’t matter if you’re heading to the gym or a client meeting, before you leave your home or office, makes sure you pack a few business cards. You never know when a business opportunity might present itself. Believe it or not, I got two leads in Yoga class last week! Think of any social opportunity as a networking opportunity and make it a habit to always carry a few business cards with you—just in case!

3. Create electronic business cards
These are ideal to attach to any email correspondence, and they double as your signature (or sit just below it). E-business cards provide a great way to market yourself and your services. Plus, you never know who knows someone selling, buying, or looking for a rental and they might forward your information on to a potential client.

4. Also include business cards with paper correspondence
Slip a business card into bill payments, customer thank you cards, contractor invoices, etc. Again, you never know who—your bank teller, your plumber, your lawyer—knows someone, who knows someone, who you could potentially do business with.

5. Make business cards a feature of your follow-up
After you meet a contact at a conference or a potential client at an open house, there is no harm in including a paper or e-business card in a hand written note or an email thanking the person for their time. This reminds them of you and puts your contact information in front of them once again, potentially opening the door to business opportunity.

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Incorporate the wow factor to grab the attention of your target audience

When you first start out in the real estate investing business, you might not know everything there is to know about creating effective online advertisements for your rental or resale properties. It takes time and research to understand when the best time is to post your ad, what key words you should use, and sometimes it even takes a few dud ads (which can cost valuable time and money) to help you get your ads crafted properly.

With online marketing, your property ads—posted on sites like Craigslist, Kijiji and Facebook Marketplace—should utilize the “wow factor” or rather the following 3 must-have elements that veteran real estate investors have identified, which include:

1. Post your ads at peak times: Many new real estate investors think they’ll get a jump on Craigslist by posting their property ad at 6:30am—or even the night before at 11pm. In reality, they are doing their ad a serious injustice. You see, when you post a classified ad, it automatically appears at the very top of the page and pushes older ads down towards the bottom. However, if you place your ad too early in the morning or too late in the evening—when no one is up searching for houses to rent or buy—you risk that your ad will never being seen. Instead, generate maximum exposure by posting around 9am to 10am on Saturday or Sunday when folks are just sitting down to their morning coffee and perusing the want ads. Other ideal times are near lunchtime or shortly after dinner during week days.

2. Get creative with your wording: Property ads always seem to use the same old language, for instance: “Beautiful 2 bedroom house, located on quiet dead end street, with large, fully-fenced backyard. Located within convenient walking distance to downtown. For more info, please contact Bob at 123-456-7899.” What’s wrong with this picture? It’s boring and it doesn’t have the “wow factor” that will cause your audience to take action. Instead, use a unique hook in your headline, for example, “Wow, charming 2 bedroom in the heart of the city!”, and then provide the standard details in the body of your ad.

3. Include a motivating call-to-action: This brings us to number 3—a clear call-to-action—that will spur the reader to respond to your ad first—over dozens of the same old ad. Sure, including Bob’s contact number (like we did above) is a call-to-action, but it’s a lukewarm, run of the mill statement that every ad will make. Instead, try one of these exciting calls-to-action for instant response:

• Affordable family homes are available in your area, contact us at…
• For a free list of foreclosures in your city visit our website at www…
• Email us today for a free listing of luxury homes in your area…
• Call us today to learn more about our first time home buyer’s incentive…
• Contact us today and get your first month at a discount…

Home-based real estate investors make their schedules work for them—not the other way around

1. Make your work schedule work for you – Working for someone else means one thing: your time at work is NOT your own. You have to meet deadlines and do things that don’t contribute to your ultimate success, but the success of the larger company and their bottom line. Just think: how many of those 40-hours a week at the office do you really spend complaining about your job? Stewing about a decision your boss made? Taking a long-hopefully unnoticed lunch just to save your sanity? Texting during a boring business meeting? Surfing Facebook during a conference call? Hating that you spend the majority of your day in an office and not with your family? That’s called wasted time, and it’s your time! When you work for yourself, for example, as a real estate investor with a home business, you’d be surprised how productive you can be when you’re hard at work for 20 hours a week—compared to when you’re half productive for 40 hours a week working for someone else.

2. You can let your freak flag fly – Or in other words, you can feel free to be yourself, no “corporate face” or “corporate monkey suit” necessary. Folks who run home-based businesses can wear the same sweatpants to work whether they’re subcontracting a renovation or booking time to go see a new property. The point is that you suddenly have the freedom to be yourself—meditate every hour, attend a Thai Chi class, dance with your cat to get your creative juices flowing about a new kitchen layout. ..but don’t dare try any of these at your company office or you’ll be ostracized, or worse, fired.

3. You can work from absolutely anywhere – How cool is that? Home-based real estate investors can spend the morning hours returning work calls or booking appointments such as house tours, meetings with contractors or home inspections all from the comfort of their kitchen table with a steaming pot of coffee and a plate of waffles. And if they’re out and about in the afternoon; they can simply pop into a coffee shop and do research on the areas homes from their laptop while having a quick bite to eat. It doesn’t matter if you spend the later afternoon commuting on a bus, train, plane or subways (both the chain restaurant and the thing that takes you from place to place). The point is that you’re not constrained to a physical office space, in a physical corporate building, in a physical city or state. You can be a real estate investor from anywhere, anytime as long as you have a laptop and an internet connection.

4. You can work at doing what you love – And the “love” can be the actual job—for example, if you run a real estate business from home—or it might be that your job allows you to do the flexibility to enjoy the hobbies, people, charity work, health pursuits or money that you love in your off time (keep in mind that many real estate investors get a start renovating houses as a hobby). Regardless, home-based businesses allow you to pursue what you’re passionate about.

5. You can live all funky-like – Meaning that if you do your best work at night, you can start the blueprints for a project renovation at midnight and work into the wee hours of the morning. Or maybe you prefer a split shift, working for 2-hours at a time (and going surfing in between) until you get your work all finished. Regardless, you’re blessed with the ability to live unconventionally. When you work for yourself you’re not bound by typical constraints and this gives you the freedom to live a funky lifestyle. Think about what kind of working situation makes you the happiest and most productive—and go for it!

6. You will save a lot of money to do the things you love – Unlike large companies who spend, spend, spend; you can keep your overhead low. For example, many real estate investors who are just starting out do most of the work themselves rather than hiring labor—such as mudding and taping, laying flooring and painting the homes they own. That’s why we hear about so many successful real estate investment companies that went from $200 in savings and working out of their basement, to making a billion dollars in just a few years. Work from home and have extra money to pay down the mortgage on your property investment, pursue a new hobby that you’ve always dreamed of, or pay for your kids’ education.

7. Live wherever you want – This is kind of the same as working where you want, but many entrepreneurs take this a step further and live where their heart takes them as well. Has your wife always wanted to live in Thailand? Do you think it would be a great cultural experience for your kids to learn Spanish? Well, it’s cheaper to start a business in Thailand or Costa Rica—especially if you’re getting paid USD or Euros. Think of the house you could buy!

8. It’s in your best interest to be healthy – We’ve all heard the doctor say, “Working in an office for 8 hours day at a desk is unhealthy!” In the cubicle corporate world you get bad lighting, uncomfortable chairs, uninspiring wall colors, stress and very little exercise (unless you take the stairs once a day). However, you can make time for exercise, a daily walk, set your own eating schedule and just spend more time feeling and looking good. It’s really a win-win for you and your home-based business because if you feel and look good, you’re confident, more productive and more energetic in your personal and work life.

9. You’re challenged to be creative – Chances are, when you’ve work for someone else in the past, you’ve coasted a bit, flown under the radar and maybe promised yourself that this job was just a temporary stepping-stone. Sound familiar? When you work for the big boss (you) you can’t fly under the radar, you’re forced to stay on top of things and maybe even improvise. This not only adds challenge, excitement and a solid purpose to your work life, it also renders great satisfaction and boosts self-confidence.

10. You can spend more time with those you care about – This might be your kids, your partner or spouse, your larger family, your pet or your friends. Working for yourself gives you the freedom to schedule your workday around your life’s priorities and to focus on what’s truly important.

Have our ‘10 Reasons Why You Must Work for Yourself’ convinced you to start your own home-based business? Discover more about becoming a real estate investor today!

Lifestyles Unlimited, the nationally renowned Education and Mentor Group for Real Estate Investing, congratulates member Ira Gross.

Ira has been selected the 2011 National Apartment Association Independent Owner of the Year, 101-500 units category. Mr. Gross joins a fine group of elite owner-operators from Lifestyles Unlimited who have received this coveted award.

Ira is a member in good standing with Lifestyles for more than six years. During that time, he has successfully purchased with his partners two apartment complexes, one in Stafford, TX and the other in southwest Houston. The first property, 175 units, which was submitted for this award, has had total returns of more than 150% to the partners. Mr. Gross had no prior experience in the apartment business and joined Lifestyles Unlimited for mentoring and guidance from founder Del Walmsley and VP of Acquisition, Broker, David Fantin. Ira also receives support from other members who are owner-operators.

In 2009, Ira was awarded the Houston Apartment Association Independent Owner of the Year.

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Wealth building through real estate investments begins with one house at a time. Often, when you hear people talk about real estate investing they are talking big numbers. You hear about the millions to be made in the market, especially now when everything is on sale. You hear stories about the people who own 50 or more single family homes or bought a package of 10 investment properties. What gets lost in the hype is that the vast majority of these investors began with just one house.

My story, like many successful real estate investors, begins with one small house in Texas. It took me awhile to buy this house. I made lots of offers before one was accepted, and I walked away from a few deals for a variety of reasons most of which had more to do with fear than with the numbers. Finally, one of my mentors looked me in the eye and said, “Buy this house.” So I bought a house that no one else would buy, held my breath (and my stomach because the butterflies were giving me a stomach ache) and signed on the proverbial dotted line.

Every successful investor has a story like this. Most of us are just like you, scared of making a wrong choice, but determined to change the financial future of our families. Finding a mentor you can trust and following their advice makes that first purchase easier and more successful.

Our first rental investment property in Texas was a diamond in the rough. Once cut and polished, we captured $36,000 in equity (based on a recent appraisal for a re-fi in March of 2010) and a cash flow after all costs of $429.00/month. This from a house that no one wanted to buy! I remember my mentor telling me, “Someone lives in every house on this street and someone will live here too. The question is, will you be the one who profits from it?”

The next house came shortly after with an equity capture of $21,000 (based on a re-fi appraisal in February 2011) and $324.00/month cash flow after all expenses.

The third house represents an equity capture of $27,000 and $290/month in cash flow. All of these properties have an ROI (Return on Investment) of 43%/year or more.

A picture is forming, right? For most of us, it is not one big deal that takes us from a J-O-B to retirement. It is taking the first step and following the correct road map that leads you, over a period of about 5 years, to the retirement you have dreamed of. I am not there yet, but I am well on my way and I am already enjoying the benefits of my real estate investments. I quit my J-O-B in January of 2010, in order to focus full time on my real estate related investments, and I am having a blast!

Just these 3 investments represent $84,000 in unrealized capital gains. Every month my renters increase this number by paying my mortgage. In addition, they provide $1043.00 in additional income for my family. Although real estate values may fall some more before they recover, my renters will not move out. They will continue to pay rent each month because they like where they live. I will not sell the properties until I can realize the capital gains I need to move to the next step of my 5 year retirement plan. In addition to my rentals, I have flipped several properties and I am a hard money lender (with an annualized return of 12% last year) helping others to get started in real estate investing.

My properties are the best product at the best price in the neighborhood so they rent quickly. My renters are happy to find such a nice home. The neighbors are delighted to have the blight in the neighborhood transformed into a beautifully updated home, increasing the value of every home in the neighborhood. The vendors who participated in the deal, from appraisers to roofers, are happy to have work in a time of recession. The social value in our model of real estate investing is priceless.

We plan to buy 6 more rental properties before the end of 2011. With a conservative estimate of $15,000 in unrealized capital gain in each property, and a cash flow of $250 a month, this will add over $90,000 to our net worth and $1,500 a month to our cash flow. We are perfectly positioned to sell our investment properties whenever the market recovers and roll that money (tax free through a 1031 exchange) into a multifamily investment that generates a solid return and requires minimal oversight as a passive investor.
We will continue to invest a portion of our funds in Hard Money Loans to others, generating a great return on our investment and providing others with the opportunity to get started in real estate investing.

Because we are teaching our 3 children (ages 20, 19 and 17) the business, we will flip several properties this year in order to help them make the money they need to acquire their own rental properties.

We are one year in to our 5 year retirement plan, and we are doing well. Where are you? Find a mentor you can trust, one who has successfully invested in real estate through up and down markets. Develop your own personal road map from J-O-B to the retirement of your dreams. Take the first step along your personal route to success by buying one property. Then buy another, and another, and another. Wealth building through real estate investments begins with one house at a time!

I began my multi-family investing career in 2002 and never before have I experienced the heavenly buying climate for real estate that currently exists today. Based on my personal research and experience, and that of many others who have been in the market for over 40 years, now is the best time since the late 1980’s to be investing in real estate.

There is no better time that now for you to finally take control of your financial destiny and invest in assets like real estate that provide positive cash flow and massive opportunity for doubling your money every few years. Every market statistic indicates that now is the time to buy. Prices are down, occupancy is up, rents are up, demand for rental housing exceeds supply, employment is up, interest rates are low, financing is available, etc. If you are on the sidelines waiting for the right time, well, THE TIME IS NOW. If you wait any longer, you will miss the boat.

If you still heed the advice of taking your hard-earned money out of your pocket every month and are sending it away to your 401(k), IRA, well-diversified mutual fund, or paying off your house early, check in with yourself and determine how those “investments” are working for you. We have been conditioned by the media, government, financial planners, parents, friends, etc. that a good “investment” is:

• Something that takes money out of your pocket
• Something that you buy and have no control over
• Something that you buy and hope goes up in value

And that you should work until you are 65 or 70, live below your means, stay out of debt, save your money, and accumulate a “nest egg” that you can live off of for the rest of your life after you “retire” from your job. Wow, it all sounds exciting, doesn’t it? No wonder so many people are depressed, on medication, seeing a therapist, etc. There has got to be more to life than this!

“Problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” -Albert Einstein

This quote in my own words is “To get what you never had, you got to do what you’ve never done”. And, for most of us, what you never had is financial freedom (i.e. cash flow that equals or exceeds your living expenses). And, what you have never “done” (up until now) was learning WHY and HOW to invest in real estate and taking ACTION. Simply stated, if you want to be rich, you need to think like the rich and take action like that rich. You see, the rich understand that the best “investments” provide positive cash flow and earn double-digit average annualized returns. The middle class go to work for cash flow, send money away to investments, and pray that they go up in value.

Right now, let’s redefine a good investment as

• Something that puts money into your pocket (positive cash flow)
• Something that you have control over
• Something that goes up in value because of your skill set (vs. buying and praying it goes up)

If you apply this definition to “traditional” investments such as the stock market, mutual funds 401(k)s, IRAs and your primary residence, all of these now fail the test.

Conversely, real estate provides all three. Real Estate provides positive cash flow from the fact that we can buy properties and rent them out for more than our total expenses including debt. We control which properties we buy, how much we pay for them, who finances them, who we rent to, who our partners are, who are contractors are, who manages them, etc. And the higher our skill sets are in locating, evaluating, negotiating, financing, and operating these properties, the more money we make!

Now that you know what makes a good investment, what will you do with that knowledge? Knowledge alone is not power… power is knowledge + action. Always take action after you learn something new. Find a deal. Learn how to evaluate it. Find some partners. Get the money. Make an offer. Find a mentor. All of these are actions that you can do, or commit to do, RIGHT NOW. Go ahead, make that call, send that email, write that contract, ask for the money…that’s right you can do it!

New to Lifestyles Unlimited? Make the commitment today and attend our free introductory real estate investing workshop in your area.