How to Find Potential Real Estate Deals

The perfect real estate deal doesn’t just land in your lap. You have to know what you want. Indeed, a good deal is unique to the buyer at hand, matching his or her own goals and budget to an individual property in a way that maximizes the investment’s overall value and appeals. Thus, to find the perfect real estate deal you need a clear real estate investment strategy, one that defines your purpose for investing, as well as your target market, and includes specific details regarding the size, condition, cost and expected returns of ideal property types. Only with this in mind can you figure out where and when to look for the perfect deal. Here are a few tips on how to find real estate deals that make sense for your own business objectives:

Focus on Your Strategy

As mentioned, finding a good real estate deal depends on the objectives and resources of the investor. There is no universal “perfect real estate deal” because there is no universal “investor.” What constitutes value for one person might or might not represent value to another. One investor may be in search of a retail or industrial location, while another might find use out of vacant land or multi-unit properties. People that currently own other properties may be looking to purchase more, or even to sell what they have. Other factors to consider are a person’s age and equity, like young adults looking to upgrade from apartments to first-time homeowners, or the elderly ready to downsize to something more manageable.

Therefore, before you begin a search for the perfect real estate deal, you need to fine-tune your own business strategy, outlining exactly what you want to achieve so that you are able to identify properties that have the potential to get you to your goal!

Diversify Your Marketing

With your business plan always in mind, start looking for deals. The best deals will likely come from multiple sources, not just one, so you need to put feelers out via multiple means. Use various marketing techniques to help you find real estate deals within your target market. Send out direct mail messages; utilize cold-calling techniques; use social media; network with other real estate professionals (and more). The more contacts you make, the more leads you’ll get. And the more leads, the more deals — assuming they’re the right leads, of course (which brings us to our next point).

Partner with the Right Resource(s)

More leads equal more deals only when those leads are the right leads. One of the best ways to ensure your marketing efforts are effective is to use a professional prospecting tool like one of the ones offered at Haines. Our Property Connect and Haines Criss+Cross databases, for instance, allow you to quickly access hundreds of searchable data points. With this information, you are able to uncover leads that correspond to precise criteria within minutes, connecting you not just with potential leads, but with ones more likely to result in a perfect real estate deal since they have been selected based on your own particular business objectives, such as size, costs, and expected returns. Resources like these work to give you the best possible options in terms of your real estate investments.

Learn to Negotiate

Finally, to find a real estate deal you have to be willing to negotiate. Rarely are deals made without human emotions and/or interactions involved. Brush up on (or learn) basic negotiation skills so that you are able to work with sellers to hash out the details of the perfect real estate deal. Be trustworthy and honest; find ways to offer value during a sale (such as bringing cash to the table or offering a quick closing), and always be willing to listen. Sometimes getting the perfect deal is simply a matter of giving the perfect solution.

Want to Find More Real Estate Deals?

To learn how to find real estate deals you need to focus on your own business objectives and negotiation skills. But a good partner helps, too! A professional prospecting tool, like one of our Haines databases, allows you to identify the right leads, setting you up with the perfect opportunity to mine for and negotiate the details of the perfect deal. Please contact our office to learn more.