A Good Newspaper Ad Is A Powerful Tool For Attracting Motivated Sellers

Real estate investors dream of finding a motivated seller. Not only is there the potential to make a substantial profit, but these types of sales typically close faster than traditional real estate transactions. Finding these motivated sellers is part of creative real estate investing, and then connecting with them. How you reach these sellers depends on your skills and resourcefulness, but among the dozens of options available using a well-written, strategically placed newspaper ad is considered one of the better options.

Utilizing a newspaper ad is a tried and true method to find motivated real estate sellers not just in your market but any area you might chose. The trick is figuring out the format and wording to use, the rest is just details.

Much like a direct mail letter or postcard the type of ad you run depends on the type of motivated seller that you are trying to find. If you want to run a print ad in a big city paper then be prepared to shell out some big bucks. Running a classified ad in the same paper may cost less than $50 per month. One thing I have learned is the big city papers aren't always the best route to take. The smaller papers seem to give me the most bangs for my buck.

If you are just getting started I suggest running a classified advertisement and see what kind of response you get. Many times one classified ad is all you need to attract a sizeable amount of motivated sellers. Just make sure that you test, test, test your ad. Your main goal as a real estate investor with any advertisement is to get the phone to ring.

Having a good understanding of the real estate market will help you plan your next move. Once you know the type of real estate market you are dealing with you can begin to advertise accordingly. One important consideration is the day of the week you run your advertisement. Weekends have historically shown to have a higher readership. Running your ad in the Saturday and Sunday editions will cost more than during the week, but it is your best chance to get your ad in front of a lot of prospects. Don't completely rule out the daily papers. They are still a good source for finding motivated sellers. If you can afford it try out both weekend and daily editions to find out which works best for you.

Consistency is the key when running newspaper ads. Don't run an advertisement for only thirty days. Unless you are willing to run the ad month after month then don't bother getting start in the first place. You are just wasting your money. Remember you are playing a numbers game doing this kind of real estate investing. Running any ad for one month isn't likely to attract any sellers. It's a psychological thing in that people have to see the ad over and over for months before they trust it enough to pick up the phone and go online and fill out a contact form.

Running more than one ad in the same paper at the same time can be highly effective. The more exposure your ads have, the more likely that you will get the desired response. If you can afford it place multiple ads in the daily and weekend editions to gain maximum exposure. Keep in mind that some readers may not be in the market today, but they may be next week, next month , or even next year. The more people that know that you are looking for property the more likely you are to find motivated sellers.

When designing your ad always to remember to include your website address AND phone number. If you can swing it consider running multiple ads and have them list different contact numbers and website addresses. An 800 number costs about $25 monthly and you can use a single web page for the website address. This way you can effectively track which ad or ads are getting the most response.

Newspaper advertisements can be a great way to find sellers if you understand how to do it correctly. It may take a little bit of trial and error, but soon you will begin to notice patterns. Certain headlines and wording will get you more phone calls then others – so pay attention to what works and what doesn’t. Always test and track your marketing, so you can continue using what works, and ditch the ones that don’t