The Single Hardest Thing To Learn As A Real Estate Investor

The Single Hardest Thing To Learn As A Real Estate Investor

Joe: Hey, it’s Joe Crump. This question is, “What is the single hardest thing to learn as a real estate investor? What’s the thing that takes the most time to learn? What’s the thing that stops people from succeeding because they don’t learn this one thing.” And that thing is learning how to talk on the phone to sellers and make a credible offer. To be able to come across as honest, credible, knowledgeable and above all, having a solution that is going to solve the problem of that seller. If you’ll learn how to do that one thing, you can feed yourself for the rest of your life.

Joe: The problem is it takes a while to learn it. I find that it takes a hundred phone calls to sellers, making offers, using the For Rent Method, which is what I teach to my mentor students, doing that process a hundred times where you don’t get off the phone until they say no at least five times. Every time they say “no” you ask another question. And you have a list of questions, if you’re using the For Rent Method, you have a list of questions that you can keep asking them. And eventually you’re going to get better at it and you’re going to start listening to them and you’re going to start seeing where their real problem is. And you’re going to learn how to diagnose that problem.

Joe: Remember, you’re a diagnostician as an investor. You’re there to help them solve a problem. If you’re not trying to solve a problem for them, they’re not going to want to work with you. But if you’re going to solve their problem in a way that makes you money and is the best possible outcome for them, then they’re going to work for you. So, what you have to do is understand their options. Later in this series I’m going to be talking about seller options and I’m going to give you every seller option that’s possible so that you understand what they are. Because most for sale by owners don’t understand what they are.

Joe: So that’s the thing that you have to learn, and you have to get good at it. You have to be fluent. You have to sound competent. When you first get on the phone and do this you’re going to sound like an idiot and they’re going to treat you like an idiot. So, be patient with yourself. Try to get better on every call that you make and by the time you’ve gone through a hundred calls, you’re probably going to have a deal. That’s our average. Typically my mentor students will have a deal within their first hundred calls.

Joe: Sometimes people do it in ten calls. Some people take two hundred calls. But most people get through it and learn how to do it within a hundred calls and they get good at it. Now, that typically takes a lot of time. When my mentor students sign up one of the things I require of them before they sign up is that they commit to me that they will put in eight to ten hours a week on the phone talking to sellers, making offers, doing nothing else but that one thing.

Joe: That’s the most important thing. And once they learn it, it’s a lot easier. They don’t have to put in that amount of hours after that. But at the beginning, they’re going to have to put in those hours if they want to learn this and start making money within three or four months, which is the typical time that it takes somebody to learn this process and get good at it enough so that they can actually put a deal together. Unless they get lucky, then sometimes it happens a lot sooner.

Joe: But even if they get lucky on the first one, the second one they’re going to have learn, or third one. They’re not going to be lucky every time. So if you don’t learn this you won’t be able to make it a sustainable business. And then once you learn how to do it and you’re really good at it, then you’re going to be able to train somebody else to do it for you so that you don’t have to do this for the rest of your life. And even if you do, instead of calling a hundred people, you’re going to talk to ten people, or you’re going to talk to five people. Or you’re going to talk to three people. You know, when you get good at this, you know, a 20% closing ratio is not unusual. And a lot of the students that I have that have been doing this for a while, they can talk to two or three people and put a deal together almost every time.

Joe: Anyway, that’s the thing that you need to learn, so that’s the thing that you can’t give up on. Learn how to talk these sellers in a way that’s competent and you will make money.

Joe: All right. Hope that helps.