Joe and Suzy both have similar houses to sell in a hurry.
They both know that the internet is a great way to move
property quickly, and they both logged online yesterday
evening to see what kind of help they could find there.
They even both found the same website - Bob the Real Estate
Investor's Fantasy Property Solutions page.
This morning, Joe awoke with a light heart because he felt
confident that Bob would be able to sell his house for him
quickly and enable him to walk away with almost $10,000.
Suzy, on the other hand, awoke in despair, certain that
she'd never be able to get her property off her hands
without losing everything in the process. 3 weeks later,
Joe got his $10,000 check at closing and Suzy went into
foreclosure.
Joe and Suzy have nearly identical houses and were in
nearly identical situations, so why did they get such
different results? Bob the Real Estate Investor could have
helped Suzy just like he helped Joe, but he never got the
chance, because Suzy never even contacted him. It was a
lose-lose situation, because Bob would have made a profit
on Suzy's property, and Suzy wouldn't have lost her home to
foreclosure. Instead, Bob lost a valuable property deal and
Suzy lost the house, her credit and probably a lot of her
self respect.
The key to this situation is Bob's Fantasy Property
Solutions webpage. Bob is a real estate investor, and his
webpage reflects this:
•He's very straightforward about what he does: He assigns
contracts on properties to other investors for a fee. His
website asks that any interested investors who are in a
position to purchase distressed properties contact him
immediately.
•He does not explain where he gets the properties from,
just that he sells distressed properties. He assumes that
investors won't care that much about the source of the
deals as long as they can make a profit.
•He doesn't define the word "distressed," and it is not
easy to find his contact information on the page. In fact,
Joe had to sign up for an email newsletter, then reply to
the "noreply" address in order to get in contact with Bob.
Because Joe was patient and persistent, he was able to
contact Bob, find out that his property met Bob's criteria,
and even get contract negotiations underway. However, Suzy
was in a very different boat: she was frantic with worry
because foreclosure was closing in, and Bob's website
didn't calm her worries at all. She thought about calling
him to ask him personally for help, but couldn't find a
phone number or even an email address. Plus, she didn't
know exactly what "distressed" meant anyway, and figured
that she was long past that point. Suzy surfed away from
Bob's page after just a few minutes, and 3 weeks later she
lost everything.
Even when they have the exact same situation on their
hands, motivated sellers and real estate investors have
very different wants and needs, and they need very
different websites to achieve the exact same results! Many
investors who advertise their services online do not
realize this, and assume that one website will serve to
catch all their business. In fact, you must always factor
in the mindset of your viewer when you design your
websites, and make sure that you address their
psychological requirements as well as their logical ones.
----------------------------------------------------
Carole VanSickle is a freelance research reporter based in
the southeastern US. She has taught lay audiences
everything from molecular biology to real estate investing
and internet marketing. Learn more about using the internet
to flip real estate and how to explain things in order to
get your point (and your way) most effectively by visiting
http://blog.cv-investing.com .
No comments:
Post a Comment