Be warned - This one vital step may double your Hawaii real estate investment income over the next ninety days.
First, decide on what your target market will be. I've learned through experience that it's very easy to feel like you're going to do it all - probate, abandoned properties, lease options, absentee owners, foreclosures, tax liens, and the list never seems to end. But if you want to be a real success, you have to narrow it down to one good niche, and then stay focus on becoming a master within that niche. To make money in real estate, carve out a hole that's one inch wide, and two miles deep.
For a lot of people, it happens like this. You hear a good tele-seminar about short sales, and couldn't wait to dive right in. Then you go and buy another course you saw online about probate home study.
Believe me, I've been there, and I've done that. I once attended a three day training for real estate. I tried everything I learned, and all at the same time. We all get lured in by the magic pill, but the truth is, it's just a myth.
So I'm letting you know that I've experienced the same frustrations and disappointments. Running from one contradiction to another can make you want to pull your hair out. So here's where I'll clear some things up to help you out. There's no need for you to take on everything to do with real estate. Just learn to do a couple of things, and do them very well. If you choose foreclosures, and you like the probate system too, then work at those until you get good at them.
Take one market, then learn how to negotiate and solve problems within that market. Figure out natural sounding ways of overcoming objections and do it smoothly. Systemize what you learn, then you can move on the your next system while the one you've mastered runs on autopilot. Take one step at a time, and first things first.
Pick Your Niche - Choose one from among the many, such as MLS, tax liens, farming neighborhoods, absentee owners, foreclosures, code violations, etc.
Set Yourself A Marketing Budget - Sit down and figure up what you can spend on each campaign. Campaigns are not monthly budgets. You need to keep that in mind. You might want to spend $100 one month, and the next month spend $500, because the tactics will vary between marketing campaigns.
Select Your Means Of Communication - This can be driving for dollars, direct mail, mass media advertising, or telemarketing.
Implement Your Strategy, And Stick To It - You have to be committed to what you're doing to make it work, or you're simply throwing money away. It takes patience and work, and a determination to see it through to the end. If you have that kind of fortitude, then the money and deals will come. Remember that marketing real estate is part of your overall real estate business, and it takes a constant investment in marketing to keep the income streams coming in.