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Kathy Kennebrook Discusses the Secrets of Land Lording

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By Kathy Kennebrook (The Marketing Magic Lady)

You’ve all heard the tenant horror stories from people who have had tenants in properties, but being a landlord doesn’t have to be difficult as long as you learn some strategies for handling your tenants. My husband used to say that handling tenants was like having a group of children that you have to train and discipline. But it doesn’t have to be that difficult.

You do have to make some specific rules for your tenants and stick to them. Every time you change the rules you give your tenants the upper hand. You must also have an iron clad lease that specifically addresses the issues that you may have with tenants including getting your rent paid on time.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

This is one area in which I am steadfast with the rules. I don’t care what the tenant’s situation is, their responsibility is to pay me on time and in full or they are stealing services from you without paying for them. My tenants are responsible for having the rent in our post office box or direct deposited through zelle or paypal on or before the date it is due or they are served with a three-day notice the next morning as required by law where I live in order to begin the eviction process. There are no exceptions. We even have tenants who send their checks to me priority mail to make sure they get to me on time. Most of our tenants have been with us a long time and many pay early.

You must also take the time to pre-qualify your tenants’ right from the beginning so you can avoid some problems right from the start. Don’t just accept a tenant into your rental property because they have the money to move in. Don’t let greed be your guide. Have your tenants fill out a specific rental application. Then you run must a tenant check with a reputable company. Don’t try to do this yourself just by looking at public record. You will miss credit issues and anything that may have occurred out of state. You need to find out the information you need to know about your tenants’ right from the start before renting them your unit.

For example, if the tenant check shows the applicant was just evicted from another premises, this certainly isn’t going to be a tenant you want in your property. Or if your tenant has had recent felony convictions, this isn’t a tenant you want in your rental unit. If your applicant has multiple animals, this is also not someone you want in your rental unit. I will mention however, that I will allow a tenant with a small dog or cat to rent my units. I find that usually a tenant who has a pet that they have had for some time will make a good tenant who will stay longer in your unit.

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I also have a separate pet lease which addresses specific rules regarding pets in my units. The pet lease requires that the dog or cat is an indoor pet and I have an additional non-refundable amount of security deposit for the pet lease and additional pet rent of 25.00 per month. I find that this works out very well. If the tenant gets a pet that is not on the lease, this is grounds for immediate eviction, and we do have someone who checks our units about every 60 days for us to make sure all is well with our rental units.

I also check out where they were living before by going by the address and checking it out and I talk to their previous landlord. I want to see how they have been treating the place where they were living before. If it looks like a pig pen or if they have multiple animals, this is not someone I want in my unit. If they don’t give me this information on the rental application, I won’t even consider them to rent my unit.

I know some of this is just common sense but it bears discussion. If a tenant makes it through my rigorous screening process, I also have them pay first month’s rent, last month’s rent and the security deposit either by cash, cashiers check or by money order. I do not accept personal checks for the move-in amounts.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

During the following months I do not accept personal checks from them for the rent, we only accept money orders or direct deposit. The first time a check bounces for insufficient funds or any other reason, they must make it good immediately or I will immediately begin the eviction process. This is all covered in the lease they have signed. I also make sure that the person I have putting tenants in units for me thoroughly covers all the items in the lease with them before they sign it.

If a tenant does get their rent to us late, they are responsible for additional rental fees of one percent per day. These fees are in our lease as additional rental fees as opposed to late fees since some courts won’t allow you to get a judgment for late fees. Within the body of our lease we also require our tenants to have renters insurance and I want to see proof of the policy before they move in. This way I can’t be held liable for any injuries or the loss of their possessions due to an accident, fire, hurricane or any other natural disaster.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Additionally, once my tenants sign a lease with me, I will not give them keys until I see proof of utilities in their name for the unit. In certain counties like ours, the landlord can’t turn off utilities in their own name. The only way the name changes on the utilities is with a new lease and then utilities get put in the tenant’s name. This rule may be different where you live, but a lot of the time if the tenant doesn’t pay their utilities it falls back to the landlord. This is just one way for you to protect yourself.

These are just a few of the basic techniques that will make you a happy and successful landlord. Monthly cash flow is a wonderful thing if your properties are managed correctly.

For more information on becoming a successful landlord and finding all the deals you need for your real estate investing business, check out my website at www.marketingmagiclady.com. While you are there be sure and sign up for my Free Monthly Newsletter!!

Kathy Kennebrook Discusses Owner Financing and Work For Equity Programs to Get Your Homes Sold Quickly- Part 3

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By Kathy Kennebrook

Another way Kathy Kennebrook suggests to sell properties, especially properties that need repairs is by implementing a Work For Equity Plan. This is a good way for you to get a higher dollar amount for properties that need some work instead of simply wholesaling them. This is another way to drive potential buyers to your properties no matter what your current market is doing.

So what does Kathy Kennebrook mean by Work For Equity? Simply, it means that you have a property that needs some repairs that you want to sell. Instead of wholesaling it, you will sell it to an end user or homeowner who will do the repairs in exchange for some of the equity in the home. You can either sell your properties this way or lease/option your properties using this method. Kathy Kennebrook has done both successfully.

Image by Fernando FLeitas from Pixabay

For example, say you have a home that all fixed up would be worth $150,000 and it needs around 20,000 in repairs, perhaps paint, carpet, appliances, or bathroom rehab. You should have purchased this home for around 82,000 or less if you structured your purchase correctly. You could then lease/option or sell this home on a Work For Equity program for around 115,000-120,000. This gives your buyer an opportunity to gain some sweat equity in the property by doing some of the work themselves and allows you a big paycheck at the end without having to do any of the repairs yourself. Kathy Kennebrook likes using this technique to sell properties since it gives a potential buyer the opportunity to purchase a home when they might not have been able to do so otherwise.

You have to be very specific about the terms when selling or lease/optioning a property this way as to what repairs are going to be done and in what time period. Kathy Kennebrook provides a list to the buyer of repairs that need to be done and she goes over it in detail with them. Kathy Kennebrook then has them sign an agreement stating that these repairs will be completed within a specific timeframe which might be 12-24 months, depending on what you and your buyer agree on. Kathy also keeps tabs as to what repairs have been completed. While the repairs are being done to the property, Kathy Kennebrook also has her mortgage broker working with her buyers in order to get them qualified for a mortgage once repairs are completed. She will allow the buyers to live in the property while repairs are being completed as long as the repairs are not something that is going to create a dangerous situation for the buyers.

This is a really good way to sell homes that need work and make more money on them than you would if you had just wholesaled the property. Selling homes on a Work for Equity program will bring you buyers that would otherwise not be able to purchase a home so it creates a win-win solution for all involved, and brings you buyers you would not have had before. In a sluggish market, this is a really good way for you to sell properties that need rehab and make really good profits on your deals.

For more information on buying and selling houses quickly in any market, visit Kathy Kennebrook’s website at marketingmagiclady.com.

Kathy Kennebrook Discusses Owner Financing and Work For Equity To Get Your Homes Sold Quickly-Part 2

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By Kathy Kennebrook

The other way Kathy Kennebrook offers owner financing to a buyer is by holding a small second mortgage for them for part of her profit on the deal. This is personally one of her favorite ways to sell properties. Often having this opportunity available makes it easier for your buyer to obtain their first mortgage and gives you monthly cash flow for part of your profit. You actually end up making more on the deal this way since most of the buyer’s monthly payment to you on the second mortgage is interest.

Image by Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay

Kathy Kennebrook will typically hold a second mortgage for her buyer’s with a three year balloon. At the end of the three year period, they still end up owing her most of the principle of the original loan. This can become a nice stream of income for you both on a monthly basis and long-term. You end up getting a big check when your property is sold, then smaller monthly payments for a period of time, then another big paycheck at the end of the buyer’s balloon.

Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay

The other method Kathy Kennebrook suggests using to sell properties is to owner finance the sale of your property for your buyer, and then sell the note to someone else at the closing table. If you structure your deal correctly, you usually end up being paid between 90-93% of the total amount in cash when the closing takes place. In this instance, if Kathy Kennebrook knows she is going to sell the note at the closing and take a lump sum cash payment, she makes sure she has sold the property for its full retail value or a little more. This way Kathy still gets a big paycheck and most of the value of her property’s sale.

These are just a couple of other methods you can use to sell houses that will drive buyers to you even in a sluggish market because you are offering your buyers assistance that most other sellers are not.

For more information on selling homes on a Work For Equity Plan, check out part three of this article. In the meantime, visit Kathy Kennebrook’s website at Marketingmagiclady.com for even more information on buying and selling homes quickly in any market.

Marketing Your Way To Millions

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When Kathy Kennebrook first started in the Real Estate Investing Business, she very quickly figured out that the best way to find good deals was to locate qualified motivated sellers. What is a qualified motivated seller? It’s someone who needs their property now, as opposed to someone who just wants to sell. This is the seller who has a problem they need to solve and they want you to solve it for them.

After Kathy had been in the Real Estate investing business for a little while, she developed some really effective marketing strategies including direct mail to locate highly motivated sellers. She then put together a system to create a machine that would bring her deal after deal after deal. Better yet, Kathy created a machine that was automated so she got someone else doing all the work for her so all she has to do is deal with the motivated sellers.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Now you too can learn her special secrets to attracting motivated sellers!! Learn out how Kathy Kennebrook made a seven figure income in just 12 short months using her Unique Direct Mail Strategies to locate motivated sellers. Learn how you can do the same in your pajamas without licking a single stamp!

  • Learn how Kathy Kennebrook carved a unique niche market that other Real Estate Investors simply don’t know about, and how you can too.
  • Learn how to implement a “cookie cutter” system that works every time to get more motivated sellers contacting you than ever before.
  • Learn how to find the owners of vacant, abandoned houses even when they don’t want to be found.
  • Learn how to find and make incredible deals with out of state owners.
  • Learn how to start from scratch and complete your first deal within 30 days.
  • Learn how to implement a dummy proof, affordable and efficient Marketing System that will result in motivated, qualified sellers contacting you in droves practically begging you to take their property off their hands.
  • Turn small marketing dollars into BIG profits with minimal effort and HUGE results.
  • Learn how to automate the system so you can deal with the many sellers who will contact you, just like Kathy Kennebrook does.
  • Learn how to pick out the marketing gems that work best for you in your area and capitalize on them for maximum profits.
  • Learn how to use Kathy Kennebrook’s special response mechanism that gets motivated sellers contacting her quickly giving her the information she needs to make the deal.

Image by kiquebg from Pixabay

  • Learn how to find and make incredible deals with burned out landlords.
  • Learn how to follow up with prospective sellers so you buy their property when their circumstances dictate that they do so.
  • Learn how to use telephone scripts so you never have to wonder what to say to these motivated sellers.
  • Learn how Kathy Kennebrook locates motivated sellers who will simply deed her their homes in lovely neighborhoods.
  • Learn how to call on ads, what to say, who to call and how to get someone else doing all the work for you so all you have to do is deal with the sellers who really want to sell. Kathy Kennebrook even has all the telephone scripts for you to use so the sellers are pre-screened for you.
  • Learn how to use attorneys to find you great deals on distressed properties no one else knows about. This is an excellent lead generation tool you only have to market for one time. Kathy Kennebrook has used this tool to create relationships with attorneys who bring her deal after deal.
  • Learn how Kathy Kennebrook finds and works with owners of properties with no mortgages so she can get really creative financing on these beautiful properties in excellent neighborhoods.
  • Learn how to use wholesale buyers to bird dog for you, build your lead base and make even more money for you by buying the properties from you after you get them under contract. This is one of Kathy Kennebrook’s favorite techniques for making money quickly and easily in the Real Estate Investing business.

Image by Kelly Alpert from Pixabay

  • Learn how to find your personal dream home in a lovely neighborhood with no cash out of pocket and no credit. Your family will love you for it!
  • Learn to recognize the difference between a motivated and a non-motivated seller and end the conversation quickly with a non-motivated seller so you don’t waste your time.
  • Learn how to make the deal on the phone before you ever go see the property. Kathy Kennebrook knows how important your time is.
  • Learn how to use 24 additional marketing techniques that are some of Kathy Kennebrook’s personal favorites to build your lead base and let even more motivated sellers know you buy and sell houses.

Kathy Kennebrook developed these strategies and systems as tools for her own Real Estate Investing business, and now Kathy Kennebrook is going to share them with you, the Real Estate Investor in order to help you grow your own business. Kathy Kennebrook explains to you step by step how to build your Marketing System, and how to track your mailings, your sellers and your deals to make the highest profit possible in your Real Estate Investing business.

For information on these amazing strategies, take a look at Kathy Kennebrook’s Marketing Magic System at her website- www.marketingmagiclady.com

Rehabbing Your Way To Millions Part 1

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By Kathy Kennebrook
(The Marketing Magic Lady)

In just about any real estate market I believe that there are a lot of great ways to make a fortune in real estate and one of those ways is to rehab and sell properties quickly. This is a strategy I implement on a daily basis in my own Real Estate Investing business.

There are some excellent resources for you to use to find vacant ugly properties to rehab and sell in virtually any price range. One of those techniques is to simply use targeted direct mail campaigns like I do to find motivated sellers of ugly vacant properties or estates.

Image by Manfred Richter from Pixabay

This is a great way to find highly motivated sellers who need to sell quickly and there are great deals to be made for pennies on the dollar. Remember, your profit is made when you buy a property.

Another strategy I use to find the owner of vacant ugly properties is to mail to a list of property owners with delinquent taxes that belong to out of county or out of state owners. These lists are pretty easy to come by and I offer resources for these mailing lists and others when you invest in my Marketing System. Check out my website at www.marketingmagiclady.com.

Another way to find great deals with ugly vacant properties is to work with the REO departments of your local banks. REO mean real estate owned properties. These are ugly vacant properties that the banks have taken back for non-payment of the mortgage.

These banks are generally selling properties for forty to sixty cents on the dollar in order to get rid of them quickly. Generally speaking the banks want to get these ugly houses out of their inventory since banks are in the money business, not the house business. And there are more houses available through these resources than ever before due to our current real estate market situation.

Copyright: alexraths / 123RF Stock Photo

You do need to be careful about the properties you are buying since you want to buy houses you can resell quickly, so there are some specific parameters I would suggest you follow. Here are examples of houses I would suggest you stay away from buying.

1. Houses on busy streets
2. Houses in war zones
3. Houses with only two bedrooms or tiny bedrooms
4. Houses needing more rehab than you can handle (like burn-outs)
5. Houses which are functionally obsolete
6. Houses on postage stamp lots
7. Houses near or across from commercial areas
8. Houses near or across from businesses or schools

The whole idea is to find houses you can rehab quickly and sell at
just under full retail or even more than full retail in order to sell them quickly, so you need to make sure the numbers work in order for you to get the profit you are looking for from the deal.

There are also specific things you want to do to make your house stand out from all the others in the same price range in order to get your house sold quickly; like really making kitchens and baths stand out, and adding inexpensive upgrades that homes in the same price wouldn’t normally have.

Some of these upgrades might include nicer hardware like faucets and showerheads, tile in the showers, nicer kitchen appliances, etc. Also make sure your house looks clean and attractive from the exterior. There are lots of inexpensive ways to accomplish this. These strategies will make your house stand out to the potential buyer and get it sold much more quickly.

For more information on finding motivated sellers for your real estate business and getting your houses sold quickly for more cash, make sure you visit Kathy Kennebrook’s website at www.marketingmagiclady.com. While you are there be sure and sign up for my Free monthly newsletter! Also be sure and check out Rehabbing Your Way to Millions Part II

LEARN DIRECTLY FROM KATHY KENNEBROOK AT REALTY411’S VIRTUAL WEEKEND INVESTOR EXPO, CLICK HERE!

Where Do I Find the Best Direct Mail Lists?

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By Kathy Kennebrook (The Marketing Magic Lady)

This is the big question that I get a lot! The true secret to success for a Real Estate Investor is finding sellers who really need to sell. I use several different targeted direct mail campaigns to locate different types of highly motivated sellers. Some examples of these types of mailings are out of state owners, estate and probate properties, quit-claim deeds, expired listings, burned out landlords, vacant properties, military transfers, inherited properties, for sale by owner, and pre-foreclosures, just to name a few.

The key to success using direct mail is customizing your direct mail piece and your list to reach exactly the kinds of motivated sellers you want to deal with in order to create the kinds of deals you want for your Real Estate Investing business. The very best way to do this is to locate mailing lists from reputable companies, refining them to meet your individual criteria, then mailing to these potential sellers again and again.

Real Estate Investors often neglect to market to sellers in this way because they think the list is too difficult to get, or they only send the mailings once and quit. These are some of the easiest lists for you to obtain and it will be very profitable for you to do so. After having mailed thousands of letters and done hundreds of deals I can personally attest to the power of direct mail for finding all the motivated sellers you could want that none of your competitors know anything about.

You can contact a list broker or your local property assessor’s office and ask them for these specific lists, or you can create some excellent lists to mail to yourself. It’s fairly easy to do. Here are just a few ideas for you. You can go to the courthouse and research divorce cases, death notices, liens and judgments, tax liens, marriage licenses, bankruptcies, eviction filings or Lis Pendens, which is the first step toward foreclosure in order to create mailing lists. Let me share a few pointers here.

  1. Do your homework when picking a list broker. How current is the list? Does it have all the information you need to create your direct mail campaign? Does it reach the audience you are targeting?
  2. Do a test mailing of 100 pieces to test any new list. How many responses did you get? How many letters came back with a bad address? How many deals did you create?
  3. Don’t waste your marketing dollars marketing to a bad list that won’t get you the result you want.
  4. Create continuity with your direct mail campaigns. You can mail a lot of letters or a few letters but you need to have a flow of mail going out at all times in order to create a continuous funnel of incoming leads.
  5. Never mail more pieces than you are comfortable getting responses to. If you do a huge mailing and you get tons of responses you can’t get to, you are wasting marketing dollars. Put systems in place to help you respond to the mailings and grow your business gradually.

Make sure that you do repetitive mailings. The more you repeat your mailings, the more deals you will create since you are taking the time to build a relationship with these sellers. When they are ready to sell, they will contact you first, even if they have been contacted by someone else in the meantime.

Another way to find motivated sellers is to cultivate relationships with individuals who can help you find deals. One of the techniques we implemented was to create a specific direct mail campaign targeting specific types of attorneys who were much more likely to bring us deals and we let them know we are in the business of buying houses.

Once you develop relationships with these attorneys, they will call you first when they have a client who needs to sell a property quickly no matter what condition it’s in. This is just another way to build ongoing lead sources using direct mail. You only have to create this direct mail campaign once to create an ongoing source of leads for your Real Estate Investing business.

If you own any kind of business and you need certain types of leads, think about unique resources that can provide you with the leads you need and create a direct mail campaign targeting these resources. This can be really profitable. For example; if you own an alarm company or a lawn maintenance service it would behoove you to create a direct mail campaign targeting owners of properties in your area who live out of state. These are potential customers who need your services.

The main reason that direct mail works so well is that you are reaching highly targeted leads. You become the potential seller’s first option when they need to sell. Even if you are on a limited budget, direct mail is an excellent source of leads for you since you can buy more houses from fewer leads, thus maximizing your marketing dollars. As your business grows, you can increase the number of mailings you do. You can also target specific neighborhoods or dominate certain parts of town. In doing so, you become a “property value expert” in those areas, which makes the offer-making process that much easier for you.

You end up creating an ongoing relationship with your target market, which makes it easy for you to follow up with formerly inflexible or unmotivated sellers. Since these mailings are so targeted and so residual, there is virtually no competition for these properties. It puts your lead generating system on “auto-pilot,” leaving you more time to make offers, do more deals, and make more money.

Most importantly, be consistent in all your efforts. The successful Real Estate Investor has a network of people and strategies at their fingertips at all times. If you don’t develop continuity to your marketing campaigns, you’ll see your results begin to drop off immediately. This is true no matter what business you are using direct mail to target to.

When you implement multiple techniques and several different direct mail campaigns, you will have more opportunities than you’ll be able to handle and the possibilities become almost endless. Using direct mail to develop a “cookie cutter” system to accomplish this is one of the most affordable, reliable, and effective ways I know to build your lead base quickly and have all the business you will ever need.

Direct mail continues to provide our business with about seventy percent of the total deals we do. That’s a big number and an excellent result from simply taking the time to build a residual system to bring in new leads to our business every single day.

Be sure and check out my website at www.marketingmagiclady.com for all the marketing resources you need to grow your real estate investing business. While you are there be sure and sign up for our free monthly newsletter.

LEARN DIRECTLY FROM KATHY KENNEBROOK AT REALTY411’S VIRTUAL WEEKEND INVESTOR EXPO, CLICK HERE!