Hey there, Cam Dunlap here.
I’ve been in this business for over thirty years. I’ve watched thousands of investors come and go. And the ones who never got consistent deal flow in real estate? Almost none of them had a bad market or a bad channel.
They had a consistency problem.
Let me tell you what I mean.
The Real Reason Deals Dry Up
I hear this all the time. An investor deploys a marketing campaign — direct mail, texting, Facebook, whatever it is. They invest time, money, and energy and then don’t see the results they hoped for right away and stop.
That’s the problem right there.
The stopping.
Because here’s what’s happening on the other side of that equation. There’s a seller on your list who’s getting more motivated by the week. Maybe they’re behind on payments. Maybe something changed in their life. They’ve been hearing from you — or they were. And then one day they’re finally ready to call back and you’ve already disappeared.
They move on. They call whoever they heard from most recently and someone else gets the deal.
You can prove this out in any business, any relationship, almost anything we humans engage in.
Consistency creates consistency. Deal flow is no different.
The Seven Touches Rule
Marketing research has shown for decades that it typically takes seven touches — seven times seeing or hearing from you — before a prospect responds. That’s not seven in a week. That’s seven spread out over weeks or months.
When you deploy a campaign and stop after two or three, you’re quitting before the seller ever had a real chance to be ready for you.
Think about what it looks like from the seller’s side. They see your message. Not ready. See it again. Not quite. See it again. Starting to think about it. There’s John again. And again. And again. Alright, John is clearly serious. I think I need to call him.
That’s how it works. The investors who are not your competition anymore? If they ever started, stopped after a couple of touches and concluded that the channel (or the business) doesn’t work. Meanwhile you stayed the course, and now those sellers are calling you.
Why Right Now Is the Time to Stay Consistent
Here’s something I’ve been watching closely. We are living in what I’m sure you’ve heard being called a K-shaped economy. Asset holders — people with real estate, stocks, investment portfolios — are doing well. Values are up. Equity is up. But for a lot of people who own a house and not much else, the rest of life is getting harder.
Personal unsecured debt is at record highs. Default rates on credit cards and auto loans are climbing fast. When people fail on those, they often fail on their mortgage too. It just takes a while for that to show up in the public record.
So what this means for you and me is simple. The number of pre-foreclosure opportunities is rising. Sellers with equity who are under financial pressure. People who could sell the house, walk away with a check, and save their credit — but who are frozen in denial, anger, or fear and not doing anything about it.
They need you to show up consistently. Not once. Over and over.
Your job is to be the investor who keeps showing up until they’re ready to pick up the phone.
Where to Focus Your Energy Right Now
Pre-foreclosures are one of the most compelling places to be right now. Sellers who have a notice of default or Lis Pendens filed, who have equity but are facing a foreclosure date that’s going to destroy their credit if they don’t act.
A lot of these folks don’t realize they have options.
Nobody’s told them they can sell before the bank takes the house. Nobody’s told them they could potentially walk away with money instead of a totally ruined credit score. When you reach them consistently and with empathy, you become the person who saves them.
That’s what this business is about at its core.
For your marketing to reach these sellers, you need the right data. Pre-foreclosure lists, motivated sellers with stacked motivations — absentee owner, behind on payments, vacancy.
The more overlapping signals, the higher the odds they’re truly ready to move.
That’s why I use The Real Estate Data Feed with over 21 different motivational signals on homeowners across the country. The prospects are easily stackable and sortable and allow me to proceed well below the competition.
Stop Treating Marketing Like a Campaign
The investors who have consistent deal flow don’t think in campaigns. They think in systems.
A system runs. Every week. Whether the last deal closed or not. Whether you’re motivated or not. Whether the last batch of leads produced or not.
The three things that make the difference:
- Pick a market and commit to it. Jumping from market to market destroys consistency. You can’t build relationships, data, or pattern recognition if you keep starting over.
- Pick a channel or two and stay in it. You don’t need to be everywhere. You need to be consistently somewhere. Work the same list, from multiple angles, over and over.
- Never stop. Not between deals. Not during a dry spell. Not when you get distracted. The deals are always a lagging indicator of the marketing you did weeks ago. If you stop now, the pipeline empties in thirty days.
The Deals Are Out There
The market is moving. Equity in Real Estate is high, personal debt is high, and a lot of people own houses they can’t afford to keep. That combination creates motivated sellers. Not all of them are visible yet. But they will be. And the investors who are already consistently showing up will be first in line when they raise their hand.
If you need a starting point for your list, the Real Estate Data Feed is where I’d look.
Motivated seller data, pre-foreclosures, investor buyers, private lenders — all of it in one place with an elegant GUI and easily and searchable by market. Right now, there’s a 7-day free trial available so you can see what’s out there in your area.
Now get consistent. The more offers you make, the more money you make. Say it to yourself every single day until it drives your decisions.
Regards,
Cam Dunlap