UPDATE: Since this blog post was first published, I've updated my process a bit so that it's even more streamlined and automated. If you want to see how the new-and-improved process looks, you can see the updates in this blog post.

In my first few years as an investor, there were a few things that chewed up a TON of my time each day. Those things included (but weren't limited to):

• Talking to prospects on the phone.
• Researching properties so I could make offers.
• Deciding on an offer price, writing up the contract and sending it to the seller.

Altogether, these things probably consumed about 80% of the time.

The problem was, 95% of these prospects were just going to say “No” to me in the end anyway – which would leave me drained of time and mental energy (while sitting at a dead end).

After working my business this way for a couple of years, I started feeling burnt out. I had to figure out a better way to determine which of these sellers were just going to say “No” to me in the end, and I had to get to this conclusion WITHOUT wasting endless hours of my time in the process.

Eventually, I created a buying website for my business (and to this day, it's one of the smartest things I've ever done for myself).

With this website, I was able to get most of the information I needed on each property without picking up the phone and I was able to do the bulk of my property research AFTER I had made my initial offer and the seller had already responded with a “YES” to my proposal.

This video explains how I do it (note: you'll want to view this it in FULL SCREEN to see all the details):

In summary, you can respond to each of your seller leads with an email like this:

Hi <<Seller Name>>,

Thanks for your submission on our website. Would you consider selling your property for $________ cash? We would be willing to pay for all of your closing costs and property taxes as part of the transaction.

If you have any interest, let me know.

Thanks!
Seth

These emails take a whopping 30 seconds to write, but be forewarned – many of them will be met with a “No” response – but that's okay. If you ask me, I'd much rather find out that the answer is “No” after spending 30 seconds instead of spending over an hour to reach the same conclusion!

If you're strapped for time like I usually am, do yourself a favor and start using this method to make offers to people. Life's too short to waste your precious hours sifting through people who are just going to tell you to “take a hike” in the end.