David: Alright guys welcome back! Discount Property Investors, this is your host David Dodge and co-host Mike Slane, hey Mike!

Mike: Hey guys, welcome back.

David: Oh! Just almost fell out of my chair, holy cow! We are having a great day today; it is off to a great start here.

Mike: That's a great start.

David: Right, right. Mike, what are we talking about today?

Mike: Today we are going to talk about credibility packets.

David: Credibility packets.

Mike: So it's a pretty competitive market right now. So how do you stand out from another investor or wholesaler? This was something we kind of in our last podcast -- sorry interview with --

David: Last episode actually, yeah.

Mike: When we were interviewed by the Simple wholesaling guys -- they have got a great show, you can check that out -- for another take on wholesaling that is. They interviewed us and asked us what our secret sauce was? We -- it kind of took us a minute to come up with it, but it's our credibility packet. Just something simple that we didn't realize -- hey this is what sets us apart from most other wholesalers in the market, or from a lot of them anyways. It is that we show up to the appointments prepared with a credibility packet.

David: Right.

Mike: So that is what we are going to talk about today --

David: It makes a big difference guys, it really does.

Mike: Oh absolutely! First go back and say, guys’ thanks for joining us. If you haven’t listened to the Discount Property Investor Podcast before please go back, check out the first 10 - 15 episodes, learn a little bit about what is wholesaling? Learning who the Discount Property Investors are. And go check out our free wholesale course. That is where you are going to learn everything about wholesaling that you will need to know. So thefreewholesalecourse.com. Check that out guys.

David: Right.

Mike: So let's dig in then, Dave. Let's talk about the credibility packets.

David: Sure!

Mike: What is that we do? What is our secret sauce? What are we doing?

David: So -- I wanted to tell the listeners and the views what we do. But I also want to preference it with -- if you are new to this, you don't have to over think this, keep it simple. So a credibility packet is going to consist of -- comps, business cards on who you are in your company. If you have a company, if you don't have a company, then it can just be a business card with your name and number on it.

Mike: Sure. If you are working a 9-5 it could just be your regular business card.

David: Regular business card, absolutely for your other job, and a contract. That is really -- if you are starting out all that is needed. But by showing up prepared, with those things it is going to set you apart from your competition. You are going to be light years ahead by having that.

Mike: Part of the reason that we really like to bring comps with us I think is because were prefer -- full disclosure. Full -- we want all the cards on the table, we want them to know what we know, that their house is worth X and this is what we are buying it for.

David: Right.

Mike: We are not trying to steal properties from anybody; we are trying to give people fair prices.

David: Right.

Mike: And we use comps for that so --

David: Mike, you know one of the reasons that I like to use comps, is because it takes away the -- hey this is you selling the home, be buying the home, and I am trying to beat you down on price.

Mike: Oh absolutely.

David: It's hey it's me and you, so me buyer you seller versus the market.

Mike: Absolutely.

David: That way it takes away the -- well I don't like your offer because it is not what I am looking for. Well it's okay we get it. Sorry you don't like the offer, however -- here is what the other houses in the area are selling for. If you are trying to get a number that is unreasonable, then I am just going to go across the street and buy this other house that is across the street for cheaper, for example. So when you lay the comps out and you show the seller -- hey here is a similar bed and bath and square footage home, and it is selling for this -- and they may be asking a different price, you can justify your offer in a way that is not rude.

Mike: That is a great point. That is a huge thing that it is you and the seller against the market.

David: Against the market

Mike:   It is not you against them.

David:   Right.

Mike:   You are putting yourself on the same team by showing up there with the facts.

David:   Such a great point.

Mike:   Hey guys, this is what properties are selling for, and I want you to know that to. I want you to know, here is what properties are selling for.

David:   Right.

Mike:   It's definitely -- it's a great tool that helps you -- again, get on their side, get on their team.

David:   Super important guys. A lot of people overlook it, but by showing the comps to the actual seller --. You know most sellers are not agents, they don’t know what their property is worth. They think they know but they don't.

Mike:   Exactly, they will see properties for sale, they might call -- oh that one down the street sold for --

David:   60 grand more than --

Mike:   Yeah 250. Well -- yes sir that property was listed at 250, and it will still sit ad 250 because it is not sold.

David:   And or they may have to put 50 grand into it.

Mike:   It is all a 1000 square foot larger than your home, did you notice that?

David:   Good point. Extra bathrooms --

Mike:   Yeah, so there are a lot of reasons, a lot of things sellers do not necessarily think about.

David:   A lot of variables.

Mike:   So again, it is a great rapport building -- it's all about building credibility with the seller. So this helps you build rapport, it helps you get on their team. There is a lot of really good reasons to bring comps I think.

David:   Right.

Mike:   So, let's talk about our credibility pack then. We got the comps in there and we got --

David:   Business card.

Mike:   Business card.

David:   Then last but not least -- for the new individuals would be a contract. The contract is really the most important part of the credibility packet in my opinion, because -- if you want to be successful in this business, you need to make offers. Even if the offers you are not making -- sorry the offers that you are making are not -- super great or aggressive offers, you still need to be making these offers. By having a contract with you -- you can fill that out in front of your -- Mr. and Mrs. Seller. You can leave it behind, and if you can get it signed on the spot, fantastic! You are going to be rocking.

Mike:   So let's talk about why this helps you build credibility and building rapport with the seller. You showed up as an investor, as somebody there to buy their house. If you show up with a contract, that means hey -- I am here to buy your house. It shows them you are serious about --

David:   I am not just here to take photos and then -- I am here to buy houses and you have a house, I want to buy it.

Mike:   Right, you have the house; I told you I am interested in this area. I told you I am interested -- you mentioned on the phone it might have some repairs, I know that. I already know that, I showed up with comps, I did research on it, I turned up with a contract, I am ready to buy this house today.

David:   Right.

Mike:   Mr. Seller, are you ready to sell? If so, let's work this out.

David:   Absolutely.

Mike:   So again it's building rapport, building credibility. You don’t want to be overly pushy, do what works for you and works for that seller. But you are showing up to buy the house -- you should show up with a contract in hand.

David:   Right. So those are the three things that we would recommend that everybody have at a minimum.

Mike:   Yeah must have --

David:   Must have.

Mike:   New investor can easily do that, there is no excuse to not have those things with you.

David:   Right, now -- if you are a more experienced investor and you maybe have -- some additional credibility, then we would recommend that you put in you credibility packet some additional items.

Mike:   Sure.

David:   So what we do -- and again we are all about simplicity. There is a lot of things we could add in there that -- would be over and above. But essentially what we have is we have three additional items. So we have a nice pretty folder that we put these items in. That way we can leave it behind when we go on our appointments. That folder -- you can get them online?

Mike:   Vista print.

David:   Vista print.

Mike:   80 cents, 70 cents, I don't know.

David:   But they're pretty. They have our logo on there and our number. They hold all the other items that are on the credibility packet. So put them together a nice folder that you can leave behind, I highly recommend. The other two items that we have in there is -- we have a -- proof of funds letter. Again, if you don't have a proof of funds, don’t worry about it, don’t put it in there. But if you have one, it is going to help build credibility when you are out there meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Seller. Because you can say, "Hey listen, I buy x number of houses a week or month. I have the funding in place to purchase this. So if I say I am going to purchase it, i am going to purchase it. Here is proof of funds, and if you want to call the bank or private lender or whoever and verify these funds, here is the number to do so."

Mike:   Right. And so that's great. Let's talk a little bit about the proof of funds.

David:   Please.

Mike:   So you mentioned a couple of things. Bank, hard money lender -- to verify. So there are several places you can go and get proof funds, and it is pretty easy to get a proof of funds letter from a hard money lender.

David:   Right.

Mike:   So -- it really shouldn't be a big hold up. Like we said, this --

David:   It might take a couple of days, you need to fill out the application with those guys and get pre-approved. But once you get that, they will -- give you a proof of funds letter.

Mike:   Right, and again, it is part of the business they are in. They know you are going to go out and make offers, so this is something they are willing to give you.

David:   They are more than happy to give it to you.

Mike:   Right. So again, that is a great place to get a proof of funds letter -- if you don't have a bank that is already on your team and that will generate one for you.

David:   Or just a boat load of cash --

Mike:   There is the other thing. If you have a bank account with half a million dollars in it, obviously --

David:   It sets you apart, right.

Mike:   You can print a bank statement and say, "Hey listen, we [00:09:29.26 - inaudible] some of this stuff, but -- here is your proof of funds." Which is your bank account, then they can call the bank basically verify it.

David:   Most people don’t have that. So we recommend -- getting a line of credit or working with a hard money lender, or just a private lender that just has some cash that is looking to invest, partner with those individuals -- in the free wholesale course I believe we have a joint venture agreement contract you can use. Yeah, just get that proof of funds letter no matter -- how or where you get in. It is something we recommend you put in there. If you don't have one then don’t worry about it guys. It is not the end of the world.

Mike:   Right.

David:   Proof of funds letter, definitely something we do recommend. Then finally, the last item that we have in our folder, a list of our entire credibility packed. Is we have a little --

Mike:   A brochure.

David:   Brochure.  Mike tell us a little bit about what that brochure --

Mike:   The brochure is pretty simple literature; I mean if you have a website, we have a website. You just kind of pull of some of the highlights on there. You can see if you are watching the video our signs and banner behind us. You are going to have stuff like that. Stuff that says -- a little bit about your company --

David:   It's not going to have this information; it is going to have that information. I am pointing at the selling side of the business, not the buying side.

Mike:   So guys if you are not familiar, our business is kind of two-fold. So house sold easy properties is our -- purchasing or acquisitions company. Discount property investor is our sales company.

David:   Right.

Mike:   So we kind of have a two-fold business. So we are talking about the house sold easy side. That is where we go out there with our branding, our marketing.

David:   Right, but putting together a credibility tri-fold or even just a simple page. Again guys, don’t over think it, keep it simple. Company name, if you have a logo throw that in there. Then just put together some bullet points. Like hey we buy houses cash, we close fast, we purchase as is.

Mike:   Here's your phone number, here's your website. Exactly, it's really -- it doesn’t have to be a lot. So --

David:   If you want to pretty it up great. Obviously that is probably going to help a little bit. But if you are new to the game and you just have -- a computer, you can go on Word and just type up a little doc.

Mike:   I will be honest; I designed ours for us a year or so ago or whenever we got started, and it is not that great. But again, it is a little brochure.

David:   Yeah, it's colorful though. It is red, white and black. It helps -- it catches your eye. But like you said, Mike, it's nothing over the top. It says who we are and what we do. Essentially that is house sold easy properties and we buy houses, period.

Mike:   So that is basically it that we use in ours. So additional stuff you could put in it, David's -- is you resume essentially. And I don't necessarily mean your resume of oh I went to school here --

David:   I don't think they are going to care about that so much.

Mike:   It's your -- investment resume. What I mean by that is that if you have rehabbed and you have done 15 properties in the last year or -- five or whatever it is. You can put the addresses of those properties on. You can include a little picture on the brochure of the property I bought, here is the before, here is the after, include five or ten of those. Just something so people see, oh this is a real estate investor. This person is buying houses and is flipping them. Oh and they are taking my home, yeah it's okay but man, they are going to make it really pretty and a new family is going to move in.

David:   So what you are doing is offering case studies to show these individuals -- this is what I am going to do with the home, by having that resume. Absolutely. Testimonials are another thing you could definitely add in the credibility packet.

Mike:   We have some of those I believe in our brochure; I forgot to mention that as well.

David:   Definitely. But those testimonials will actually have the name and phone number of individuals that said, hey we loved doing business with you. You guys came in and really created that win:win:win for us, we are happy to promote your business for you, if someone we to call us. So -- you got Steve or Jim from a previous sale that we did, we came in and bought the house as is , cash, close quick. They were just ecstatic. So we are able to put their name and phone number on our -- on our credibility packet that says, here is a testimonial, and if you don’t believe -- call them. They are going to praise us and let you know what kind of company we are.

Mike:   Just let them know that we are legitimate company, we are buying houses, and we do what we say. When we said, hey we are going to buy your house, we will do this, we will close on this day; there is someone back there saying, yes this is true. It is a real person so that's great.

David:   Another thing you can add, again none of this is required but it is just extra things is -- kind of like a frequently asked questions. I would put that in your tri-fold or your little information sheet, your brochure that just has some frequently asked questions. Again, keep it simple guys. You don't need to have 30 of these. You could have 3, 4 or 5 -- but some of the questions that some people may frequently ask. Mike, give me some examples.

Mike:   Putting me on the spot --

David:   How quickly can you close?

Mike:   When do you close? Do you have proof of funds?

David:   Right.

Mike:   I mean -- what are you going to do with the house? Things like that.

David:   Again, just use bullet points. You don’t need to have multiple paragraphs or essays on what you are going to do. Just say, Hey we buy to rehab, or -- we buy to hold as landlord properties. So on and so forth as rentals. But just having a little of an FAQ or frequently asked questions in your brochure is going to be helpful. Absolutely.

Mike:   And that's -- again I think that’s really all there is to it. Just -- I guess I can't reiterate this enough. It is just showing up prepared. So to take the time to put together the packet, even if it just contains the bare minimums. Which is; as we stated at the beginning of the episode, the contract, the comps and a business card. If you just show up with those things -- you are already building credibility, saying this is -- I am a legitimate buyer.

David:   Right.

Mike:    Again, it is building that trust, building that rapport with the seller. So again, those are the bare minimums. If you just do that it's great and -- yeah that is pretty much it guys.

David:   Absolutely. So again, we definitely recommend it, as Mike mentioned earlier, in the previous podcast we had mentioned -- the -- how having a credibility packet -- gave us the -- ability to buy a home quickly, or homes quickly. It -- definitely separates us from the competition. We also mentioned in a previous episode with simple wholesaling.

Mike:   You're right.

David:   About -- how it sets us apart from our competition by having that. So check it out guys, we are happy to have you guys as -- listeners and viewers and thanks for supporting us. Mike, how can they reach out to us if they need more information about wholesale properties in St Louis?

Mike:   Absolutely. So if you guys want to get into contact with us, go to discountpropertyinvestor.com. There you are going to find our entire current wholesale inventory as well as contact information for us; you can reach out to us there. You can also go to freewholesalecourse.com. That is our basic outline for wholesaling; absolutely free you guys go out there and check that out. Or visit us at Discount Property Investor Podcast.

David:   That's right. Alright guys, thanks for listening. Go out there and get that credibility packet together and let's go buy some houses and make some money.

Mike:   Alright.

David:   Not going to fall out of my chair on the way out of this episode hopefully. Thanks guys.