Convert Cash Buyers Into Private Lenders? Here’s How…

Hey guys, Trevor Mauch here…

In addition to my own real estate investments and my work in the arena of private money, I also have a company that specializes in creating high-converting real estate investor websites. I’m super proud of it. It’s called Investor Carrot and we provide websites to some of the best-of-the-best out there in the industry.

In this part of my business, we are constantly testing and tweaking new ways to increase conversion for motivated sellers, cash buyers and private lenders. And these websites just keep getting better and better all the time.

A startling discovery

Recently, in the course of some of our testing, we made a simple change to the way we were handling the on-boarding of new cash buyers to our website. That one simple change let us know that 17% of the cash buyers who opt in to our site are also willing to loan funds as private investors. Wow, what a terrific discovery!

Now I want to let you in on this little secret – this one simple change that we made, and the impact that it has had.

The many legalities

All of us in this industry know that private lenders can sometimes be tough to find. Part of the reason for this is because legally we are not allowed to advertise for investment.

Also, as you probably know, there are a myriad of laws covering investments, which can vary from state to state. Then there are the very serious ones from the SEC (aka the Feds).

Now, I’m not an attorney, or a financial advisor, or even an accountant, so please don’t misconstrue anything I say here… and always, ALWAYS, seek further advice from a professional in those areas. All I’m doing is giving out some good old-fashioned marketing tips.

Where are you private money?

Even if I don’t have a fancy degree, I can tell you that I do know a few things about finding private money.

Here are two:

1) You can’t publicly solicit investment, and

2) You should never raise capital for your business without a trusted attorney to guide through the process.

These stipulations can be very frustrating, especially if you’re just getting started. But they need not stop you, because:

1) You can still offer investment properties for sale, and

2) You can privately ask people if they’re interested in lending you money secured by real estate.

There’s a huge difference between selling securities (shares of a company) and a loan secured by real estate, and the latter is what concerns us as real estate investors.

A small change makes a big difference

Recently, we made one small change in one of our documents that helped us build a list of private lenders from our cash buyer site. And we did it all while still staying in compliance with SEC regulations.

You’ll see this tweak we made that now helps us to identify folks who are willing to lend money secured by real estate. And you’ll be able to do it, too.

Part of Our 2-Step Process

This strategy is part of the 2-Step Opt-In Process that we use within our website. What happens is that a cash buyer will sign up for an offer, usually to get access to Discounted Properties for Sale.

In this first step of the opt-in process, the buyer enters his or her name and email address and is taken to Step 2. It’s in this second step of the opt-in process where the magic happens.

As you can see, this form asks the potential cash buyer to enter their preferences for what kinds of properties they might be looking to purchase. At this point, it’s business as usual.

But then, we added one simple question:

“Are you willing to LEND your cash to other investors to get great returns?”

To our everlasting surprise, we discovered that 17% of the cash buyers who filled out the form were willing to loan money.

Amazing, right?

They were there all the time

There they were – private money lenders right under our noses all this time. And all we had to do was ask the right question!

How’s about you start asking, too?

–Trevor

Whatcha think?

So what do you think of this clever little trick? If you try this in your own campaign, give us feedback about how it worked for you.

PS: If you want to know more about our website company, here’s the link to the Investor Carrot.