10 Nov The 4 Most Common Obstacles Associates Face When Getting Started
One of the most valuable aspects of having a mentor or coach is that they can help you avoid obstacles. They've done the same things you're doing, and they've hit all of the obstacles that you're going to hit. A mentor can share that knowledge with you, allowing you to progress rapidly by bypassing those same roadblocks.
Here are four of the most common obstacles we see people encounter in the terms niche. These are lessons that we've learned ourselves and that we help nearly all of our Associates navigate.
Obstacle #1: Minutiae!
When you first get your hands on a property, you're going to realize there's a lot of minutiae. It might seem like you need to deal with it all right away. There are lots of little things involved in taking on a property, and they can take up a lot of time. But, 90% of that minutiae doesn't matter.
We've gone through this stuff before and learned from our mistakes. Getting caught up in the small stuff is a waste of your time, and there are far more important things to focus on.
We help our Associates understand what is most important when they take on a property and what they need to prioritize doing. If they start getting caught up in the unimportant details, we shepherd them away and remind them to not sweat the little things.
Check out our Instant Real Estate Investor Blueprint, the step-by-step guide for investing in real estate on terms
We've also set up many systems and processes for dealing with some of the minutiae in these deals. Oftentimes, these small details that you're sweating over will be dealt with later through our systems. Don't waste your time worrying about the tiny details because much of it will be handled for you later on.
Focus on the big and important stuff first, then you can start going through the smaller, less-important details. If you try to handle everything at once, you're going to be in for a rough time.
Obstacle #2: The Buyers List
There's a common misbelief among real estate investors that you need to build a buyers list before you take on a property. They worry that if you don't, you won't have anyone to sell the house to. That might be the case for the traditional real estate market, but it's not true for the rent-to-own market.
The rent-to-own market is about five times bigger than the conventional market because it contains people who cannot pay cash or get a loan. Buyers are never the problem with terms deals. In fact, on a national level, about 80% of the buyer pool cannot get a loan in their current financial state.
We have an entire process for finding buyers in our QLS program, and that system will allow you to quickly and easily find buyers for your first properties. Those initial buyers form the foundation of your buyers' list. The beauty of this system is that the more deals you do and the more properties you take on, the bigger your list gets.
Check out our QLS Course!
When a buyer isn't interested in a particular home, you can simply add them to your list and they'll automatically be notified of any new properties.
Before you know it, you'll have an extensive buyers list without even trying. Buyers from your list will be reaching out to you about houses before you even advertise them to the public!
Obstacle #3: Long-Distance Deals
There may be a great opportunity two hours away from you, but is it really worth your time to keep driving back and forth to the property? We get this question all the time.
This is not an obstacle because the fact is that you're not going to be driving to that property more than one or two times if you use your processes and systems. Whenever we're dealing with a property that's far away, we heavily vet the seller to make sure it's worth the drive out. We're looking for sellers that are committed to getting their house sold, are flexible and easy to work with, and are open to alternative options.
In most cases, we only make one trip to those long-distance properties. Once we meet with the seller and check out the house, everything else is handled remotely. We don't show homes—we're not realtors or tour guides. There are a few different ways we can allow potential buyers to check out the properties for themselves.
Sometimes, we may have to make two or three trips to a property, but you're talking about getting $75k (our average Payday) in your pocket. That seems worth it to us.
Mike Makredes, One of our High 6 Associates and Certified Coaches had a deal that proves this!
Obstacle #4: Learning Scripts and Building Confidence
The most common obstacle people face when they're just getting started is learning scripts and building confidence. Confidence is the number one obstacle every new Associate needs to get over. Nobody’s comfortable on the phone, especially speaking about a business that they just started.
It’s the hardest part because you’re not sure what questions are going to be asked. As soon as the seller is on the phone, you lose your confidence and things go south. It's totally understandable and it happens to everyone when they first start out. Luckily, there are ways that you can improve quickly.
The first is to remember that you're just having a normal conversation. It's just you and the seller on the phone. All you're doing is explaining to the seller how you can provide a solution for them. They're not trying to sell anything to you and you're not trying to sell anything to them. It's just a normal conversation.
When we speak with sellers on the phone, we're looking to make sure our goals are in sync. We want to make sure that we are the right solution for each other. If that's the case, then we move forward and continue to the next step of making an appointment.
If your conversation doesn't check those boxes, then it's time to get off the phone and call someone else. You have plenty of people to call, and you don't want to waste your time on people who aren't going to be a good fit.
The easiest way to get to that point where it feels like you're having a normal conversation is to memorize and roleplay your scripts. Do it over and over again until it feels completely normal and you're not getting thrown off by questions. The final piece of this is having your mentor critique your phone calls. Try to record your calls or roleplay with your mentor, then open yourself up to feedback. You might not like what they have to say, but their input will be massively helpful for your growth.