Driving for dollars is one of the most effective lead-generation strategies for wholesaling real estate. By finding and marketing directly to distressed properties, you can build a pipeline of motivated sellers with very little competition.
In this post, I'll share a step-by-step blueprint for mastering driving for dollars based on insights from expert wholesaler Zack Boothe. Zack has used this strategy to scale his business to over $1 million in annual revenue.
Why Driving for Dollars is the Best Lead Source
Driving for dollars provides the lowest cost per lead of any marketing channel. If your cost per lead is lower, you'll make more profit on each deal.
Other common lead sources like direct mail, bandit signs, or pay-per-click ads often have much higher costs due to increased competition. Driving for dollars is unique because no one else will have your exact same list of properties.
It's also highly scalable. You can continuously expand your driving territory to uncover more leads in any market. List sources like tax delinquent records have a fixed volume, limiting your growth potential.
With driving for dollars, you can strategically target properties in lower price ranges that typically have more motivated sellers. This allows you to land bigger deals than other lead sources.
Step 1: Build Your List by Driving for Dollars
To see the most up-to-date version of the property, physically driving for dollars is the best option. However, if you are unable to physically drive for dollars you can virtually drive for dollars.
The street view is only as up-to-date as Google Street View, so keep that in mind. You can also compare the date on the picture to if the owner has changed in that time period to determine if motivating factors may have changed. Use your best judgment with this.
Target homes below the median price range in your market. Focus on any houses showing physical signs of neglect like peeling paint, overgrown lawns, broken windows, etc. The worse the condition, the more motivated the seller.
Use the DealMachine app in "tap-to-add" mode to quickly pin distressed properties as you drive. You should aim to add at least 50 addresses per hour. In lower-income neighborhoods, you may find up to 100/hour.
Step 2: Identify the Most Distressed “Hidden Gems”
As you drive, use DealMachine to tag any vacant or extremely rundown properties. We call these hidden gems. You'll market directly to this list first.
Make sure your team tags properties when driving. You can check they drove by viewing drive start/stop times and property add timestamps.
Step 3: Market Aggressively to Your Driving List
Zack recommends you do the following to market to your leads this way:
- Send 2 text messages to every lead you don't have a DNC notation for
- Make 4 attempted cold calls to leads who don't respond to texts
- Send 2 postcards spaced 2 months apart to those you can't reach.
This aggressive follow-up is the key to converting more leads into deals. Most investors quit after 1 text or mailer. Don't be that investor! You'll miss out on potential deals without consistent follow-up.
Step 4: Door Knock the Most Distressed Hidden Gems
Any vacant or severely neglected properties you tagged while driving should be door-knocked if you can't reach the owner via text, call, or mail.
Door knocking takes more time but almost always converts due to the high motivation of these sellers.
Step 5: Rinse and Repeat Every 6 Months
The data decays quickly, so you need to re-drive your entire farm area every 6 months. Filter out any existing leads before re-marketing.
Zack even recommends you test deleting all D4D properties and re-pinning. He says the cost to repurchase data is offset by new motivated sellers and updated contacts.
Scaling Your Driving for Dollars Machine
Once you have driven every home below the median price range and re-marketed to them within 6 months, it's time to expand.
Turn on additional marketing like direct mail to grow beyond your driving capacity. Just make sure you track the ROI so driving for dollars remains your most profitable source.
Start Implementing Driving for Dollars Today
That covers the core system for maximizing your driving-for-dollars lead generation. The key is having an automated and consistent follow-up process.
Most investors quit after sending a text or mailer once. You need to aggressively re-market to unlock more deals.
Now get out there, start driving, and begin landing more profitable wholesale deals today!