How to Build a Cash Buyer List

If you are wholesaling or flipping properties, then you need a list of cash buyers so you can sell quickly and easily. Even if you are a buy-and-hold investor with no plans to sell, it may be useful to have a list of buyers for any deals you stumble across that you don’t want.

It can be a bit time-consuming to build a list of cash buyers, but it’s not that difficult to do.

Why You Want Cash Buyers for Real Estate

Most cash buyers either flip houses or have come into a lot of money. Either way, they are paying cash because they expect to get significant discounts on the properties they are buying.

So, you’re goal is to find a property with a great price, increase the price a bit, and sell it to a cash buyer. This can be done in one of two ways:

1. Take possession of the property and do a double close, or a quick follow up closing. This would technically be house flipping.
2. Get a property under contract then assign that contract to a new buyer for a fee. This is called wholesaling.

While both of these strategies require a lot of work, they can be very lucrative.

You might be asking, why would I sell a property to a cash buyer when I can probably sell it on the open market for more?

Here a couple of other reasons to work with cash buyers:

A Speedy Sale

If you want a quick and easy sale, a cash buyer is your best bet. You don’t have to wait around for mortgage lenders or loan approval. You can close the deal right away and go on with your life.

Some deals can close in the same week if the stars align.

A Sale with Zero Fees

The fees of selling a house can add up, not to mention the commission fee to the real estate agent, which tends to be 4-6% of the selling price. You don’t need to throw this money away on fees if you sell to a cash buyer which saves you quite a bit of money in the long run.

Property is Sold As-Is

Most cash buyers are aware that if they’re paying cash and paying less, they’re buying the house as-is. 

You save money on repairs and usually don’t have to walk through inspections requested by potential buyers. Cash buyers don’t mind investing in the extra work if they’re getting it for a better price.

A Guaranteed Sale

You never know if a bank is going to approve someone, or if they will back out for no reason, or… Banks and people are finicky these days.

If a cash buyer wants your property then it’s a guaranteed sale. Instead of having to wait for a loan to be approved, you have cash in hand.

Where to Find Cash Buyers

Having a list of cash buyers and investors makes the job of selling a house simple. You don’t have to wait for them to come to you. You can just send an e-mail or make a phone call to find someone interested in your property.

But how do you build a list of cash buyers? Here are the best tactics for both selling property and building a list of our cash buyers.

1. Local networking groups
2. Real estate auctions
3. Your website
4. Real estate agents
5. Public records check
6. List your property on craigslist
7. List a property on Facebook
8. List in classifies
9. Bandit signs

1. Check Out Your Local Real Estate Investors Networking Events

Real Estate Investors networking events, clubs, or associations are made for those involved in real estate to gather and network with each other. These groups are made for you to meet other people, so take advantage of it!

Many have a small fee to join or attend but trust me, it’s worth it! That cost offsets the cost of running the events, which can be expensive. Wholesalers and house flippers regularly attend their local networking events so they don’t have to go hunting down property.

Most meetings allow people to speak to the group about their property or what they’re up to. You can speak or just listen to others to see what they want from a property and if they’re cash buyers.

But don’t just rely on speaking in front of the group to build your list of cash buyers. Speak one-on-one to other meeting attendees. Gather phone numbers, e-mails, and business cards.

Don’t be shy about giving out your personal information so they can get a hold of you as well.

2. Check Out Real Estate Auctions

Real estate auctions are created for cash buyers to find affordable pieces of property. They’re the perfect place to meet cash buyers.

Before or after each auction, network. Get to know the bidders and what they’re looking for. Exchange personal information so you can contact each other later on about buying a house or piece of property.

Potential buyers like that they can find property deals from you as well as quick transactions instead of having to rely on auctions. During an auction, they’re constantly competing against other cash buyers.

3. Build a Cash Buyers Website

A business website is a great way to come in contact with cash buyers, especially in today’s market. Many cash buyers are looking for wholesalers or house flippers who will have deals at a discount that they can buy.

How do they find you?

The same way you are trying to find them!

Since they are probably using Google to find you, make sure you can be found.

Make sure your website is optimized to find cash buyers specifically by using the right keywords. To gain traffic, advertise on websites and social media platforms. The more visitors you get, the faster you move up on search engine rankings.

Have an option to join a newsletter to gather the e-mail addresses of potential buyers. You can use the e-mails later when looking for a cash buyer for a new property.

Another way to move up in search engine results so people looking for property in your area find you easily is to have a blog that you or a content writer updates at least weekly. Use search engine optimization (SEO) with your blog posts for best results.

4. Speak to Your Real Estate Agent

There are two ways to work with an agent to find cash buyers.

First, and the most obvious, is they probably have a few cash-buyers that they work with. While they won’t give away their clients information (that’s their income after all). You might be able to tap into that network for some of the fee you’ll get.

The second (and less obvious way) is for them to help you pull a list of properties that have been bought with no mortgage. Their MLS access should allow them to access this information.

Then you can mail them, or use a skip tracing service to get their number or other contact info.

Then, you just need to reach out to them and introduce yourself and ask if they’d like to be on your list.

5. Check Out Public Records

If your real estate agent won’t or can’t help you, then you have to do it yourself. Property sales in most states are considered open public records, so it’s easy to access them to find out recent property purchases. You can access these records through your county’s public records office’s website.

If you can’t access them online, you can go to the public record’s office and ask for assistance.

Next is to pull a list of all the purchases over the last year or two, and then search for 3 things.

1. People who have multiple purchases (3 or more). This is a telltale sign of an investor
2. Properties that were purchased and didn’t have a corresponding lien.
3. A property that was bought and then sold within 12 months (telltale sign of house flipping activity).

Make a list of these cash buyers then look up their info or hire a skip tracing company to track them down.

If that all seems like a lot of work, that’s because it is. So…

Hire a Virtual Assistant

Once you pull a list of transactions you can go to a site like UpWork.com or others and hire a VA for a few bucks an hour.

The kind of freelancer you probably want is a low-skill worker in a foreign country. So, you will need to be extremely specific about how to do this.

So, spend an hour actually sorting and checking the data. Document each step of what you do.

Then, put together a short 5-10 minute video of exactly what they need to do in order to mine through the data and create your list of potential buyers.

6. List the Property on Websites like Craigslist

The internet is made for networking, finding real estate leads, and listing your property for a potential investor to see.

You can post and have your listing out there instantly and advertise that you want to get rid of it immediately. Remember how I said that cash buyers are out there doing the same things as you are? Well, they are looking on sites for properties to buy with cash.

One of the most popular websites for this is Craigslist, which works as a nationwide classified. People use it to find anything from a used car to a babysitter. Use this large database to make a listing.

You’ll receive several calls from potential buyers. Not only can you find a cash buyer but you’ll also make connections that you can add to your list for future sales.

You should also head over to the section for houses and apartments for rent. Landlords are often looking for an extra property that they can rent out.

You’ll find listings from landlords with their contact information that you can add to your list so you can reach out to them in the future to see if they’re interested in a cash
purchase.

Letgo is another favorite app and website to sell a property. It’s a newer platform than Craigslist but it’s almost just as popular for selling. (Note: sites and apps change constantly. So, doing a google search or appstore search is always a good idea).

Buyers and sellers on Letgo have to connect their Letgo account to either their Google or Facebook. This means you’re more likely to be contacted by people who are genuinely interested in buying instead of trolls, scammers, or anyone not serious in your property.

Instead of throwing out your phone number for potential buyers, you can communicate through the Letgo app. Just as on Craigslist, make a listing letting people know that you’re looking for a fast sale.

7. List the Property on the Facebook Marketplace

Facebook is another web tool to utilize if you’re trying to build a list of cash buyers. A lot of people have joined a Facebook Marketplace page for their area so your listing will reach a
lot of people who may have an interest in local real estate.

Everyone who responds to your ad with cash can become a later contact for you. Get to know them and what they’re looking for so you can help each other in the future.

The Marketplace isn’t the only way to advertise your property and build your list from Facebook.

If you have the money to advertise, you can create a Facebook ad that targets specific people in specific locations. Being able to target buyers in different demographics is our favorite feature when using a Facebook ad to sell a house.

Twitter is another social media website you can use to drum up interest. When posting your listing, use the appropriate and most commonly used hash-tags so cash buyers looking for property find it while searching.

If you use Twitter, make sure your Twitter page is professional. You don’t want to send a potential cash buyer off because you’re arguing constantly about politics or you share offensive memes.

8. List the Property in Local Classifieds

It costs little to nothing to advertise in your local classifieds or newspaper. Just let them know you’re looking for a quick and painless sale.

Classifieds!? Who reads the paper anymore?

It’s a valid point and it’s true that few people read newspapers anymore. But…

They all have online versions and your classifieds will most likely appear there. And…

… Older people tend to still read the paper, and older people tend to have more money than younger people.

So, you might have some luck. Plus this keeps your listing in the local area if you prefer local buyers. Sometimes we want to keep the property in the hands of a local and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Before deciding who to sell your property to, talk to each person who calls. Gather each cash buyer’s information so you can contact them if another piece of property comes up for sale.

Look up houses and apartments for rent so you can speak to landlords and add them to your cash buyers list.

9. Look Out for Bandit Signs

Bandit signs are an old school way that real estate investors try to find motivated sellers. Many people use them because they are cheap. These are simple printed or homemade signs placed on telephone poles, in laundry mats, grocery stores, or even on the median near intersections.

All those ads you see for real estate when waiting at a red light are considered bandit signs. Believe it or not, but this is still a popular form of advertising, especially in smaller or more rural communities.

We’re not going to be making bandit signs, because we are not looking for motivated sellers (with this article). Instead, we are looking for cash buyers.

So, drive around and contact all the people who are posting these signs, because they are cash buyers. Then, add them to your list.

Even if they are wholesalers, you can add them to a list because if you have a property you cannot sell, you can ask them to advertise to their list and split the advertising fee.

I Have Cash Buyers List, Now What?

It’s not hard to put together a solid list of cash buyers pretty quickly. Getting 100+ names on your list can be done in under a month, giving you the ability to sell most of the deals you are finding.

Now what? This is where most people go wrong.

If you don’t have a deal for sale for a while, then the people on your list will forget you exist.

Then, when you send them a deal in 3 or 4 months, they are going to think… “who’s this guy?”

…and you lose the sale.

To avoid that, follows these 3 things

1) Indoctrinate Your List of Buyers

Every time a person gets added to your list, they should automatically get a series of emails over the first several weeks that introduces them to you, your philosophy, your system, and anything else that makes you unique.

The easiest way to do it is to get set up on Mailchimp which starts off free and allows you to create these automations. Once you get a larger list, you might want to use different a more advanced service, but to start Mailchimp is fine.

The purpose of the indoctrination series is to make sure they have a personal connection with you. Additionally, you can give them an opportunity to follow you on social media, or connect with you in other ways.

The more they know, like, and trust you, the more likely they are to do business with you.

2) Regularly Communicate With Your Cash Buyer List

The next thing is to make sure you stay in regular communication with your list. This could mean weekly or monthly emails, but not any less often than that. The fact is, after 3 or 4 months you’ll be forgotten about.

Even if you don’t have any deals available, you can talk about your journey to finding deals, the deals you didn’t do (which makes them appreciate the deals you DO), etc.

So, send your cash buyers list regular updates about what you’re doing and where you’re going.

3) Constantly Add Value

The most important thing to remember is you need to constantly add value to your list. Give them tips or tricks, information about mindset, how to grow their business, etc.

No one wants to get emails that are unimportant. So, make sure everything teaches or helps people in some way, and they will stay around and eventually buy from you.

Generally, in my emails, I add value then at the bottom I ask for something in return. Here’s a recent email I sent to my list.

As you can see, I’m telling a story and adding value BEFORE I ever ask for anything. Then I make the ask in an unobtrusive way.

Sometimes you will want to make an ask right up top, but if you always do this, then people will unsubscribe. Do it in a way that you want to make a direct ask, people already like you and want to stay on your list.

Final Thoughts

Building a list of cash buyers is a lot easier than you think, but it does require some work, networking, and calling/emailing prospects.

Once you do, you need to keep that list warm by constantly talking to them and adding value.

When you execute properly, you will have a good list of people who are ready to buy whenever you have an opportunity in front of them.