How To & Education | Commercial Real Estate
In an increasingly online world, the value of getting out and Driving For Dollars is commonly overlooked by real estate investors.
While unfortunate, it's not too surprising. Many investors prefer to source opportunities from purchased lead lists.
But, as seasoned investors know, purchasing lists is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are many other ways to find often-overlooked opportunities.
One of the best ways is Driving For Dollars.
Driving For Dollars is an excellent method for real estate investors to become familiar with their market and find off-market opportunities.
Driving For Dollars is done by driving through neighborhoods to find and record properties of interest. Of course, the types of properties you're aiming to find will depend on whether you're an investor, agent, or local business.
Here, we're going to break down the 5 most essential things every real estate investor must do when Driving For Dollars, as well as an overview of how to do them in PropertyRadar.
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1. Do your research in advance
Before you jump in the car, make sure to do some research!
It’s important to get to know the characteristics of properties that fit your investment criteria and know the area you’re canvassing well. Remember - you won’t hit every single house in one Driving For Dollars session, and that’s totally okay!
To help break it up, make sure to break down your list into smaller lists that you can tackle in an evening. We like to recommend 30 properties or fewer.
How to do it in PropertyRadar
You can define specific areas by using the polygon tool in Map View to geofence the specific area you intend to drive by in an afternoon, evening, or day-long excursion.
For example, you can define the specific area in a neighborhood using the polygon tool and set the app criteria to show Single Family Residences that are Absentee Owner properties owned free-and-clear, where the owner lives in another county.
2. Add notes and set statuses for properties
While a picture is worth a thousand words, recording a few notes about a property and its surroundings when your observations are fresh and top-of mind is invaluable.
Jotting down a few notes about properties as soon as you can will help you out tremendously in the long term. Pictures are great, but a few notes while everything is top-of-mind is just as helpful!
Since you’re seeing so many properties while Driving For Dollars, it can get overwhelming to remember every little detail. Making sure to record a couple of highlights or bullet points from the conversations you have with neighbors provides significant value when you’re qualifying or purchasing a home.
Another great way is to voice record with your phone. Give your thumbs a break! Make sure to dictate the address and any short voice memos that will jog your memory of the property.
How to do it in PropertyRadar
The Set Status feature on the Property Profile page helps you and/or your teams organize and maintain a seamless workflow.
In Set Status, you can let team members know if it’s time to ‘Contact Owner,’ ‘Research Title,’ ‘Submit Off,’ and more.
3. Optimize Your Driving Routes
When Driving For Dollars, time can literally be money.
Planning and optimizing your routes to ensure you’re seeing top-priority properties can help make or break a Driving For Dollars session. A little bit of upfront work goes a long, long way.
How to do it in PropertyRadar
Start by clicking “Route” under the Marketing Options, and then enter a start and ending address.
When you have your hyper-targeted list of properties you want to visit, use the Route feature on the online version of the app to optimize a driving route.
The PropertyRadar app then produces the most efficient turn-by-turn Driving For Dollars route for you.
Print this route or save it to your computer or smartphone to access while on the route.
4. Add Photos For Visual Reference
In the moment, it can be tempting to say “I’ll remember this house later! I don’t need to write this one down.”
While it sounds great, 99/100 times you’ll end up forgetting! Don’t worry, it’s not just you. One of the biggest regrets we hear from those new to Driving For Dollars is that they didn’t snap a quick photo.
Taking a few photos is great, especially since there’s likely to be something you’ll catch that triggers your memory when checking out the Property Details long after your Driving For Dollars session has ended.
How to do it in PropertyRadar
Fortunately, it’s easy to take a photo and add it to the Property Profile itself in PropertyRadar.
Now, you can use the photos within a profile to help re-qualify a prospect, as support within a proposal or estimate, to show your “proof of interest” in a direct mail postcard or letter, and more.
It’s rare to hear a Driving For Dollars veteran say “I wish I hadn’t taken so many pictures!”
When in doubt, the more data you have on a property, the better.
5. Expand Your Driving For Dollars Team
There's power in numbers.
Some of the most successful teams that use Driving For Dollars aren’t doing it solo.
When you have more people Driving For Dollars, you get more eyes and ears on the neighborhood, and it’s likely to produce more opportunities when there’s a team behind you!
However, this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll have to hire more people…
Instead, consider recruiting ride-share drivers, delivery drivers, or others. By doing this rather than hiring full-time, you’ll save big on overhead costs.
