When Real Estate Investors start looking for leads to eventually become deals, it is wise to call classified ads. Better yet, it is best to track them and see how long the ad ages in the paper. The longer an ad is in the paper the more likely it is that you may face a Motivated Seller.

Here's part of a quick story that an investor told me right after she had collected a referral fee on a different deal that she had bird-dogged to a rehabber, "My referral fee gave me even more motivation to pursue the leads from the aged classified ads. I was still a little intimidated. I know how many times I have hung up on telemarketers.

But I pushed through it. I began contacting the people from my aging classified ads. My plan was to call all of the ads from the earliest papers that I had collected. I would go through and ask questions to get the information needed for my Property Analysis Form. Of course I always started the conversation by asking if the property was still for sale. I had already circled the ads that appeared to be placed by Motivated Sellers. There were over 200 of them.

My first 10 or 15 calls were not very good. I wrote out a script to follow, but I always lost track of where I was or fumbled over the words. Finally, I decided to be more natural and just talk to the sellers and try to get the information needed for the form. I was much more successful by just being myself.

In fact, I realized that after a few calls where no one hung up on me that the bottom line is that they have a potential problem, a house they are trying to sell. And I have a potential solution, a purchaser for their house. When I approach owners/sellers as a problem solver, it is easier and I am much less intimidated.

I found the best approach is to simply know what information you are trying to get. You must also understand why you are getting the information. As a bird-dog, my goal is to further qualify the property for my Rehab Real Estate Investors. So I simply obtained as much information as I could, including whether or not an owner is somewhat flexible on the price. Then I complete my research and due diligence.

If the lead sounds even somewhat promising, I pass on the information to my Real Estate Investor who is a Rehabber. If not, I hold the information and call the owner back in another few weeks to see if they are more flexible now that it has been a little longer."

No matter how new you are to Real Estate Investing, do not shy away from calling the aged classified ads. Sometimes the homes will already be sold, but not always. Believe me these people will be anxious to talk with you, especially if you can help them. After all, it does not really matter if you are a bird-dog, a rehabber, a wholesaler, and/or landlord, as a Real Estate Investor you have to ability to help people in need and as an added bonus you get paid to do so.