Developing, creating, and maintaining a buyer’s list for real estate investors is critical to your long-term success in business. The power of the buyers list is that it allows the investor to put houses up for contract and sell them very quickly to a waiting list of potential buyers. This means that often the investor does not actually need the money to buy and close on the property. He simply uses his buyers’ money to finance his business.

The list of real buyers is developed by finding like-minded investors who are looking for deals or looking to sell the deals they have found. The buyers list works both ways, where the investor who owns the list can use it to sell their own properties or the properties of other investors. Either way, the investor with the list makes a profit on a deal.

The most common method of developing the list involves exchanging business cards at local investment club meetings. This is possibly the least productive method of listing building, since the other investors are usually not actual buyers. There are some in the group who justify being on a buyers list. Generally, however, the most frequent buyers who are the investor’s target do not attend these meetings. Quite frankly, there is little to no reason as they are the professionals in the industry and have been successful using certain tactics that work for them.

These larger investors, who are typically not at the meetings, are called “whales” in the industry because of their continued buying power. Some will be wholesalers who have trained teams of referrals (“bird-dogs”) to scour neighborhoods to find abandoned or distressed properties that they can buy and resell. Others are contractors who rehab properties on an ongoing basis and sell the completed homes to an end-buyer who typically does conventional financing to purchase them. All other types of wholesale deals are bought with cash or expensive hard money from another investor.

Here are ten ways most investors find potential buyers for their listings:

1. Drive for Dollars: Search neighborhoods for people who work on properties who are contractors or investors.

2. Bandit Signs – These are roadside signs called “bandit” signs because they are generally illegal in most cities, the common size is 18″ x 24″.

3. Craig’s List – This is a very popular internet site that attracts millions of thousands of crazy people. Yes, besides the good and well-intentioned people who use it, there are a lot of idiots, so be careful.

4. Eviction Hearings – This is a hot spot for both weary homeowners and those strong souls who remain homeowners despite all the odds.

5. Newspaper Ads: Print advertising is still effective if your offer is interesting enough to attract the attention of other investors.

The real key to massive success using a buyers list is to keep attracting as many new people as possible. This includes trying to be creative in adding new email addresses every day. If you persist in building your list, you will only need properties to sell to be very successful in real estate investing, even if these properties are not yours.