Dustin Hahn does five to ten real estate deals per month, getting each property for forty to ninety percent below market value. He says there’s a dirty little data secret in the real estate investing world. And if you don’t know it, you can get fooled by shenanigans. “So, probably what a lot of people don’t know,” he says, “is how real estate data works, where it comes from. I’m sure if you’re on the internet, you’re seeing ads, and you’re seeing all sorts of different promotions.”
“You’re seeing all these special types of software for finding information, finding deals and whatnot,” he continues. “And one type of software does one thing and another does this. One does this better, one does that better, and on and on and on it goes. So what I wanna clarify, just so you’re not taken for a ride on this stuff, and really just getting caught up in ‘the next big thing’ that comes, I want you to understand a couple of things so you can keep this simple.”
“There’s a saying in marketing that says ‘to profit, complicate things.’ Because that way people don’t understand things and you can sell a solution to solve that complicated problem. So let’s talk about data. Now remember, in real estate, you pretty much have two options. Option one is to pay full market value. Use a real estate agent, buy through Zillow, Craigslist, places like that, where everybody can go. Option two is the preferred method. Which is to get info on potentially motivated sellers.”
“People who have pain points. And in order to do that, you’re absolutely gonna need some resource to help you find those people. Now here’s the thing. Most of that information is just basically repackaged from the same source. So for example, if you’re pulling title work or county records, there’s really only like a couple main data providers in the entire U.S. And these guys pull all of this information and it’s the places where like title companies go to check the title on a property, right?”
Anyways, Dustin explains how thousands of different softwares will then plug into these one or two main data sources. Who cares? Well, you should. If you’re just getting started in real estate, maybe you’ve only done a deal or two, Dustin suggests just using PropStream to pull the data you need. Don’t get overwhelmed by the thousands of copycats who tap into the same data source but present it with a slightly different interface; it’s all the same stuff. There’s no shiny new gadget or gimmick you need to have.
“For the most part, from what I’ve seen, it’s mostly just people rehashing the same information and adding marketing to it, which is what any good marketer who runs a business does,” Dustin explains. “So I just wanted to bring that to your attention because a lot of people don’t know that and they think there’s like this magical source of beans that grow the bean stalk to cheap properties and all that sort of stuff. Granted, you do need the right strategy to grow your real estate investing business.”
And that’s where Dustin’s paid programs come in handy. He says he’s got a unique way to find these steeply-discounted properties and carve out a competitive advantage in any market. Dustin seems like an old school, no-nonsense kind of guy. But I’m still not sure how realistic it is that you’re gonna follow his training and start finding deals for ninety percent off. Aren’t thousands of students already enrolled in his course? Wouldn’t they all be using the same method, in the same major markets?
