Update on my absentee direct mail postcard!

[Ally]

I sent out 900 postcards.  I am interested in wholesaling deals I find from motivated home owners.  Today I got a call from a home owner saying he has 20 properties he is interested in selling!!!!!!!!!!!!  I looked him up on MLS and 14 out of 20 properties have large equity spreads!! How many deals are in here only time will tell.

Any advice on how to handle one seller with multiple properties??

[Wbooker]

Congratulations!!!!  What Service did you use to mail out your postcards?

[Hooch]

The US Postal Service. 

Sorry.... I couldn't stop myself from that crappy joke. 

Ally, give it 3 weeks and let us know how many people responded to your mailing.

[Ally]

Your a stitch Hooch.

I used click2mail to merge and mail my postcards.  The cost with them isn't bad.  It's the targeted list that's expensive!

I have gotten a pretty good response on my postcards.  Like I said that one call had an owner wanting to sell 0ver 20 properties.  How motivated he is..that is the question!  Every home owner postures and want market price for their house.  I am going out to talk to him.  I can get market price without having to pay to send out postcards!  Do these home owners think I'm sending out postcards to save them the hassle of paying a realtor commission??  Then there are the callers without any equity in their house because they have refinanced.  Lastly, a fair number of hang-ups. 

Hooch - you think the phone will still be ringing three weeks after the postcard drop?

[Hooch]

I will often get calls a couple of months after sending a letter mailing......And if you're getting a bunch of people who want full boat for their house than your mailing wasn't focused enough. What "people problem" were you targeting?

[xpandergt]

Why do homeowners expect that investors will pay full price for their home? Investors are trying to make money not live in the house themselves.

[Ally]

Hooch,
like the subject says - absentee

[Hooch]

Whoops, sorry..... My bad...... Good list!

The ones who are absentee and want full boat are lots of fun. Usually highly ignorant and need to be smacked off their high horse prior to working a deal. But I find them easy to knock off. The ones you will not be able to smack off are those who owe out the a** for judgments and other liens which makes it necessary to establish its value to an investor while in the mean time promising that you will help them on a short sale to get out of this mess and make it work.

And you will find that many of the real estate investors that you write to will contact you back. Some want way too much and you will run across others that are going under and you can buy all of their houses in one swoop.

So what happened with the 20 house guy? Your mention of large equity spreads make me think that he is one of the want full boat people. I prefer when people don't have much equity with the vacants, or they own the place outright and it is in real bad shape. I can always overblow the amount of repairs by a long shot and work my guys real hard to get it done cheap.

[MichaelQuarles]

For what it may help.. Here is the postcard I use....   It is also my presentation.... With all kinds of embedded commands. Extremely generic.

[Hooch]

Generic.... but good solid content that makes sense to a homeowner! That is what matters.  And for vacants specifically I would edit and work in a little reminder of problems they are likely facing like this.

As you know, there are many reasons why a house will sit vacant. It may or may not be by choice, but it is almost always a problem for the owner. Unoccupied houses have a tendency to draw unnecessary attention to themselves. Many times it's the unwanted attention from neighborhood kids or others who see it as an opportunity to break out windows or vandalize the house. Taxes continue to add up and lawn maintenance is a continual cost. During the winter months, the utilities have to be left on to keep the house in good condition: otherwise, you shut them off and hope no damage will occur. Furthermore, unless you change your homeowner's policy, you may no longer be covered by insurance if your home is damaged after being unoccupied over 30 days.

With a no obligation no strings attached statement at the end that says something like this:


At the very least give me a call so we can see what is possible. There are no obligations. You have nothing to loose. So give me a call!

[Ally]

Michael can I ask what company you use for your postcards.  I like the way the address is highlighted in black and I like the urgent message on the side.

Hooch, Still talking to the property owners to see if I can make anything happen.

[MichaelQuarles]

You're kidding me right?  LOOK at my signature line...

If you would like I will send you the template so you can print your own... Fairly easy as long as u have a two sided printer....

[BigREIProfits]

Click2Mail is cool.  Make sure to use the yellow paper.  Made a big difference using yellow vs white card stock.  Sales Team Live has been a better source.  They pull all the lists of addresses and they also keep the mail going out every week and every month.  Most of my best leads are coming from the 2nd and 3rd mailing.  Problem with Click2Mail is that you have to always keep it going and do all the work and even worse buy the mailing list.  My first 10 lists I purchased were junk.  Absentee owners is a great list, but make sure you get rid of the duplicates and make sure you pick the right property type including bedrooms and bathrooms and high equity.  The first list I purchased was filled with condos, vacant land, and over leveraged properties.  SalesTeamLive pulls the list and it's been pretty darn good.  They seem to have clients that are consistently closing deals vs. the brand new seminar people. Salesteamlive just found me an Inherited Property and Probate List using their yellow letter.  I'm trying it now.  I was using USLeadList.  Anyone have any other results from USLeadList?  I'll post my results soon. 

[uncledaddy]

You're kidding me right?  LOOK at my signature line...

If you would like I will send you the template so you can print your own... Fairly easy as long as u have a two sided printer....

Michael, would you mind sending me the template as well?

[MichaelQuarles]

http://www.yellow-letters.com/g.html