BiggerPockets

Persistence pays!

Way to go Sharon, thanks for sharing :D

Happy Summer,
Mark

Congratulations! Sounds like you established a rapport, so when they were ready to sell, they thought of you. Exactly what you wanted.

Uh-huh, Now I know why people keep sending me all that junk mail even though I never respond... You never know, right?
In general, I agree. If it doesn't cost you too much money to run an operation like that, it doesn't hurt. This is like sending your resume to the same potential employer over and over again. You never know when there is opening, right?
I would just say this, if you use the same method and it doesn't work, you have to re-examine it.
It seems to me that someone responding to an offer two and a half years after you start marketing to this person, is an anomaly, not the rule... Yes, it can work but if you rely on that as a business, I'm not sure if this is a good strategy (As only means of marketing, of course)

I buy houses as a rule every month from my direct mail campaigns to absentee owners. The one I bought after 2 1/2 half years, was just an example of the power of not giving up on direct mail. I expect to make a nice profit on this house when I flip it. It is indeed not as common to buy a house after this much time, but it does happen. Things change for absentee owners over time that makes them "motivated sellers". It is pretty common for me to buy a house after I have been mailing to them for a year or longer. But, I have also bought houses after only a couple of mailings. It's just a numbers game.

Statistically, your percentages will go up after the frist 4-5 mailings. Vena Jones Cox "The Wholesale Queen" has this pretty well broken down in some of her courses. She too has been doing direct mail for years to build her real estate business.

I always look at how much I spend verses how much I am making. I can tell you for sure, for every $1000 or so I spend on postage, I am making $7000-$10,000 minimum profit. So for me, it is definitely worth it. It does work for real estate if you have a targeted list and it works very well.

Another important thing to remember is that you need more than one strategy. Different real estate investors use a combination of different strategies. You need to do what you like and what works for you. Personally, I would rather jump off a tall building than call expired listings or FISBO'S to find a deal. But again, that is just me. I know folks that do those things and like cold calling just fine.

I use an Act databse (Office Depot has it) that has mail merge functions. I have had it a couple of years now. I can update the file on each person as needed and send out letters to my list on my schedule. For instance, I will pick my list of absentee owners from California (or whatever state I need to mail) and merge up those letters as a group and hit print. It's very simple. I have all of my "groups" in Act such as absentte owners, probates etc.

When I enter probates each month they are in a folder for that month. So the main folder would be 2010 Probates. Under that would be all of the individual months ie Jan., Feb etc. If I need to mail one half of the list this month and not the rest, I can do that.

I am looking into using a particular company to do my mailings at this time. Their sign up fee has come down considerably in the last couple of years.The main advantage to using this service is that they keep your list clean and updated. Also, you can omit certain groups of people such as those that don't have much equity to name just one. I believe I will end up with less but better quality names on my list. I will continue to do the probates myself either way, because I would have to send them the list that I compiled each month. I may as well go ahead and mail those folks. When your list is in the thousands, it makes sense to think about using a service. I am only really considering one company. I believe I can actually spend about the same amount of money using them as I do now because their lists are continually updated. I will certainly post my results if I go down that path.

We have been doing the mailings for almost 3 years and even though we can do them, it is very cumbersome to send out all the letters. We hand address and stamp them all so they don't look mass produced. It would be a relief to have the work done for me especially if I end up buying more houses in the process.

Adura -

The thing you have to remember about probates is that there is a process involved. Don't get caught up in the statistics.

These folks are at different stages of the process when they are put into the newspaper. Some people are recently deceased and for some it may have been a year or more. Everyone begins working on settling the estate at a different pace.

Folks that file immediatey after the death of a loved one, may not actually be ready to deal with selling the property. Also, they may still need permission from the court to sell the house. There are many variables.

I usually send my first letter about 3-4 weeks after it appears in the newspaper. The response from my first letter or two may not be great. But as time progresses, it will get better, More folks will be ready to sell the property as time goes by.

I actually get a lot of calls at about the 1 year mark. I mail to probates for about 18 months on the average, some folks a little longer.

You need to look through each of your lists ideally at least twice a year. It really should be more but I can't seem to get it done. Some of these houses will be listed and sold. Others may be sold to another investor.

By continuing only to send letters to those left, you will cut your mailing costs. And, you will probably be the only one left that is marketing to them when they finally decide to sell. I have found that some of these folks will decide to keep the property for a rental. After that first tenant has left and has trashed the house, they will become a very motivated seller. So, just hang in there. Keep the letters going.

It really is a matter of how many times you can get back up. Learning to not get knocked down as much is smart, but you can't avoid every punch. It's part of the business.