Flipper/Rehabber · Lewisburg, PA · Member since 2017 · 103 posts · 45 votes
I am assuming it comes with the territory but I am into my 5th mailing for motivated sellers and I can not believe how angry people get about mail!! Do you all experience the same thing?
Investor · Warren, OH · Member since 2015 · 168 posts · 188 votes
8y
I tend to get three versions of the angry caller:
1. Paranoid-“How did you get my name and address?! Tell me you stalker!” Also sometimes a version of “How did you know I was thinking about selling!?”
2. Offended- “Why do you want to buy MY home?” Or “What made you think I would want to sell?!”
3. Misanthrope- Lately these ones have been mailing me back to my PO box. Last one was the front of my envelope cut off with their address circled and “Remove from mailing list” written beside it.
My goal on the phone is to still get a number. I am also local so a lot of times I ease people’s concerns about why I’m mailing them or how I got their information by saying “you property meets my basic criteria for something I would want to own. I may have driven by and just liked the way it looked and where is was and decided to mail you. I pull all my info from the county auditors website. I would be happy to remove you from my mailing list if you find my letter bothersome but if you were to sell how much would you need to get?”
Having been on the receiving end of direct mail, my advice would be not tell the truth or at least not lie. It takes less that 5 minutes on google to find out that a story about "growing up in the country and looking for land on which raise your own family" is a total fabrication and that the letter writer is a realtor. That being said it must have worked out for that realtor as he now has 6-12 listings for 10+ acre parcels.
I get a metric ton of these cards/letters and I'd guess like 80% of them are just complete lies. They use fake names, fake backstories, fake handwriting fonts, and lots of them are obviously from the same templates. I guess it works, because it continues, but sometimes I think the real suckers are the wannabe investors paying for these cards.
Rental Property Investor · Sioux Falls, SD · Member since 2015 · 9k+ posts · 18k+ votes
8y
@Troy Nonnemacher being on the receiving end of these mailings, I don't get angry. I just throw junk mail in the garbage. I can see why people do get annoyed. You purchased their name on a list and proceeded to mail them an unsolicited offer five times. It does come off a little stalkerish that you keep sending them the same thing. Plus, who looks forward to receiving junk mail?
At the end of the day, wholesaling is like cold calling. There will be lots of rejection. You are not doing these people a favor by offering them under market for their home. You are trying to make a quick buck of them, so don't get all bent out of shape when someone gets angry.
Rental Property Investor · East Wenatchee, WA · Member since 2014 · 10k+ posts · 16k+ votes
8y
Not that this is, but during the gold rush the ones that made the money were the ones selling denim and shovels. The .003% reward with gold/ mail to conversion rate is the same here as it was in the Klondike.
The denim and shovels here are the lists and postage. They dont even have to get the pushback. I hope they appreciate y'alls business.
Investor · New Orleans, LA · Member since 2014 · 1k+ posts · 944 votes
8y
It's been interesting and surprising to read that people actually bother calling back on a junk piece of mail. Even to be angry.
Sure, it's a little eye rolling to get the same postcard. About the same properties I own. From the same 5ish groups of people. 10+ times/year. Seems crazy to waste money like that on an obvious dead end, but maybe they are super clueless and don't have any tracking system in place.
Hmmm...maybe I should call them! Offer my consulting services to set up a system for them that will save a sheer ton in postage costs each year, lol.
Every once in awhile, I'll get an actual phone call from a (I guess) wholesaler. Now that is a lot of chutzpah. But I play along and throw out a completely outrageous number because, hey, ya never know.
Newburgh, NY · Member since 2018 · 2 posts · 1 vote
8y
It goes with the saying, " Its the nature of the Beast". People don't want the added pressure they may have already and unfortunately the end result turns to angry, Irritated and even in some cases irate people. Eventually though they learn your only there to help them specially with pre-foreclosures and such.
I am assuming it comes with the territory but I am into my 5th mailing for motivated sellers and I can not believe how angry people get about mail!! Do you all experience the same thing?
Thanks in advance,
Troy
I did a mailing two weeks ago and received a call from a woman who said to take her off the list, she wasn't selling and she was going to call the police. She wouldn't give me her name or address so it's a little hard to take her off the list. ;-)
A couple days later I got a call from the police department asking if I sent a mailer to such & so, I said "Yep, that's me." "I'm a real estate investor." and he asked how I go their name and I told him public records.
He said "oh".
I said "sorry to waste your time officer" and he said"ok". I said "by the way, if you know of anyone who wants to sell their house send them my way". He said "ok, goodbye".
Real Estate Consultant · Wittenberg, WI · Member since 2014 · 572 posts · 572 votes
8y
Try to keep in mind the people you are helping by sending out letters. Today I received a call from a Father and Mother of a diseased Daughter who were so happy that I sent them a letter. They are currently trying to deal with the sudden loss (which involved fowl play) and can't even go into their daughters house because of the memories. Her son, their grandson, is now in their care and the house needs to be sold asap to get the money which will be placed into a trust for the boy. During the fowl play, the house got trashed and they want to sell it as is. I'm not taking advantage of the situation. I'm solving the problem......
Those calls make the negative calls worth it......
Flipper/Rehabber · Springfield, MA · Member since 2016 · 641 posts · 204 votes
8y
Good times , good times. You’ll get used to it. It’s part of the business. It happens all the times. Just listen to them while they vent and then say “Mr Seller, I’m just not used to being spoken to like this when I’m trying to help someone out, seems that you’re not interested in selling your home what so ever?” (Then pause until they speak). Worst comes to worst their not motivated and move forward to the next lead. Good luck!
Try to keep in mind the people you are helping by sending out letters. Today I received a call from a Father and Mother of a diseased Daughter who were so happy that I sent them a letter. They are currently trying to deal with the sudden loss (which involved fowl play) and can't even go into their daughters house because of the memories. Her son, their grandson, is now in their care and the house needs to be sold asap to get the money which will be placed into a trust for the boy. During the fowl play, the house got trashed and they want to sell it as is. I'm not taking advantage of the situation. I'm solving the problem......
Those calls make the negative calls worth it......
Happy Investing
Derek Dombeck
Sounds like the property will have to be probated. If you can assist with the sale this will be a great referral for future business.
When I'm researching probate files in Placer, Sacramento and San Francisco counties I find that the motivated sellers (Personal Representatives) reside outside of CA.
If the PR lives in CA, the heirs/beneficiaries who live out of state, are motivated to sell. I just offer to purchase their interest's of the estate within reasonable terms of course.
Real Estate Investor · metairie, LA · Member since 2013 · 9 posts · 3 votes
8y
It's apart of the game of investing, most folks call and ask to be removed. When they call in our screening questions help us identify if they want to sell or want to be removed from the list. For every handful of angry sellers, there's one that desperately needs help, as investors we provide our services to them.
Real Estate Investor · Memphis, TN · Member since 2016 · 940 posts · 695 votes
8y
@Troy Nonnemacher - I was super surprised too when we got those calls and /or postcards returned in envelopes saying to take them off.
My fav so far has been a crazy, older lady who called a dozen or so times a day (until I blocked her) threatening to call the police and her lawyer because I was the one harassing her. :-)
Best quote: “I ain’t sellin nothin to nobody!!” *phone slam*
People have a lot more anger and free time than I have.
Houston, TX · Member since 2011 · 673 posts · 360 votes
8y
my favorites are when people write us a letter back, on our letter and mail it in lol.
People call angry all the time. They were angry people before they got your letter, angry enough to call you, they are going to be angry after they call you.
I bet they call target and yell at them for the circular they send out too.
We are sending 80,000 mailers a month. We get some funny calls. Sometimes they have fun and try to screw with us, sometimes they threaten our life. Just part of it.
Houston, TX · Member since 2011 · 673 posts · 360 votes
8y
Actually my favorite one was the person that put our phone number on back pages as a cheap hooker so we kept getting texts and calls from lonely gentlemen. That was such a good move i wasn't even made lol