Where did you find your last two Boston projects?

Question

Just curious as to how everyone is finding their deals. Prefer to keep it to Boston and surrounding towns. Keep it short and sweet and post how, where, and type of deal :)

I'll go first

Postcard marketing to absentee owners

Brighton

Wholesaling

Peter Vuong · Answer

@Ray H. and Sergio V. What was your response ratio on the postcards?

Nick Luongo · Answer

@Ray H. Did you forget to mention you also overnight fresh baked cookies with each letter? 5% in the areas you mail to is awesome.

Ray Hurteau · Answer

@Peter Vuong - we do outsource right now and they appear handwritten, but you can tell it's a computer printout.  Our response rate is pretty good over the duration of each campaign (5%+).  All pieces look exactly the same each time, but the wording is different.

@Nick Foundas - we do have MLS access and we've pulled some custom lists for things like lots because we're interested in new construction.  we've also had our DM contractor pull data using list source.

When we first started our marketing about 2 years ago, we did it ourselves and tried a number of mediums - formal letter, small yellow postcard, zip letter, big photo flyer - and all worked well - we snagged deals off the small yellow postcard and the zip letter.  The big photo flyer performed terribly and was our last mailing before we outsourced.

Nick Luongo · Answer

@Nick Foundas I did listability first but more recently just use mls. I'll pull houses sold 10 years ago or more then use excel to filter out duplicates, llc's, trusts, etc. Curious to hear what others are doing though. I am not getting enough leads

Nick Foundas · Answer

Do any of you have access to the MLS?  If so I was wondering do you prefer using the MLS for Absentee Owner lists (great because it's free) or does Listsource provide better data?  Would Listsource be better because you can add additional filters to your list?  If so, what filters do you use?

Justin Silverio · Answer

A bit outside of Boston but here's some of mine

Direct Mail - New Construction in Andover

MLS - Rehab in Andover

Direct Mail - Wholesale in Acton

Sergio V. · Answer

Pretty much the same here. No yellow letters in my case.

Nick Luongo · Answer

I am around 1%. Usually on postcards but I've done a run of letters recently also

Sergio V. · Answer

Nick

1) South Boston - direct mail

2) Newton - MLS

Speaking of direct mail, what is everyone's favorite source of leads? What criteria (equity, occupancy, foreclosure status if any)?

Sergio

Ray Hurteau · Answer

Hi Nick:

1) Direct mail - Somerville - small letter to absentee owner (gut rehab)

2) Direct mail - South Boston - small letter for drive-by property (new construction)

3) MLS - South Boston - they said no contingencies, but we put one in for ZBA approval and offered them full price - they decided to accept (new construction)

We've got a number of leads coming in through our RE Agent, direct mail, and wholesalers. Direct mail is our best lead source right now.

-Ray