Direct Mail to Off Market Investors
Hey Everyone,
I'm working towards our first direct mail campaign, two of them actually. One is going to target absentee owners as well as houses that we have found driving our neighborhoods looking for neglected homes. BP has a lot of information on this strategy and I feel pretty confident how we plan to approach it.
The second campaign is going to target other investors. Maybe there's so many other threads discussing the other direct mail strategies that the few threads discussing this very topic are just harder to find. Or maybe I'm just not doing a good job searching.
Our county records are accessible online. To find these owners I'm going online and searching for mutli-family properties. I then go through each one and record the property address as well as the home owners name and home address. It's been a slow and tedious process but the goal of this is to introduce myself as a potential buyer to any investor looking to sell their properties. Even if they are not looking to sell now, as long as I get them to open my mail and read the letter I've at least introduced myself as a buyer if they decide to sell down the road.
My question is what would you say to another investor using this strategy? I've seen so much content on good letters to use towards absentee, probates, foreclosures, etc., but little on this. Short and to the point seems to be consistent thing mentioned in other direct mail strategies. Would hand written letters targeting other investors still have a better success rate over typed letters? Or maybe a professional looking typed letter on a letterhead would strike them better? As an investor yourself what kind of buyer do you want to deal with when selling your property and what kind of letter would paint that picture to you of the person sending it?
Based on my current thoughts of keeping it short and direct here is what I am currently thinking (ignore the way the spacing looks):
Dear «Leads.First Name»,
My name is Zach and my wife and I invest in real estate. We primarily invest in multi-family properties. Through researching our county records I've learned that you own at least one multi-family yourself.
We are currently looking to add properties to our portfolio. Do you have any interest in selling your property? If so please give us a call, we would love to talk to you.
Thank you for your time,
Zach Robbins
PCF Real Estate LLC
(my phone)
At this point I have it typed simply to keep it saved. I am still torn whether typed or handwritten would be best in this strategy. I have also debated whether I should throw the idea of owner financing in this letter. For the sake of keeping the letter short and to the point I've decided to save that content for Letter #2 or later. I'm looking forward to everyone's thoughts!
Thanks,
Zach