Short sales lead flow
I have been doing short sales a few months now but haven’t figured out a way to get consistent lead flow.
I have subscribed to property radar and got a list of pre foreclosures but don’t have a way to call these homeowners as most phone numbers seem to be out dated.
Can someone please help me out and let me
Know what are some of the ways to get consistent lead flow of pre foreclosure properties
Door knock?
The most effective way is to introduce yourself. Leave a letter of introduction. Do that 5X if no response move on.
You could look into creating a website and working on SEO. This, when done right, will result in tons of passive lead generation.
Try using BatchSkipTracing or other similar sites to find updated contact information.
Check the county clerk's office to find lists of properties with NOD's.
You can drive for dollars in your spare time, to find some off-market gems.
Also, I recommend pulling lists from ListSource. You could consider direct mail marketing to reach out to these properties. Additionally, you could also send SMS blasts, leave RVM, use facebook and google ads, Cold Call, knock on doors etc.
Good Luck!
@Ikjot Gill, are you trying each of the numbers we provide? We've done a comparison against all the other popular skip tracing services, and I'd be really surprised if you found better numbers elsewhere. We've never gotten a complaint that "most of the numbers are outdated". I suggest you contact our support team as you may just need help with using our service. That said, folks in foreclosure are often difficult to reach by phone as they are often actively avoiding debt collection. Just because you have their number doesn't mean they will answer. As Brett and Sam suggested, door knocking, and leaving a letter if no one is home, is likely the most effective approach to reaching folks in preforeclosure for short sale listings. We also have customers that get great results with direct mail - however - you really need to have one heck of a good mail piece to stand out, as preforeclosures tend to get a lot of mail.
@Ehsan Rishat the county clerk doesn't have "lists of properties with NOD's". They have the recorder index, which you can use to find individual NODs, which you then have to abstract (manually write down the information from the document image), and even then you still have no information about the actual property - not even beds and baths. I don't think anyone who values their time at more than $1/hr has done this in a decade given the great, inexpensive, services that exist in the market.
@Brett Goldsmith yeah I have door knocked but can’t hit that many doors in a day
@Sam Shueh I will try that
@Ehsan Rishat I was thinking about using Facebook ads and cold calling but I have two questions about it.
How would you target pre foreclosure homeowners on Facebook?
And is batch skip tracing what you recommend for skip tracing
@Sean OToole so you don’t really recommend cold calling but more direct mail
@Ikjot Gill, no, if you are just starting out, I do not recommend direct mail. What I said was that it can be very effective if you really know your audience and have a compelling, differentiated, message.
Having a compelling differentiated message is actually the key to consistent lead flow for any method. I personally think the best way to get to know your audience, and develop that message, is by door knocking and talking to people in person. I think that is was Brett and Sam were also saying, which is why I said it was the most effective.
Here are my recommendations for you:
1. Schedule a demo with our support team. Sounds like you are already using our service, but it doesn't sound like you really yet know how to use it. They can show you a ton of options including an answer to your Facebook question.
2. Do some door knocking. I know it sucks, but you will learn a lot, a lot faster than you will with cold calling, online ads, ringless voicemail, email, or any other method. Why? Because in person feedback will help you figure out what to say (or not say) to get a deal/listing.
3. Once you have a message that is working in person, then try it by phone. Keep your expectations low, most folks in foreclosure aren't going to answer their phone. Expect to make a lot of calls. But it's faster than door knocking, and can be as effective - IF you already have a good pitch.
4. Once phone is working, then move on to ringless voicemail, online ads, direct mail, etc with that same message. This works to help you scale, but only if you have a great message.
Expect a learning curve with each step. Expect each step to kind of suck for a while and be really hard. Don't say it doesn't work until you've knocked 100 doors, made 200 calls, or had your online ad reach thousands or tens of thousands of potential customers. Only a small percentage will ever respond - even if you have the right phone number for every one of them.
My investor customers have purchased $40B+ in real estate, and my agent customers have likely listed a similar amount (harder to track so I don't know for sure). The folks that succeed with rare exception do some variation of what I outlined above. The one's that don't succeed, bought into a bunch of get rich quick, easy button, b.s., and never really worked hard enough to have a chance.
@Ikjot Gill for facebook ads, you need to first buy a mailing list from listsource and upload that on Facebook ad platform. Be sure to have the the contact numbers of all records before running ads. I myself haven't run any such ads but Facebook does provide options to target people based on their locations and phone numbers. You can check out this link : https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-target-Facebook-ads-based-on-phone-numbers
Yes, I highly recommend BatchSkipTracing for skip tracing.
#2 Foreclosures Contributor
- Paradise, CA
With all of your calling, lists, door knocking and communication campaigns, I would keep in the back of your head, the necessity to be very very clear, succinct, and upfront with every aspect of your endeavors with a borrower, especially if they are in, or on the brink of being in foreclosure, so that you do not run afoul of the foreclosure consultant requirements in California, and many other states.
@Sean OToole sounds good to me. I’m not afraid of the rejection or putting in the hard work. Just wanted to know what was the right way to start and how to get in front of the seller.
This was an amazing reply, thank you so much for this
@Ehsan Rishat yeah, I’m familiar with uploading lists and targeting people through Facebook like that. Everybody recommending batch skip tracing so I’m going to definitely give it a try
@Ron S. yes I understand, because the situation is the seller is in is very sensitive so got to be clear
@Ikjot Gill The tool you are already using has "batch skip tracing" built in. As good as any other service out there. It also has the ability to pull lists 100% as good as any you could pull from Listsource, or any other service, and is actually far better when it comes to foreclosures. As such it would be a huge waste of time and money to also buy those services when you already have them. Also, you'll get a far poorer Facebook / Google match rate with that approach, then with the tool you are already using, as it also matches on hashed emails, as well as phones, and addresses. I guarantee, there isn't a better way to do it, then with what you already have.