I never thought I would be writing this post because I never thought I would actually get my first deal, but here I am.  

I finally made the decision 3 months ago to be fully committed to a direct mail campaign.  I contacted @Jerry Puckett to set up my campaign and @Ryan Dossey to set up my call center.  After looking over my budget I decided to do 1,800 letters per month.  Right off the bat I could tell that 1,800 letters was the right decision, not too many calls that I could not handle while working 40 hours a week at my job but enough calls to get me quality leads.  My first month was basically a bunch of tire kickers and people asking to be removed from my list.  The one good lead I got actually turned into my first deal.  Here are the specs:

Deal #1:

ARV: $210,000 - $220,000

Rebab: $30,000

First offer: $125,000

Agreed upon price: $135,000

Exit strategy: Assignment

My second deal came off of my first mailings for month 2.  This was your typical frustrated landlord.  She hated the rental business, hated the property, contractors, tenants, ect... It was great because like you read about on the boards my letter hit her at the perfect time.  A tenant just moved and she did not want to deal with it anymore and my letter showed up that day.  I was the first person she called and I got the deal.

Deal #2:

ARV: $135,000

Rehab: $25,000 - $30,000

Agreed upon price: $72,000

Exit strategy: Assignment

Just finished up month 3 of mailings and it looks like I am going to get a quality deal out of it.  I should know for certain this week.  

All of you who are thinking why did he assign those deals and not flip them.  Well, I needed to get some cash flow for a couple of deals.  I intend on flipping my next ones if they fit what I am looking for.  If not I will just continue assigning, pretty easy money for not much work.

I wanted to write this post for all of the newbies out there that think they will never get a deal.  I was one of those people who thought I would never get a deal.  And, to be honest if this 6 months of mailings that I committed to did not work out I probably would have given up on my dream of having my own real estate business.  There is no secret or magic bullet it just take time, commitment and hard work.  Ignore the shiny ball syndrome and just get out there and do it. From the profits from my first 2 deals I have more then paid off the money I spent on the mailings and I am already looking at greatly increasing my mailings and expanding into a second market for my next 6 months now that I know it is possible and I can do it.

Now, let me take a moment and thank Jerry Puckett and Ryan Dossey.  For those of you who are new Jerry owns a direct mail company.  He has been a savior to me and because of his help I was able to land these deals.  Not only does Jerry provide an excellent service with his direct mail but he also acts as a mentor/coach to all of us newbies who have no idea of what we are doing.  I probably drove him nuts with all of the questions I asked while putting together that first deal but he answered all of them (in depth).  Having a seasoned veteran on your side is priceless.  Any time I had a question about contracts or dealing with setting up an assignment and buyers he gave me the best advice and knowing you can trust someone in this business and the advice they are giving you is huge.  

For those of you who do not know Ryan Dossey he  owns a call center that is specifically for real estate investors.  This is not a call center where you provide them a script and they read it, these are true professionals and as Ryan puts it ( coffee is for closers) type of people.  There is nothing better then mailing out 1,800 letters and knowing I am not going to get one call from a single angry person or a call in the middle of the night or when I am with my family because the call center handles everything.  They take the calls live, no answering machines and they go to my lead tracker and make all of the adjustments.  I get detailed info on what the person is looking for and either I am told by the call center to follow up with that person or the call center sets up an appointment and I go to the house and meet the owner.  If you want to set yourself apart from the thousands of investors who just let the call go to voicemail and then call back in 24 hours then this is the way to do it.  The reason I love this service is because as investors we are all using the same lists, there are no secret lists. So, if the home owner get 5 letters and she calls 2 or 3 people and they do not answer and then she calls me and is greeted by a professional person who talks to her about her property and what she wants to do and then sets up a time for me to meet with her, then that is it, game over.  I just blew the competition out of the water and it makes for a great first impression when I show up to meet with her.  

Well, that is it those are my first 2 deals and then some thanks to the people who made this possible. Hopefully I will be updating this thread with more deals in the near future.  If anyone that is reading this is new and wants to know more about the deals feel free to ask.