Marketing for short sale leads. Still a good idea? 60/90 day lates?

Question

So I've gotten a couple of short sale leads from marketing to homeowners with 30%+ equity. Not sure why they would be on the list but I'm not complaining.

A few years back I marketed towards 60/90 day lates but didn't really get anything, although I only sent about 3,000 mailings altogether.

I want to ramp up my marketing and I was thinking of doing another mailing to get short sale leads. I'm thinking of trying to get short sales and I remember being told that the companies don't sell that data anymore, but I've heard recently that the law has changed and that they get can it from the credit bureaus again.

I'm thinking of getting around 5,000 leads and mailing them 3x. Is anyone around still marketing to these prospects and what are your thoughts?

Rick H. · Answer

You ought not have a problem soliciting lates pay ores as long as you're not a bonehead about it.

Don't make reference to where you got their name nor tie it to any specific axpcvount status: "We got your name from a list provider who rents/sells names of people who are going down the tubes really fast, and I was wondering..."

Focus on the benefits of what you can do for them. If you can bring it down to an emotional level that hits their triggers, even better.

Like they say in boxing, never lead with your chin.

Nathan Rice · Answer

@Antonio Coleman Maybe my definition of chasing a lead is different from yours. Do you currently do any marketing mailings for motivated sellers for real estate investment? Do you ever follow up on a lead? Do you ever add someone to an email auto-responder campaign?

For real estate investors, the target market is normally a one-time-customer. What kind of success in buying ugly homes for real estate investment have you personally had with what you do to get leads to chase you down instead of the other way around?

Antonio Coleman · Answer

@Michael Kev Marketing in this fashion can really get people upset, and the complaining will start flowing in. My best way to get any lead is to allow them to chase me down. I never chased a lead in my life.

Get that real estate website, and build that online presence this is the best route to go. Believe me nothing comes closer when you think about all the time and money you will save.

Here is some of my content here on BP to Help you get going.

http://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/author/ant...

Keep me in touch

Rick H. · Answer

"Are you frustrated with your mortgagee company?"

Of course, they are!

In actuality, it's the mortgage lender that's frustrated with them, but that's not the way to get someone's attention and create goodwill.

Also, it's vague enough that it's unlikely someone will tie in the headline opening sentence as being anything more than a coincidence. If someone gripes, based on what? They don't expect you to be a mind reader, do they?

My standard response when someone asks me where I got their information from is, 'the internet'. Don't most of us have a love/hate relationship with data?

Liz Habibi · Answer

What approach have you found to work the best?  How do you start out your letter?

Andrew Syrios · Answer

Be very careful about marketing to people who haven't received a Notice of Default. Check with your lawyer, I don't believe real estate investors can do so.

As far as short sales; we used to do a ton of them, but then the banks tightened up what they would take a ton and we stopped. I occasionally buy a short sale that was listed, but they are few and far between.

Christina R. · Answer

I don't know what the laws are in New York.  Maryland has very strict marketing laws to people in pre-foreclosure and foreclosure.  Make sure you are staying on the right side of your law up there.  I may potentially be trying a short sale that came off a probate marketing campaign; the brother died over a year ago and though the sisters have no legal obligation they are trying to do the right thing and dispose of the property instead of just walking away.  They don't want any money, they want to just wrap up the affairs of the estate.  But I'm not getting overly excited because from what I understand, having never done one, short sales take a lot of time and also end up nowhere in a lot of cases with the banks just going to foreclosure.  I told the sisters this as well - it could be a long road to nowhere.   What I'm trying to say is I don't know if short sales would be the best use of your marketing dollars.

Marketing for short sale leads. Still a good idea? 60/90 day lates?

Most Popular Reply