Rental Property Investor · CA · Member since 2014 · 43 posts · 5 votes
I am interested in driving for dollars now when I find these properties that fit in my criteria what exactly should i leave at the door should it be a note , a flyer etc. what method will get the homeowners attention to make them call I am also trying to put a system in place that I will use for my business is there any marketing techs that works better than others
Real Estate Investor · Milford, PA · Member since 2014 · 395 posts · 299 votes
11y
@Tee Allen how about calling them. This doesn't work for every property but it is another tool in your belt.
I'm not the originator of this tip. I found this right here on BP. Just thought it might help you.
Visit USA.COM now do a search for the town you are in.
On the page that pops up there are blue tabs Basic info / population / education........ Click on the "OTHER" tab to the left this will activate a drop down menu.
Click on streets.
Now choose the street your on
Now see if the house number comes up. If so click on that.
Real Estate Investor · Milford, PA · Member since 2014 · 395 posts · 299 votes
11y
@Tee Allen how about calling them. This doesn't work for every property but it is another tool in your belt.
I'm not the originator of this tip. I found this right here on BP. Just thought it might help you.
Visit USA.COM now do a search for the town you are in.
On the page that pops up there are blue tabs Basic info / population / education........ Click on the "OTHER" tab to the left this will activate a drop down menu.
Click on streets.
Now choose the street your on
Now see if the house number comes up. If so click on that.
Driving for dollars is an excellent way to create your own targeted marketing list. The benefit of creating your list in this manner also provides you with a working knowledge of the areas you want to target. Bravo on your efforts so far.
You can use various marketing techniques to contact the property owners. Yellow letters is definitely one technique, and there are many others you may want to consider. I am happy to make recommendations if you wish to contact me. You are on BP and this site has a lot of marketing ideas that you might want to investigate as well.
Wolcott, CT · Member since 2013 · 139 posts · 49 votes
11y
I would first pull tax records on the property addresses you take down - to see where the owners address is. There is a likelihood these distressed properties are absentee owned - so leaving something at the door may not be the most effective.
Find out who owns it, find there address, and mail to them. This method works for me.
Flipper/Rehabber · Greensboro, NC · Member since 2010 · 623 posts · 615 votes
11y
Knocking on the door is VERY effective.
And/or, take a moment to write a hand written letter:
I am (My Husband and I are, My Family is, etc.) looking to buy a home in your neighborhood. Please contact me if you know of anyone planning to sell. Call me at (your phone number) or email me at (your email).
Thank you for your time!
Just create a brief, simple letter. It's completely non-threatening and, if someone is interested, they will contact you.
Real Estate Investor · Gainesville, GA · Member since 2009 · 241 posts · 34 votes
11y
Yes a hand written letter makes it much more personable making them get curios to find out what's inside the envelop!
After you have the addresses do some digging at your local tax records to find out who the owner is and where he lives then write those letters and fire them up!
Now, you have to understand that this is a game of numbers. It may take hundreds of letters for you to get a deal but hopefully not however your phone will ring :-)
@Tee Allen how about calling them. This doesn't work for every property but it is another tool in your belt.
I'm not the originator of this tip. I found this right here on BP. Just thought it might help you.
Visit USA.COM now do a search for the town you are in.
On the page that pops up there are blue tabs Basic info / population / education........ Click on the "OTHER" tab to the left this will activate a drop down menu.
Click on streets.
Now choose the street your on
Now see if the house number comes up. If so click on that.
This will give you the owners phone number.
Great site but the information was not accurate in 3 of the 4 homes I searched. It did give the correct names on all of the properties I checked but only one phone number of the 4 was correct which happened to be my grandmothers. Only one who hasn't done away with her home phone. Still a great tool. Someone else referred to the tax records. That is usually my go to for locating owners. The tax page usually has a lot of other good information as well. When the current owner took possession, assessed values, etc. I have looked up properties in the past, driven to their home, and left notes. Some never to be heard from again and some reply months later when the mood hits them. Some so long after that it took me a minute to figure out what they were talking about. Good luck. Mike
Real Estate Investor · Milford, PA · Member since 2014 · 395 posts · 299 votes
11y
@Michael Hicks yep your right for certain. I have three properties here and a search of them produced only one property address and that property had no additional info. I haven't used this process yet but can see the value as another avenue for possible information. Definitely not to most complete though.
@ Michael now on them tax records will they have the home owners living address if the property is absentee owner
In my area the are listed but sometimes they may be listed as an Llc or other entity which will not give you a name. There has to be an address where the tax notices are mailed which usually leads to the owner. I have driven to multi-family properties before and just acted like I am interested in renting. If I see one of the tenants, I ask questions and usually end up with a name and number. Also, don't count out the neighbors. If they are out mowing the lawn, stop and ask them if they know anything about the property.
Real Estate Broker · North Richland Hills, TX · Member since 2013 · 1k+ posts · 607 votes
11y
I bought my house over two years ago, and the street has been in place at least 2 years before that, and it doesn't exist in USA.com's database, which leads to concerns about the freshness of their data.
Investor · Valdosta, GA · Member since 2015 · 187 posts · 112 votes
11y
Since there's no guarantee that USA.com's data is correct, I'd mail a short, simple yellow letter first. About a week later, call whatever number USA.com shows or use online tax/property records combined with the almighty Google to find a number for the homeowner if you can.
Two (possible) touches in a week puts it in a motivated seller's mind that you're serious. At which point, they can start visualizing how it would be to really have someone buy their house.
American fork, UT · Member since 2010 · 52 posts · 1 vote
11y
Great post here, let's say the home owner is out mowing the yard, would you pull over and talk to them right there or would you try and gather more info on the property first?
Every state has a property database. Just google Maryland property database or something similar. When you find a property you're interested in, the property record will show the owner's name and the address on file.
I believe companies that build mailing lists simply scrape this data from various websites and sell the data to customers.
If you search an address and bring up the addresses property record, there's a field for Primary Residence (Yes/No). If you bring up a list of addresses by searching just the street name, the summary has a column labeled 'Own Occ.' An 'N' in this column means Principal Residence = No and an 'H' in this column means Principal Residence = Yes.
This information is not always accurate, however like @Jordan H. I believe this is where all the list brokers get their information.
Real Estate Broker · Oakland, CA · Member since 2015 · 67 posts · 51 votes
11y
I have not yet driven for dollars nor have I done my first deal. However, being a business development rep for a commercial real estate firm in San Francisco (ipgsf.com), it is all about "touches". The more quality contacts you make (email, voice mail, handl shakes, etc.) the better.
Most sales trainers will tell your conversion rate on the first four touches is in the single digits. However, once you get between six and 12 touch's per prospect, your odds of converting nearly quadruple. As well, the majority of sales people will not follow up more than once and less than a third follow up twice. After three, you are in the single digits.
The best advice I have ever heard on prospecting/ cold calling is "If you can't be first, then be last." - Grant Cardone
Perstence and numbers are key in this game. If you can have a lot of quality touches, you will succed.
Investor · Fayetteville, NC · Member since 2011 · 32 posts · 9 votes
11y
Great information, I just want to add some different ideas/resources that could help. One thing you can do is place your letters in fedex packages and leave them in the door. This is a sure way if someone lives there your letter gets read. You can use Netroonline.com to pull up almost any tax records that's online. I also like reaching people with unique names through facebook and send them a message about their house. Also depending on the budget you have using a skip tracing service that yields either their name and phone number or a relative name and phone number best to reach relatives that are older they usually answer their phone and I have had some give me the current phone number of the person I'm trying to reach.