Real Estate Coach · Oakton, VA · Member since 2008 · 695 posts · 43 votes
18y
I leave my yellow letters blank on the name (then insert it after all of my copies have been made). Your response rates will be much higher if you use a person's first name. Plus, since they look like you took the time to personally write to them, you would defeat the whole purpose by not using their name.
Minneapolis, MN · Member since 2008 · 691 posts · 12 votes
18y
I am in a smaller scale than most guys, but I am currently handwriting all my yellow letters :roll: but then I am only sending about 30-40 per week and they are short letters. If I start sending these type of letters to like a whole farm, then I would have to do it as they say and leave a blank for the name, use ink that matches the printer ink, etc.
Real Estate Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 619 posts · 75 votes
18y
I've also read that putting them into invitation size envelopes as opposed to standard size envelopes will get higher rates of opening them, because they look even MORE personal.
Also, does anyone include a business card, or staple it to the letter. I would be more prone to hold onto a business card than to a letter.
Homeowner · Roanoke, VA · Member since 2008 · 26 posts · 1 vote
18y
What is meant by yellow letters? What do you write and who do you mail them to? Where do you get the addresses or are they just addresses of property you have looked at?
Real Estate Consultant · Member since 2008 · 792 posts · 30 votes
18y
"Yellow Letters" are a specific type of marketing letter that stands out from ordinary "business looking" letters. Google the term and you can find many different versions. if you pm me, i will send you a copy of what I have.
I do not personally use true "yellow letters", but they seem to command a good response from the recipients.
The addresses can be obtained from various sources. Often, they are purchased from companies that sell lists of people that are 30-60-90 days late on their mortgage.
Real Estate Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 619 posts · 75 votes
18y
here is the letter i just wrote. The image was too big so I could not attatch it.
Dear _______
My name is Terry Royce. I saw that your house at ______________ was recently for sale. I am interested in purchasing properties in your area right now. If you are still interested in selling, (you can receive) we can make you an offer today, where you will have to pay NO closing costs and NO realtor fees. We will also take care of all the closing paperwork and make all the arrangements for you. If a fair price can be agreed on you will not need to make any repairs, and you can even leave whatever you want behind. We will take care of it for you.
So please give me a call or email a.s.a.p to discuss your house at
Homeowner · Roanoke, VA · Member since 2008 · 26 posts · 1 vote
18y
How would you guys handle a letter about a home that a person died and the family is the hiers. A neighbor of mine passed last week and now the house is vacant and her kids live out of state. So I dont know how to approach without sounding like I could wait till she died. Yo understand where I am coming from.
Washington, Washington D.C. · Member since 2008 · 91 posts · 2 votes
18y
Question on the yellow letter: what is on the back? Is it just plain white paper or does the yellow lines paper look get printed on that side too? Thanks.
Real Estate Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 619 posts · 75 votes
18y
When you guys find houses just by driving around what kinds of yellow letters and or other contact do you send?
I was thinking of sending something along the lines of.
I was in your neighborhood recently and a neighbor said that you may be interested in selling your house. I am looking for properties in your area right now and can close quickly, buy as-is, and often pay all closing costs.
Please call or email for information and to get an offer on your house today.
Real Estate Investor · Baltimore, MD · Member since 2008 · 619 posts · 75 votes
17y
How has everyone been fairing with their yellow letters? My campaign got sidetracked and I am about to gear back up. Sitting down to write my drafts now.
Rental Property Investor · Woodbridge, VA · Member since 2008 · 543 posts · 121 votes
17y
Does anyone have some good contacts for some companies that sell lists? I just used vista print but they are kinda expensive and I thought there was too large a return percentage.
Real Estate Investor · Vero Beach, FL · Member since 2008 · 268 posts · 89 votes
17y
Justin,
I have always had a good list from http://www.listsource.com. In the past I have also used Info USA. But I have been a fan of List Source for a couple of years now.
Jonathon Rex,
Can you give us a ballpark figure for what a list costs (is that per list??Or per year??)and its potential target bullseye??In other words on a scale of 1 to 10,,,,how accurate is the list??
Rental Property Investor · Woodbridge, VA · Member since 2008 · 543 posts · 121 votes
17y
Originally posted by Jonathan Rexford:
Justin,
I have always had a good list from http://www.listsource.com. In the past I have also used Info USA. But I have been a fan of List Source for a couple of years now.
Real Estate Investor · Vero Beach, FL · Member since 2008 · 268 posts · 89 votes
17y
Don,
I just now ordered absentee for a zip code in an area that I am going to mail. I had a list of 761 addresses. My list was Absentee with Equity of 40% or more. My bill is 131.16. So that is about .17 per address.
As far as accuracy. I do get some that do get returned mail.
What I like about List Source is that its not a monthly contract. All I have to do is place order, pay and download.
Flipper/Rehabber · Mobile, AL · Member since 2010 · 138 posts · 55 votes
15y
We are interested in creating our letter that's general so that we can send it to people in foreclosure, probate people, absentee owners etc.
My thought is that if I just say that ''Hello, We buy houses and that we're investors" that these people can connect the dots if they have a house for sale and they will call.
Do you know if call rates are better if the letter is specific in nature? i.e. "Hi John, I want to buy your house at 123 Main St."
I'm thinking that if we use the former that this will yield more motivated sellers rather than just curious callers.
Dallas, TX · Member since 2010 · 56 posts · 2 votes
15y
Originally posted by Jim Sharp:
I use fontifier to make the font and a marketing piece of software to merge the names.
My leads have gone down, but my quality lead to cost is better.
Letter costs are cut by a fourth.
Jim
Jim,
I have heard of this type of strategy from another wholesaler in Texas, but haven't tried it out yet. What marketing software are you using? I'd like to find something that can take an excel or CSV file and merge in the names and addresses to each individual page, so that ultimately if you have a list of 100 names and addresses, you can just generate a 100 page long document with names and addresses already input into each page, and then print all of them out on 8.5x11 white or yellow ruled notepad paper. This would essentially automate the entire process, all you have to do is input the list, fold up the letters into an envelope, and write the address on the envelope. :mrgreen: