Proof of Concept, Yellow Letters

Proof of Concept, Yellow Letters

Tony WooldridgePro Member
Rental Property Investor · Walla Walla, WA · Member since 2016 · 480 posts · 346 votes

Hello BP, I just wanted to share in my most recent and first Yellow Letter Marketing Campaign. I am obviously new and have been listening, reading, educating and doing what seems like nothing but RE stuff since getting bitten by the RE bug. It’s been Awesome so far!

I have been compiling a list of vacant houses through driving for $ dollars over the past couple of months. I tried to get a list from list source but unfortunately my county doesn't supply (release) that information with list source at least the critique with which I was trying to market to yet (I called list source and they informed me that they aren't sure when my county will release that info if ever). So I have had to do all of the foot work myself and even though it has been a lot of work it has also been very gratifying as well.

I have sent out over seventy letters (not a lot compared to the big dogs but it’s a start) to Tax DQed property owners as well as instate and out of state absentee owners ( due to not having access to the equity of the absentee owners it will take some tweaking to find out what is going to work). I sent them out yesterday and am happy to announce that I received my first call 3 hours ago. HOLY COW I got a call! How awesome is that?! Proof of concept!! I really didn't know what I was going to say but I remembered from all of the Podcast that I have listened to is just SHUT UPand listen. Let them share their situation and that is exactly what I did. She informed me of her situation, which right now I am not sure that I am going to be able to make it work as she doesn't have very much equity in the property. However, I did inform her that if she would allow me time to go back and research her property and put some figures together to see if this would be something that could work for us both. She stated that would be fine.

So I have full intention (I have already looked at the public records and have determined that it might not work but none the less the concept works) of calling her back with either an offer or a recommendation as to how I might be able to help her without me buying the property myself. I appreciate you guys letting me share my situation and appreciate you taking the time for reading as well. Even though this is only one call and for all I know might be the only call I get that might not turn into a deal, at least I know that when you take action the outcome of actually finding a deal is that much closer. ACTION is where it all begins! Thanks again BP

3Reply
99 views

Most Popular Reply

John S LewisPro Member
Jackson, NJ · Member since 2017 · 167 posts · 48 votes
8y

@Tony Wooldridge

That's terrific stuff.  Did you actually put it on yellow paper?  Did you use a yellow envelope?   I've seen a few vacant properties around my town, but I don't know how to get the letter to the owner.  I recall seeing in a BP video something about address service on the letter or something of that nature.  Can you tell me how you got the letters to the absentee owners?

Thanks and congrats on your early success.

See this reply in the discussion

10 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Real Estate Agent · Missouri City, TX · Member since 2014 · 2 posts · 0 votes
    9y

    Thanks for sharing. ACTION is the word I'm riding with these days. Keep it up Tony Wooldridge.

  • Tony WooldridgePro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Walla Walla, WA · Member since 2016 · 480 posts · 346 votes
    9y

    @Anietie Uwem thanks for the words of encouragement. Here is to wishing you a very successful 2017 in your REI ventures!

  • Rental Property Investor · Saint Cloud, WI · Member since 2016 · 186 posts · 63 votes
    9y
    Thanks for sharing. That's incredibly motivating! I've not tried them before. Would you care sharing your verbiage in the letter?
  • Tony WooldridgePro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Walla Walla, WA · Member since 2016 · 480 posts · 346 votes
    9y

    @Shane Baganz my pleasure, thanks.  I wouldn't mind sharing what I do at all especially if it can help someone else.  I have tried to keep it extremely basic.  However, I think dependent on the rest of the outcome of responses I might need to tweak how I market to the different criteria (absentee/Tax DQed).  

    First, I got on BP and queried all the stuff I could find on DMM and Yellow letters.  After that, I looked at the different letter types both on here as well as ran a Google search.  For me I picked the one that was very basic and short.  Below is what I sent to everyone

    Dear  xxxxxx,

    Hi,

    My name is (Your Name)

    I want to

    $Buy$

    your house at

    (Property address)

    Please call me at

    Ph (Your number)

    I can pay CA$H and close quickly.

    Respectfully,

    (Your Name)

    (Your phone #)

    Once again, this is the one I choose because it was short, simple and to the point.  There are many different options out there to choose from so you will need to decide what works best for you and your situation.

    I am a firm believer that in order for you to be successful in what ever you do you have to do the grunt work first before asking anyone else to do it for you.  So you know what it takes and that gives you a better appreciation as to what goes into it.  With that said, I hand wrote all 70 + letters myself, addressed each envelope, stamped and stuffed each one.  It was a lot of work but I feel necessary to prove to myself that I CAN MAKE THIS WORK!

    I know you only asked for the "verbiage" but I wanted to also share how I went about implementing the system as a whole. I certainly hope this helps. Thanks for taking the time to stop by and share. Here is wishing you the best in your 2017 REI ventures!

  • Tony WooldridgePro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Walla Walla, WA · Member since 2016 · 480 posts · 346 votes
    9y

    @Anietie Uwem thanks for the words of encouragement. Here is to wishing you a very successful 2017 in your REI ventures!

  • Rental Property Investor · Saint Cloud, WI · Member since 2016 · 186 posts · 63 votes
    9y

    That was just awesome.  I have several residential and commercial properties.

    I have never tried this approach.  Thanks for teaching me!

    -Shane

  • Bridgewater, NJ · Member since 2015 · 100 posts · 31 votes
    9y
    Congrats on your mailing campaign. care to share the details of the situation the woman was in that you already determined you couldnt help her out?
  • Tony WooldridgePro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Walla Walla, WA · Member since 2016 · 480 posts · 346 votes
    9y

    @Scott Upshaw no I don't mind sharing at all.  But let me say that I received two other calls today as well!  Like I mentioned before, I kinda had a general idea of what I was going to say to who ever called but when the phone rang that GR8 plan I had instantly disappeared!  So my back up plan was to grab my IPAD and look at the list that I had downloaded to keep me on track.  

    This woman was an out of town absentee owner who moved away from the area but still keep her house in the my farming area.  She currently has it rented out to a long term tenant (2 1/2 to 3 years).  She still owes quite a bit on the property and stated that she is more or less hanging on to it for the tax benefits.  As stated earlier, I just remember telling myself to concentrate on being a good listener above all else so that's what I tried to do.  When she would get finished with telling me more about her situation I would refer to my checklist sheet and continually asked more questions of her to get a better handle of her circumstances.  

    I did some searching today and it looks as if she has owned the home for well over 12 years but just finished paying off her second position mortgage (down payment) and has just started paying down the first position mortgage (primary loan).  So she really doesn't have much equity at all.  But before starting my DMM campaign I reached out to a couple of investors that I have started building a relationship with and asked if I came upon a deal that I can't make work if they would be interested in taking a look at it to see if it meets their needs.  By the way, I am a flipper not a wholesaler, however, the reason I am having to do my own marketing is for a couple of reasons.  First, I have not been able to locate a wholesaler in my area yet and secondly, I want to know that I can produce my own results for finding deals if need be.  Well, I hope this has helped thanks for stopping by and appreciate your sharing.  Here is to wishing you a very successful 2017 in your REI ventures!

  • John S LewisPro Member
    Jackson, NJ · Member since 2017 · 167 posts · 48 votes
    8y

    @Tony Wooldridge

    That's terrific stuff.  Did you actually put it on yellow paper?  Did you use a yellow envelope?   I've seen a few vacant properties around my town, but I don't know how to get the letter to the owner.  I recall seeing in a BP video something about address service on the letter or something of that nature.  Can you tell me how you got the letters to the absentee owners?

    Thanks and congrats on your early success.

  • Tony WooldridgePro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Walla Walla, WA · Member since 2016 · 480 posts · 346 votes
    8y

    @John S Lewis, Yes, I did actually use yellow paper. I used a post card sized white envelope addressed to each individual home owner on my list with my return address. As far as getting the letters to the absentee owners, you need to put in ALOT of foot work to get and vet that the owners truly are the owners and that there is a current and up to date address associated to the property in question. You can accomplish a good deal of this by getting with your city or county public records to track down the home owners. However, there are some companies out there that will produce a list based off of the criteria you are looking for but of course it will cost you! Well John, I most certainly hope I have answered your questions effectively. Here is to wishing you nothing but GR8 success in your 2017 REI ventures!

Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.