New Direct Mail Campaign in the works. Any advice is appreciated!
Real Estate Investor · San Diego , CA · Member since 2009 · 23 posts · 1 vote
Hey Everyone,
In the past year I have mailed yellow letters and postcards but was not successful (a few calls but no deals) because of the lack of consistency with the mailing.
I am setting up a campaign I will make sure I will stick to. I'm looking at a budget of $800-$1000 a month for the next 6 months. I plan on mailing every 5 weeks. I also plan to mail in this order Yellow letter, post card, zip letter, post card, yellow letter and yellow letter. Is this a good idea or should I just stick to all yellow letters for each 5 weeks?
I sent a mailing out in the beginning of August to around 1,000 absentee owners and only got a few calls. This is the list I'm going to continue to mail to since I've already mailed to them once and do not want to start over again, right?
@Gary Parker If a house is clearly vacant and the property address and mailing are the same I will skip trace them and mail to ALL of their relatives. A post card 9 times out of 10. I use a service called TLO which is awesome but there are many others. Its only a dollar a search. I skip traced myself and it was almost scary. Had my social all the addresses Ive lived at the past 10 some years AND phone numbers and addresses for all my family members and even my sisters husbands "parents" correct address. Believe me, If you mail to these people that owner is gonna get message one way or another.
@Chris Lipumano I have not tried zip letters but they do look pretty cool haha. As far as if a seller will actually "call" after opening it, who knows. Again depends on the list and if you hit them at that right moment. Personally I stick with letters and PC's but may give them a shot in the future. Would be worth testing.
Delinquents will be different for each county. Call up your counties tax assessor and ask them if they have a list of all the "tax certificate" sales and if they are downloadable. They likely are. Once you get the list which may be HUGE scrub the list down.
What I did personally was got all the sales which took place just under 2 years. In FL after 2 years the tax certificate holder can technically go down to the court house and petition for the deed and they own the house for whats owed in taxes.
Since they are on the brink of pretty much losing the home that way, I KNOW there has to be motivation. That and the fact that they haven't paid in 2 some years tells me they could care less or "something" happened. Someone died, loss of income, the list goes on.
This may be different in your state but find out the time frame and adjust accordingly.
After this my list was still pretty big. To start I took out just the zip codes with a high number of cash sales and focused on one zip code at a time. Why mail in areas that no one is buying?
I shoot for the properties with a decent amount due in back taxes. If its only a couple hundred bucks them I dont bother mailing.
You look to be on the right track as far as consistency but what about the list you are mailing too?
This is key considering its looks as if your are in a very competitive market being in San Diego (if you are staying local). Mailing to say simply absentees may be a huge waste of time as they are getting BOMBARDED with direct mail that looks exactly the same as yours.
@Will B. Looks like you are in a competitive market as well. What type of lists do you mail to?
@Chris Lipumano have you sent out zip letters before?
@Will B. Very true about the competitiveness here in SD. I do have other options as who to mail to (code violations,driving for dollars prospects, preforeclosures and probate) but I have a total list of 2500 absentee owners that I'm hoping I won't have to give up.
@Lamar Cannon I have not yet used zip letters but like the price to mail and their look. Have you had any experience with them?
@Chris Lipumano I would 100% hit the lists you just mentioned first. Code violations, probates, vacant houses. Its a much more targeted list and a lower chance that they are getting 50 letters a month like pure absentees. A friend of mine in a market much less competitive than yours sent me a picture of a HUGE STACK of yellow letters, postcards, white letters, everything and the kitchen sink that his friend who is an "absentee owner" got in a matter a 45 days. It was insane. Hes an investor with ZERO intention to sell. There was easily 50-75 mail pieces in that stack which soon went into the garbage. Not saying you cant make money off mailing to a list of absentees but its exactly what EVERY new investor is taught and exactly who they mail to along with the 50 other guys and gals who read the same e-book or article. All hoping to find that ONE burnt out landlord.
Save your money and hit those targeted lists with a yellow letter and 30 days later post cards for the next 6 months. If they are probates stick to just the letter for the whole duration.
That 2,500 list of absentees I would send a post card and 30 days later another. Use click2mail. Its the most cost effective. I would only send to this list after you have sent to the ones mentioned above.
@Lamar Cannon I have had the most success with the list above actually but also to include delinquent taxes.
I conveniently hit the perfect storm earlier this week. Sent a post card to a vacant house and the guy was an absentee with an inherited house that was 2.5 years back in taxes AND 2,700 in code violations.
This guy was not listed as an absentee in the property records but it was clearly vacant. He wanted 13k for the house which wasnt a spread at that point. Asked him if he was aware of the 5,500 in back taxes and violations that were on the house and he had no clue. Said "I would hate for you to lose the house and get ZERO if a tax deed is applied for which could be tomorrow, how about I give you 2k at closing and I will pay for the back taxes and code violations. 2k is better than zero right?" He signed the contract yesterday for $7,500 and will wholesale it for 13-14K. Never saw the house or met the seller. Will pay my birddog $500 dollars for finding the house and taking pics etc.
@Account Closed the perfect storm house is cool! I am interested to know what you do to further track down owners of vacant houses if the tax records dont show a different mailing address and you can not get a forwarding address from USPS?
@Will B. I appreciate all your help. I like your suggestion on only mailing post cards to the absentee owners because the price to mail is way more affordable than yellow letters. I'll also be able to hit my whole list with post cards in reference to my budget.
Hopefully your buddy's friend was able to let all them know he's not interested in selling or else his kitchen will be filled with letters again in a month or so, yikes!
Congrats on your perfect storm deal! That's a great profit on a purchase price of $7,500.
Have you tried zip letters? Do you have any good tips on tax delinquent properties?
Its going to take some time to plan/map out my direct mail campaign but I've got a better idea now. Thanks again!
@Gary Parker If a house is clearly vacant and the property address and mailing are the same I will skip trace them and mail to ALL of their relatives. A post card 9 times out of 10. I use a service called TLO which is awesome but there are many others. Its only a dollar a search. I skip traced myself and it was almost scary. Had my social all the addresses Ive lived at the past 10 some years AND phone numbers and addresses for all my family members and even my sisters husbands "parents" correct address. Believe me, If you mail to these people that owner is gonna get message one way or another.
@Chris Lipumano I have not tried zip letters but they do look pretty cool haha. As far as if a seller will actually "call" after opening it, who knows. Again depends on the list and if you hit them at that right moment. Personally I stick with letters and PC's but may give them a shot in the future. Would be worth testing.
Delinquents will be different for each county. Call up your counties tax assessor and ask them if they have a list of all the "tax certificate" sales and if they are downloadable. They likely are. Once you get the list which may be HUGE scrub the list down.
What I did personally was got all the sales which took place just under 2 years. In FL after 2 years the tax certificate holder can technically go down to the court house and petition for the deed and they own the house for whats owed in taxes.
Since they are on the brink of pretty much losing the home that way, I KNOW there has to be motivation. That and the fact that they haven't paid in 2 some years tells me they could care less or "something" happened. Someone died, loss of income, the list goes on.
This may be different in your state but find out the time frame and adjust accordingly.
After this my list was still pretty big. To start I took out just the zip codes with a high number of cash sales and focused on one zip code at a time. Why mail in areas that no one is buying?
I shoot for the properties with a decent amount due in back taxes. If its only a couple hundred bucks them I dont bother mailing.
@Will B. I'll definitely have to start digging into tax delinquents more. My favorite part of this business is the research and satisfaction of when putting in the time and work you find what you're looking for.
Can I get your take on Pre-foreclosures? Do you mail to them?
Will,
If you think, TLO is scary you should run yourself through Experian, and you will get a 20-year history plus data you think should be private.
Joe Gore
I have noticed the secret to my success of marketing is consistency. You can't send a lead 1 letter and expect them to call. Most of my calls have been on the 3 or 4th letter that I mail to them. I mail to Pre-Foreclosures, Probates, Vacant Homes and Absentee Owners. You need to do research and get their actual mailing addresses because a lot of times it differs from the property address. When I mail to Pre-Foreclosures, I mail to Pre-Foreclosures that already have an auction date. They tend to be more motivated.
@John Fossetti Thanks for the reply! I'm starting to find out how time consuming it is working my list of prospects when it comes to finding out their physical address and researching the property on google maps and redfin. Although I'm now understanding that the more targeted the better. I'm worried that thinning my list down will reduce my chances of landing a deal but I should be more focused on my mailing frequency and be confident in my mailing list.
If I am reading this right you are researching a property before you even mail them? Waste of time and effort! The time you are putting is costing you a heck of a lot more than the letter you would send them.
I agree with Shaun. I learned the first and most important step is building relationship with the owners. Just find out what their situation is before you worry about comps and if you can even do a deal. Sometimes, they may not want to meet your numbers right now, but later they may change their minds...and that investor that took time to REALLY care about them as a person and not a "$"...that will be the first person they come to for help. =) I scrub down all then other stuff like type of house, size, area of town etc. Save the comps for later when you actually get responses.
The research consisted of using google maps to check out the neighborhood, street and location of property and redfin to see if it was listed. I would not do this with my absentee owner list.
I've eased up on doing this for the last few months and now realize I just need to mail to these homeowners. Thanks guys!
Remember there are two assets that you can use to build your business. Time and/or Money. If you have the money, pay other people to do it, if not, use your time.
The only research you should do is to get their mailing address, don't worry about comping it out or anything like that.
I went last week to the County in San Diego. I have a list of homeowners who could be interested in selling their houses, I was trying to figure out how to contact with them and get a call back (the hardest part). I believe to send yellow letters can get results and a UPS letter could distinguish from the rest because it is more personalized. The owner wants to deal with investors who are able to listen to him/her. I agree with @Ratho R. on that.
Thank you Will B. for your information, it is very useful.