What is your success rate with absentee owners?

Question

My brother and I are getting prepared to send out our first mailing campaign to our absentee owners list. I was just curious to see how this strategy is working for everyone else.

Michael Quarles · Answer

IMHO the absentee equity out of state is your best list.  You need to use a few more filters however it's the one.

It also has issues.  It's a list of investors and investors can be a pain in the butt to deal with at times.

The biggest issue I see in any prospect group is over expectations by the investor and a non systemized approach.   Marketing works as long as your capture and fulfillment systems are working well too.

I mailed out 33000 pieces to a group and it appears as though that mailing will reward about 240k.  Personally I think that's a good exchange.  In all marketing your goal should be a 8-12 time investment.  That pushes up to 20-22 percent after multiple hits.

With that said if you send out 250 pieces you should not expect a deal.  Your beginning the cycle.  Not that I haven't seen a bunch of people hit gold on a small mailing. It's just not likely.

Aaron Mazzrillo · Answer

Depends on your ability to take the calls and make offers. It is all I do down in southern CA and have been doing it for close to 10 years. My business has not seen any drop in volume even through the market crash. If anything, it only got better.

Joe Voss · Answer

Yeah, our list is absentee owners with at least 30% equity and owned for 10+ years, from what I remember. How do guys deal with the owner being out of town?

Between checking out the property, showing it to buyers, and handling the contracts?

Michael Quarles · Answer

Motivation on some is non existent    However on others extremely high.  Which is why we use certain filters to obtain the most likely list possible.

The nice thing about an absentee equity list is seller financing and subto.

Aaron Mazzrillo · Answer

In that market, I would think you will do very well working that campaign consistently.

Aaron Mazzrillo · Answer

Lots. Just dropped $4,500 on Monday.

Jimmy C. · Answer

I hear absentee owners have a better response rate, with a lower rate of motivation.

I am looking to break into this with a larger mailing than I do with probates.  And I am sick of the REO game right now, so it makes sense.

But I was wondering if some of you guys could opine about the level of motivation with absentee owners.  Do you find that it's harder to negotiate with them?

Joe Voss · Answer

Wow, that's about 30 times our initial campaign. Thank you for the positivity, it's sometimes difficult to push and push for that first deal, but we'll never give up.

Have you lived here before? Or have connections in Sacramento?

Joe Voss · Answer

Oh yeah, mailings definitely get pricey, so taking calls and following-up quickly is a top priority.

That's fantastic. We are up in North California in the Sacramento area, so it's great to hear that it's been a solid lead source for you. How many letters do you average sending every month?

What is your success rate with absentee owners?

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