All Forum Posts by: Chrissy Parsons

@Tony Crabtree if you are in a competitive market you need to get a bit more creative with your list. The absentee owners are probably getting letters every week from someone different.  

Seniors with 20+ year ownership and low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) are a good alternative for finding off-market leads with a mail campaign.

This group are often ready to downsize or transition to assistance. It's also unlikely that they have done any updating and kept up on all the maintenance so a lower offer is more reasonable and you have a renovation opportunity.

Come up with a list of services you can offer to make it easy for them to sell (as-is) and to move (clean-up service). Find some people who run yard sales and purchase estate items that you can bring in.

If someone has been thinking about selling, but are overwhelmed at the prospect of fixing the house to put it on the market, your letter could just do the trick if you let them know what you will do for them.

@Cody Harris I agree with @joaquin Rosario that purchasing a list is the way to go. However, if you work with a mailing list broker instead of an online system, you can get advise for targets.

Absentee Owners with Equity lists have been effective for a lot of investors. That can be combined with Senior Homeowners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS).

Canyon County ID only reports about 100 Absentee owners and doesn't provide the information for Equity. There are however almost 2000 Seniors with low FSS, 15+ year ownership, home value up to $250,000, age 50-89.

This would be a good target to reach people who could be ready to downsize or transition to assistance.

You might consider doing a mailing to reach out to off-market leads. These are people who haven't put their home on the market, but share motivating factors as people who are ready to sell.

Absentee owners with equity are one group. Seniors with Low Financial Stability Scores are another. If you work with a mailing list broker you can get some good suggestions.

Zillow and the like all have homes that are already on the market. You can have great success with off-market properties - that you can find when you do direct mail campaigns. Homeowners with low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) can be a good list.

Direct mail is a good tactic for finding sellers. You can get a list of off-market leads to you can talk to people before they go through all the steps to put their house on the market.

The most commonly used list is for Absentee owners. Cook County however is a pretty competitive market and you might find that the the absentee owners are getting plenty of offers from other investors.

Another effective, but not yet over-used list to consider is: Seniors with 15+ year ownership and low Financial Stability Scores (FSS)

I ran a report and found 2100 in Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, Streamwood, Hanover Park and Elk Grove. All are single family homes, 15+ year residence, low FSS and home value up to $350,000.

This group is often ready to downsize or transition to assistance. It's also unlikely that they have done any updating and kept up on all the maintenance so a lower offer is more reasonable and you have a renovation opportunity.

Come up with a list of services you can offer to make it easy for them to sell (as-is) and to move (clean-up service). Find some people who run yard sales and purchase estate items that you can bring in.

If someone has been thinking about selling, but are overwhelmed at the prospect of fixing the house to put it on the market, your letter could just do the trick if you let them know what you will do for them

@Emile Hughes Have you thought about the type of list you want for your mail campaign? One good target is Seniors with 15+ year Ownership and Low Financial Stability Score. They are often ready to downsize or transition to assistance. The easy as-is sale will be a hit as they likely haven't updated in a while and may not have the $$ to fix it up before putting it on the market.

I ran a report for Jefferson County. There are over 9,000 with home value $25-100,000.

@Matthew McNeil, taking the advice of @Julie Marquez I ran a report for zips along I-5 between Olympia and Vancouver and found over 9,000 Seniors with 15+ Year Residence and homes valued $50-250,000. If it's true that they are spending a lot on education, these folks might want to move away from the high taxes, downsize or transition to assistance. 

It would be a good list for a seller mail campaign.

Consider using a list broker for getting lists. They can make suggestions for some alternatives that could work in your area.

Phone numbers are tough. 

1.  about 90-95% of households have registered for the federal do-not-call
2. it's illegal to call cell phones 
3. people are changing phone numbers a lot between land lines and cell phones.

@Chase C. Consider doing a mail campaign to find off-market leads as @Doug W. is suggesting.  A good target in a tight market is Seniors with 15+ year ownership and low Financial Stability Scores (FSS). 

These folks are likely ready to downsize or transition to assistance. Very often they have deferred maintenance and not done much updating. Combine this with the fact that their homes have appreciated since they purchased 15-20 or more years ago, and you will likely have room for a lower offer.

In DC, Arlington and Alexandria, there are 1,453 senior homeowners, 15+ years, home value up to $400,000, single family homes with Low FSS. If you add in Fairfax and Montgomery counties, the number available goes up to about 3,500.

@Emmanuel Murillo, I agree with @Parker Stiles that some marketing becomes key. Direct mail can be quite effective. 

If you are in a competitive market, consider mailing to Seniors with15+ year ownership and low Financial Stability Scores (FSS)

This group is often ready to downsize or transition to assistance. It's also unlikely that they have done any updating and kept up on all the maintenance so a lower offer is more reasonable and you have a renovation opportunity.

Come up with a list of services you can offer to make it easy for them to sell (as-is) and to move (clean-up service). Find some people who run yard sales and purchase estate items that you can bring in.

If someone has been thinking about selling, but are overwhelmed at the prospect of fixing the house to put it on the market, your letter could just do the trick if you let them know what you will do for them