All Forum Posts by: Danielle Cage

@Account Closed Welcome Roger! You found a great site full of excellent information and helpful people. I would encourage you to not be afraid to ask questions, listen to the podcasts, and read as many posts as you can here. Good luck!

@Mark Vejnar Thank you! I'm moving slower than I would prefer as time is not easy to come by to set up all the pieces. But yes, we have a website that we are currently working on (a very simple 3 page site) and will have a prerecorded message for calls that come in. I will personally be making all call backs by 7pm, the same day that we receive a message. I don't feel the need for a copywriter. I have a good idea of how I will be presenting my company and what we can offer people. Between that and the info found here on BP, I feel that I'll be able to convey my message fairly well.

With all of that said, if you have any thoughts/ suggestions about this, I would love to hear them!

Danielle

@Claire Trammell I appreciate your response. I have heard that the absentee list is the best place to start, so I wanted to make sure there weren't other recommendations out there for fix and sell investors.

Since I'm just starting out and it's so far into the season already, is there a specific order you suggest sending them? For example, post cards, zip letters, yellow letters, greeting cards?

I know I can comfortably send 500 per month. Above that, it might be a squeeze. Is that number too small? Should I work to send more?

Thanks!

@Paul Kelly Thanks for the advice and I definitely agree with you. I do have to be careful because my marketing budget is somewhat limited. So while I'm prepared to be patient and learn what will work in my area, I also have to go in as wisely as possible. It feels like a small game of Roulette at the moment! :)

Hello!

I am embarking on my first marketing campaign and had some questions I was hoping to get answered. I plan on purchasing a list and sending out 5 monthly mailings. My strategy is to rehab and sell entry level SFHs.

1. Based on the type of investing I’ll be doing, what is the best type of list to purchase… absentee, divorce, equity, etc?
2. From what I’m seeing, postcards are the best way to go. Is this something I should start with and use every month, or should I begin with something else like yellow letters and progress from there?
3. How many is the minimum I should send per month? I know that this largely depends on my budget and unfortunately it’s on the smaller side.
4. Finally, I’ve done a small bit of looking around and like yellowletters.com to purchase the list, as well as mail my cards through. Does anyone suggest another process/ company? I would love to be able to go to the courthouse, unfortunately due to time constraints with a FT job, I’m not able to do that.

Thank you for any suggestions you may have!

@Karen Margrave Just wondering, don't you think that was a different climate back then? People stayed with employers longer, down payments were larger, and overall home prices were lower. Yes, people earned less, however comparatively, they don't earn a significantly higher wage now. On top of that, the average American family had one car and didn't have to purchase and iPhone for each kid :) 

I absolutely agree that we'll have to have a few more percentage point increases before we see true market correction, however I don't see us ever getting back to 10+ % without causing another housing market cave in.

@Patrice Boenzi Good point! I'll also look into their taxes.

Thanks to both of you for your input!

@Joshua Brown The area might be a little bit too far for me, however I'm going to keep it in my back pocket for future reference, so thank you for the suggestion. It's much appreciated.

@Mark Ainley While I've calculated school districts into my searches, I didn't consider locations that "piggyback" onto others with better schools. I'll begin by looking into the Aurora/ Naperville and North Aurora/ Batavia areas since they are closest to me and I have some familiarity with them. Thank you for the fantastic idea!

Hi,

I'm going a bit crazy trying to narrow down my farm area(s). I live and would like to invest in the Western suburbs of Chicago. It seems like there are many different areas that fit what I am looking for, so I'm having trouble choosing.

I'll be purchasing, fixing and flipping and don't have a huge budget to start out with. I'd like to focus on lower middle class homes and find a lot of areas that offer these. The current list of locations that I have is too large to get to know well enough make fast, confident decisions. What are the most important factors when selecting what areas to invest in?

Any suggestions, experiences or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Danielle