All Forum Posts by: Ehsan Rishat

@Keith Thomas congratulations on this deal!

@Brennan Hile Awesome! Best wishes in all your future endeavours.

@Quentin sure. I have messaged you some company names.

Congratulations @Mike Hyder and thank you for sharing the lessons with us!

@Jaren Barnes you can find tons of blogs on direct mail and if you read forum post, most of your questions will be answered but here are my two cents.

When planning for direct mail marketing, always target for off-market properties. This is because when a property hits the market, hundreds of investors start marketing to them and it's quite impossible to stand out. There are plenty of ways you can acquire off-market properties one of which is purchasing a list from online sites like Listsource. You could also try driving for dollars but it's a bit time consuming and requires a lot of patience and also the return is not good.

Once you have a list ready, you can send out your first direct mail. Remember, direct mail is a numbers game so the more records you have in your list, the more chance you have to land a deal. You should have enough budget to send at least 5 mailings to your list with a gap of 3-4 weeks in between.

Do not overthink the content in your mail piece. You could try handwritten font which works well for me.  I also use colorful envelope which helps stand out a little but then again these are just a part of marketing with the purpose of getting your mail pieces opened. No amount of tricks can motivate a non-motivate seller so you need to be in touch with them at the point that they become motivated. I still get calls from homeowners I mailed last year.

For your first mailing, choose a first-class mailing so that you can remove the addresses that get returned. This helps you save some bucks. 

Try different content every time in your mailpiece but building on the last one. In most cases, the homeowners might not realize that you're the same person who mailed them last month so it's important to use some branding or identity.

Hi @Jessica Holman, the best way to know what will work for you is to put yourself in the homeowner's situation. Maybe you're marketing to tax-delinquent homeowners or probates, whatever it is, take your time and think what kind of letter would you open first if you are to receive 10 letters in your mailbox.

I will send you some templates which I am using for my direct mail and you can take some ideas from there.

@Ryan Janssen sorry to say but you can't expect a deal mailing to only 70 records. As Braden mentioned above that your list must have a volume of 7-8k if you want continuous success. If you can't afford then go for at least 1k records. It's a minimum to start. I have seen people landing a deal sending mail to 1k records 5 or 6 times and then scaling up. 

@Thomas Berardi we have been investing in the Indiana market for over 8 years and all our deals came from direct mail marketing. There's no rocket science and it's quite easy to be honest. I purchase a list of off-market properties from Listsource and start mailing to them. If you plan to do direct mail marketing then I suggest reading some blogs on BiggerPockets and educate yourself cause small details can have a great impact on this marketing.

Cold calling works too. The best way to find out which marketing strategy will work in your area is to find out what local investors are doing to find deals. Follow them but always try to do something extra to stand out.

@Devin Rollins welcome to BiggerPockets! There are tons of resources on wholesaling here. Click on the search on the top right of your window and search with 'wholesaling'. Reading people's posts will help you gather knowledge faster. Also, listen to podcasts and blogs related to wholesaling on BiggerPockets. Attend REIA meetings which is very very important cause you need to build your network too in order to step up.

@Chris Crumpler there are many companies out there providing direct mail services. I pay 40 cents/postcard and 50 cents/letter including all costs. I will message you with some company names.

@Chris Crumpler