All Forum Posts by: Jerry Puckett

Originally posted by @Account Closed:

Drive for dollars. You will have a unique and unknown list.

Originally posted by @Ray Lai

Originally posted by @Justin Silverio

 I can tell you if you're mailing to the same list and using the same mail pieces as your competition, don't expect amazing results. Find ways to mail to niche lists and make yourself stand out from the competition.

Just wanted to add a quick word about lists. EVERYONE who has enough equity in there house, (even if just barely), is getting mailed to by SOMEONE. There is no such thing as a secret list that no one else mails. If anyone tells you there is....run. If the house has equity (which is the only criteria that matters when buying at a discount, barring creative financing) it's getting mail. There are outfits in every market with the ability to reach them all, and they do.

Driving for dollars? (D4$) If any of the houses on that list have equity, they're getting mail. If they don't, you'll likely waste some time (Unless you can convert Sub 2 , Short Sales, Listings, Lease Options, Wraps, or other forms of owner finance.

Niche lists? Probate, Divorce, Code Violations, Evictions, Water Shut Off, Inheritance, Tax Lien, Tax Delinquent.....Yup. Pretty easy to figure out what the distressing factors are; but motivation is made up of two factors, distress + the ability to cope. How good of a decision maker are you? How much money do you have stashed for a rainy day? Those are things no one can know, so it makes the likelihood of an uber laser targeted only to the motivated list something of a unicorn. Or at the least requires crystal ball because I'm telling you, EVERYONE on those niche lists with equity is getting mailed to by someone.

Absentee Lists just happen to be the most motivation rich lists there are. As well as most of the above "niches" you'll find tired landlords, unwilling landlords and Bad landlords. You'll find people who, some time back, got frustrated with their retirement accounts, pulled out all of their money and threw it at RE without having a clue  what they're doing. You'll find HGTV lover who THOUGHT they learned something from "Flip or Flop" and lost their shirts.

Funny thing is I just can't tell you how many times I've rolled up on a property at the same time as one of my competitors (in truth most of us around here are colleagues). They spent a lot of time and / or money on an expensive list (a good probate list can cost $4 per name, U.S. Leads list more expensive than that at times....) and very cool looking mail piece (often paying a premium for expensive paper or envelopes). I got my lead for less than 10 cents and used a custom and quality, yet rather simple letter.

All in all though, I have to agree with Justin Silverio 100%. Track your results, change things up, stand out......but most importantly, be persistent and consistent, and for heaven's sake, don't over think this. That just leads to Analysis paralysis and shiny object syndrome. Just sayin' 

I too quit using bandit signs the last time I had to pay a $500 fine to code enforcement :-) I used to do a lot of web work, SEO, pay per click, etc....quickly found that the days of dominating your local market and cheap internet leads was long gone.

I have found Direct Mail to be the best bang for the buck bar none. You have to realize there are more people with the real estate bug than ever before, and because of that more people doing direct mail than ever before. Largely because of the success of HGTV and diy shows.....EVERYONE thinks they can flip a house.

But the resulting influx has actually been a blessing for those of us who are established, persistent and consistent. Most of the new crop do their mail very badly, . Perhaps because of getting in with the wrong providers (those mail houses laughing to the bank?). In turn that makes those of us who do it well look better.

Remember to answer your phone. Don't fall for the "screening voicemail". You'll get more hang ups than anything else. Motivated folks will just call the next number till they get to talk to someone. If someone calls, you can't get to it....let it go to voice mail, but whether they leave a message or not shoot them a quick text: "Did you call about your house? Tied up now can we talk later?"

That will interrupt them and likely keep them from talking to any one else before talking with you.

So, Direct mail still a good idea? Heck yeah!! 

@Rori Stumpf,

Import data from where? Are you looking for a solution that auto populates on shifting stage?

For example, you make contact with a seller off a list you recently mailed to, stage changes from Prospect to lead, property data, contact info etc auto populates? We're working on something like that now. ...How hard can it be? Plenty! Or everyone would do it :-)....

As for the rest....have you looked into any of @Scott Costello 's stuff? www.strugglinginvestor.com He used to have a stand alone lead manager that did most if not all of what you're describing, but lately he's really delved into Podio and getting it tricked out. You may want to check him out. 

Hey Marcel, he means himself. He's pitching his product. It's sometime difficult on this site to figure out who's giving you advise and who's just hear to pitch.  

In this particular case though, he's right. Calling this ONE prospect makes a lot more sense than mailing. 

Hi Shella,

Certainly we can do this,

But we should respect the OP and not hijack the thread. Instead let's connect through the colleague request system.

Do you have any information on appending email or phone # to expired listing data?

Hi @Curt Smith

My experience with expired lists period has not been fantastic. Most listings expire because the sellers will not drop or budge on their price. From interacting with these folks, the majority of those I talked to told me that they did not drop their price because they could not drop their price.....not enough equity.

A price drop, barring some creative financing, would have them paying someone to buy their house, and I have yet to meet anyone THAT motivated.

As far as appending email and phone, I've noticed just recently a couple of new folks around the site who are pitching phone lists and skip tracing services, like Tony Battle and Ethan Summers. My experience with any sort of skip tracing is that it is fairly cost prohibitive unless you are doing it in bulk. 

The technique you are describing sounds more expensive to me than simply shooting letters out to the whole list. In all of DFW the expired list is usually never more than 150 names or so per month. Skip tracing those names to append the phone alone would cost more than firing off a letter to the whole list. There's probably a tipping point in there somewhere, or ways to get the data less expensively; just haven't found it yet.

 Hi Anthony,

Using a wholesaler can be a lot like using hard money....If the deal is good enough, it will work. The problem with finding a good wholesaler is that the very best one's have an established buyers list and need another buyer like a whole in the head. I have exactly 3 buyers on my list that buy 98% of what I get under contract before the ink is dry. The other 2% craigslist takes care of....

But that's FINDING a wholesaler. What you may want to consider, and what I've seen done any number of times is to MAKE your own wholesaler. Find a newbie that's trying hard and has some snap, someone who has a passion for RE and isn't simply regurgitating the same old crap everyone else is talking (faking until making)....then come along side them. 

Fund their marketing efforts and in return ask for 

• Right of first refusal on anything they turn up
• Anything else is wholesaled or farmed out for profit
• Your marketing costs are reimbursed before profit split

This set up will work well as long as neither gets greedy. Someone else does the leg work, you get the deals, AND your hard costs returned. So it's like paying a wholesale fee, then getting a kickback. If you are inflexible the arrangement will last only until the newbie saves enough to it on their own. 

Food for thought. Having helped many get their start, I've found this method to work well for folks in your situation who have very little time.

Hope that helps!

 So, I'm curious.....do you do this yourself, or are you speaking abstractly, as in "this is what my company will do for you" ? In other words, have you done deals yourself this way, or are you simply pitching your product? A little of both? The first line of your profile states "Let's talk Lead Generation"

Your web site boldly declares "Ditch Direct Mail, Let us Call your list". So it seems just a little odd that you would also be pitching a mail house and list builder. Are you an affiliate for either company mentioned above? You seem like a really nice guy, but so many of your posts are shout outs that I just have to ask. 

Hi @Aaron Mikottis,

I believe we discussed this once before, but there is a product out there which is a self sealer and of course has either a teaser "check" in it, or appears to be something official and governmental to scare you into opening.

I like to call those "R.I.P" letters.....rest in peace......response rate is dead. That makes this an extremely expensive piece of mail.

Hey there @Account Closed! Stick with your strengths. Do what you're good at (better yet, do what you love and you'll never work another day in your life) outsource the rest. You obviously know how to negotiate and close deals. I have worked with hundreds of fledglings over the years and that is always the hardest part for them. You're good at it, stick with it, and use your Wife's skill set to open more opportunities to do what you do.

My Wife was an International Tax Consultant so she immediately took control of the books, expenses and all financial matters (Thank God!!). Her spread sheet skills got our unruly contacts system under control, and she systematically got me in front of more and more people so I could do what I do best, analyze and close.

Our business EXPLODED growing over 300% in one year. Now we have 2 other full time employees and 3 part timers. We scale as we go....

It's been 3 years that she has been working side by side with me and we have never looked back. We could not imagine ever working for anyone else, or away from each other again.