All Forum Posts by: Kenneth E.

Samantha M. 1200 addresses received mailers from me. I sent some post cards, some letters, some got letters AND post cards, some got handwritten letters, some got typed letters, etc. I

I have a ton more leads but only sent to about 1200 in a variety of neighborhoods to get a feel for wholesaling.

I once read that, on average, out of 100 mailers you send, you should get 10 that may be deals, and will end up with 1 under contract. 100:10:1 = general rule of thumb. I didnt do it enough to confirm if thats true but if you are asking me that question to know how many mailers to send and how many deals you should get, that might be a rule you can take into account. But, based on my closing only two deals out of 1200 mailers, I really suck at this! :)

For the number of new folks on BP seeking advice and education, please dont overlook youtube videos for educational content. There are TONs of videos on youtube that give instructions on negotiation, wholesaling, flipping, estimating ARV, etc.

Of course, you will need to consider how legit the presenter is.....but, that also goes for the folks here on BP and anywhere else on the internet.

Morris Lucas Thanks. I have been thinking about getting back into it. This time though, I will ramp things up a bit and automate some of the processes (shout out to the book "4 Hour Workweek" for giving me a bunch of ideas). Should be pretty sweet. :)

Also, this time I may actually break down all of my processes here on BP so any new beginners will have a step by step process for building their business. Then again, I may not since i dont want any local competitors to see the inner workings of my stuff. hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Dan S Thanks for the comments. Glad you had a good time! Like I said though, the meetings are downhill from here since the christmas party last week is the only one of the year with an open bar. :)

Morris LucasI did not handwrite all letters, just some. I typed some, wrote some, and had my girlfriend handwrite some. I was playing around and didn’t seriously track the response rate from each.
Before moving on I want to clarify that I have only sent mailers to about 1200 people over the last year and a half, got only three properties under contract and closed only two deals so far. So, I am no expert! I haven’t sent anything recently because I got a bit burned out…so those two closed deals were really during the 3-4 month period when I was sending lots of mailers…but, still casually. I am employed full time…and only played around with wholesaling in my spare time.

Will K I do not know the answers to your questions. I didn’t pursue those avenues and cannot speak to them. I wish I could, but sorry.

Lisa Cunningham Steve is correct—there is a sticky for that very thing already on this site, so no—I don’t have a way to build a buyers list. It has been discussed ad nauseum on this site so I have nothing new to offer. Besides, I partner with a local wholesaler who already has a buyers list built; I find sellers, he finds buyers and we split profit 50/50. I know very little about building a buyers list. Sorry!

Randall,

I have only been doing this for about a year and a half, part-time, and as a bit of a casual hobby…so I am by no means an expert. With that, I have not tried all items on the list. All I have really done is send mailers (handwritten letters/envelopes, and post cards through click2mail). So, my few successes were merely from sending mail. But, as Michael Quarles always says: it isn’t about quantity—it’s about quality. I sent mailers to tax delinquent home owners who ALSO lived out of state…and got a 19% response rate. However, I got NO deals from them (most were in too poor of shape to do anything with, the owners wanted way too much for them, and some had already been torn down). So, that was an example of high quantity but low quality.

In terms of your question, I would be more focused on which types of sellers are the most lucrative and send to them—regardless of where the property is located (don’t focus on the area of town, just focus on the situation of the seller…if that makes sense).

By far, the biggest money makers (among my friends locally) are inherited properties (search keywords “probate” “estate” “Inherited” on BP forums to learn more). People inherit houses they don’t want, can’t afford, etc. and they are likely to sell for a great discount to get it off their hands. Most folks don’t need the burden of paying for an extra set of utilities, property taxes, etc. and the get really scared if they inherited an occupied property from a relative and became an instant landlord—even though they never had any intent to be one!

Check out this BP post the Michael posted a while back. Great content! http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/87/topics/72811-my-marketing-diary

Page, I'm glad you posted this. I have been thinking about that very thing myself. Hopefully someone can help us out....

Thanks Seth. Come back here and let us know if it works out for you!

Thanks guys. I wish I had the mileage you all do in investing so I would be a bit more familiar with the benefits of such a group and what the needs are but, at this time, I am merely a casual pedestrian who pitched an idea to those more worthy of making it come to light. If any of you can pull it off…..Ill be joining one day. :)