All Forum Posts by: May Emery

@Vince Lucas Where are you getting your lists? Consider working to with a list broker to find off-market leads that aren't being targeted by all the other investors in your area. For example, Absentee owners tend to get a lot of offers so it's hard to compete. 

Some new lists include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) or Seniors with Long-Time Ownership. 

@Zeb Rodes Think about working with a list broker to find off-market leads.You'll want to avoid the lists all the other investors in your area are targeting. For example, Absentee Owners get a lot of offers so it's hard to compete. 

Some new lists include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) and Seniors with Long-Time Ownership. These can be good because they probably haven't done much updating in a while so they wouldn't expect to get as much as their neighbors with the new kitchen or roof.

Good luck.

@Conner Parsons you can also look at GoBigPrinting.com

What type of list did you get? You should consider how many other investors in your area are sending to the same people. For example, Absentee Owners tend to get a lot of offers.

@Izaiah Barba If you want to do a campaign, consider working with a list broker. They can make recommendations for lists not readily available on services like ListSource.

Some recommendations might include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) or Seniors with Long-Time Ownership. Since these can have both absentee and owner occupied and can't be found on the tax records, they aren't getting mail from all the other investors in your area.

@Iaroslav Demydovych I assume that you are asking opinions on the letter.  You should stress - Selling your home is easier than you think! And then list the reasons why you make it easier than the traditional route.

no open houses or strangers walking through and critiquing your house

no need to fix it up 

no commissions

you do clean out

I wrote a blog on selling to seniors, but it applies here as well.

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/11806/84376-your-letter-to-seniors-offer-them-something-they-care-about

I think people are missing the point. The is a federal Do Not Call law in place. Most of us have registered for it because we don't want telemarketing calls. You might not think you are "selling" anything - but in fact your sales pitch is the purchase of their property. 

Faxing and texting are covered in the DNC law as well. Not sure of the exact wording, but it is along the line of you can not contact a phone number (call, text or fax) unless you have a previous business relationship. Non-profits, surveys and politicians (of course, they wrote the law) are exempt.

That said, the laws aren't enforced. I've called the FCC because of repeated calls and they said they really can't do anything. They only try to go after the really big fish. 

@Blaine Alger the Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores is one that isn't as commonly available. It can be combined with both absentee and owner occupied, owner age 40+, 5+ year ownership, home value based on your market and the property type you are looking for.

@Nehemiah Walls A lot of investors find that it can be better to look for "off market” deals. These are homeowners who haven’t taken the time and made the investment to fix up their homes before putting it on the market.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Telephone and is probably the best way to find your own off-market deals. These are people who share motivational characteristics of people ready to sell, but haven't yet done all the work they think they need to list property. The best way to find them is to send out mailers.

Some good lists to target are Absentee Owners with Equity, Seniors with Long-time Ownership and Homeowners with Low Financial Stability Scores.

You can work with a list broker to optimize your list for your area. From there, there are a lot of companies that can help with the printing and mailing. Your broker can also get phone numbers for you. 

When you get in touch with a prospective seller, be sure that you highlight that "selling your house can be easier than you think" and list the advantages of working directly with you instead of the more traditional route.

Good luck

@Blaine Alger A list broker can help you find lists that aren't readily available on sites like ListSource.  This is good because you aren't competing with all the other investors mailing to the same absentee owners. Pricing is typically comparable to the online sites. 

If you have a full time job, a mail campaign can get you up and going a lot faster than driving around because you can get in touch with a lot more people with a lot less expenditure of time.

Good luck

@ Jerry Boutt The term Skip Trace is used for 2 different things. One is based on the original - skip trace people who have skipped out on paying bills - find the current name and address of people.

The other, also called Bulk Skip Trace is when you have the current mailing address and you want to add the phone numbers and emails.

These would be 2 different resources.