All Forum Posts by: Sage Jankowitz

If you have plenty of money you might want to look into buying a list online. I've heard sites like melissa data and list source are good ones. A colleague of mine in MA is sending out a direct mailer to 600+ leads via list source and I'll let everyone know how that goes.

If you have the time, but not the money, you can go on the assessors website and go street by street looking for absentee owners (where the mailing address and property address are different). OR you might try making friends with your local areas tax assessor and ask them if they will send you a list of all absentee owners. Some will do it for free, others for a fee, and others won't do it at all. But there's nothing to lose in asking. Good luck!

I always do that Michael. In fact I connected with a really knowledgeable seasoned investor who has been investing for 30+ yrs. We had a nice 2 hour conversation on investing in tax liens :)

David, I made the letter myself and printed through mail merge. Used 44 cent stamps and hand addressed. All the absentee owners I found myself through the tax assessors office. Received another lead today...that puts it at 8!

I thought it would be a great learning experience for newbies and pros to post your recent direct marketing results on this thread. I'll go first:

Last night I sent out my first direct mailer. They were yellow letters and I targeted absentee owners who had at least 15 years in equity. I sent a total of 200 letters as a test and after day one I have seven responses, of which two are good leads.

The biggest issue thus far, is that most absentee owners are seasoned investors and they won't part with a property unless they get market or almost market value. Of the two potential leads, one inherited the property from her mother and she's burnt out. The second is getting toward retirement age and ready to move on. I expect more leads as many of my letters have yet to arrive in CA, FL, and beyond! So far 3.5% response rate and climbing, not bad!!

Appreciate your advice as always everyone. I'm checking out the property tomorrow AM with my GC and I'll let you know how it goes!

Hi Bill! Are you suggesting going directly to the seller and behind this real estate agents back? She specifically told me not to do that, and now I understand why.

Obviously this would allow for a lower offer, but at the same time I'm not looking to burn bridges or ruin my reputation in my strongest farm area...

I just received a lead from a burnt out landlord, but they have the property listed with a RE agent now for over 7 months. I'm looking to negotiate directly with the owner, but is this realistic? At the very least, can I expect to negotiate with the owner while the RE agent is present? Or will the RE agent be the only one I can speak with?

How many qualified leads does it take to net you a deal on average? And how much money do you spend on average per a lead?

I just got off the phone with a big shot investor in my area and he said it takes him 20 leads per a deal on average...

And now back to the topic at hand...Rank your top 5 marketing techniques for finding distressed sellers!

I posted them all over my target farm area and received not a single call. It's possible they were taken down, but I put a ton up. Even if I did receive a couple calls it wouldn't have been worth it. Too much time invested and very few leads. I'd rather spend my time researching leads at the courthouse or on direct mailings or a website or a billion other ways...

Trace, I must have misread that. You obviously meant 2.02%!!! lol....But seriously, are you KIDDING ME!!! I'm about to send out a 500+ absentee owner list, but maybe I'm doing this all wrong...

My question is, your response rate is 20%, but what is your deals closed rate on that?? And where are you finding this list? Courthouse? Listsource? Elsewhere? Please share!!