All Forum Posts by: Tom Bukacek

Actually, while the message and everything else is perfect, I've found a 3% improvement using blue ink vs red ink.

Joseph- how do you find landlord leads?

Troy- a good DM campaign comprises 2 things: 1- good targeted leads and 2- dm process that will get a good response rate.

Preforeclosures are easy to find- you can get a 30,60,90 day late lead list. You can also get a free and clear or 15+ year mortgage list. This is good for straight wholesaling.

Handwritten yellow letters are the best way to utilize DM. People will open letters that are the size of invitations or birthday cards. That's the name of the game.

Hope this helped!

Thanks for all the feedback. It's lead to some good conversations with my contractor. Wish us luck!

I had an MBA, was a VP of a medical diagnostic company, and couldn't find a job. I'd made a bad decision on buying a house and realized after buying where I went wrong. I then thought that if I knew what I was doing, I'd probably be able to make some money at it. So the leap to REI made good sense.

Stacy,

How do you best learn? Is it books, cds, audio, visual, classroom? Understand your learning style and then pick an appropriate format to learn.

To add on to Charles' thought, what helped get me over the fear factor was looking at each strategy as a process. All I had to do was establish a process, set goals for accomplishing each process, and the deal would work itself out. It's like to old addage: How do you eat an elephant? 1 bite at a time. How do you begin a real estate transaction? 1 step at a time.

Craig- figure out what your goals are, what your financial resources are, then you will be able to determine your strategy.

For example, if you don't have much cash or credit to work with, wholesale or sub to may be a better option.

If you have a large amount of cash and are handy, fix n flip, short sales, auctions, or REOs may be good.

Just some quick food for thought. If you're goals and resources match your strategy, you'll be in good shape.

Depends on the area. Bandits signs in Austin are a no-no and the holster sniffing code enforcement dufus squad will ticket whatever $$$ the Federal Govt doesn't tax from you.

BTW Joseph- a 1.5 return on signs is outstanding! When I used to do it I was lucky to get a .25 response rate. Area was too saturated and signs got pulled quickly.

CL seems to yield a great response...from autobots trying to cross sell you anything from viagara to gambling websites...and even some stuff I don't need or want. Internet marketing isn't as effective with wholesales as many people who are free and clear or paid a good chunk of their mortgage are elderly and don't check the whole computer internet contraption thinggy too often.

As such, the youth-challenged Americans generally like prefer to read print media. To quote my dad: 'I'm not taking a laptop to the john!' Therefore, newspaper ads can be pretty effective. But stay away from the major newspaper and focus on smaller, local fringe town newspapers. Also, Greensheet and Thrifty Nickels offer just as good of a return and are less expensive than the bigger city daily rags.

I do like targeting my lists. Free and clear or mortgages that have been in place for 15+ years are good places to start. Using a hand written yellow letter direct mail campaign to target this list has been most effective for me. When people see a hand written envelope the size of an invitation or birthday card, they open it. What more can you ask from a direct mail campaign?

Also, many times a list broker can give you phone numbers with the list, which is a good way to find leads.

One final tip: put business cards about buying houses in local cafes, diners, Denny's, or barber shops, etc... If it serves dinner at 3pm, chances are elderly people who own their homes are there and this is a good market to target.

Hope this helped! Happy investing.

I bash both sides? I believe there are more than just 2 views in politics. Unfortunately, the Dems and Repubs have a stronghold on the political system.

But, really, is there a true difference between the two parties? I don't believe either party has the interests of the average American, or the Average Small Business Owner in mind anymore.

So I bash both sides.