Getting to My 1st Deal: Update 1, Week 3

[Gabriel Trieu]

Update 1: 1.1.14
Hey guys, it's Gabe with my first update on my experience with my first 3 weeks of real estate regarding my first batch of yellow letters and also my experience with bandit signs.

My Action & It's Results

Yellow Letters. I'll start from the week before Christmas when I sent 500 letters to my areas Santee, La Mesa, and El Cajon here in San Diego, CA to non occupy (in & out of state) owners with at least 40% equity and with multi and/or single family residences, condos, and duplexes. My letter went as follows: "Dear ___, Hi, I want to buy your property at ___. I pay FULL price! Call me now at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Please Call. Thank you, Gabriel Trieu, ph XXX-XXX-XXXX." The letters hit the day after Christmas, Dec. 26 and out of these 500 letters, I got 12 calls back. And from these, I had 2 people demanding to be taken off the mailing list, 3 people only curious about what I was doing, along with the rest of them all owning condos and wanting an offer on their property, hoping to sell for retail and above.

I was close to meeting a gentleman who was interested in my $160,000 offer on his condo in La Mesa. However, because he and his wife both owned the property, his wife refused to sell because they 'had no real need' to. I stopped receiving real estate related phone calls on Dec, 29 where the only phone call I made was a follow up to the man with the condo in La Mesa. After, I haven't received any calls since.

Bandit Signs. I started putting out my bandit signs in the beginning of November in the major entrances/exits of the neighborhoods in my areas. I put them out on consecutive Fridays at a rate of 25-30 bandit signs at a time. However, I haven't had any luck with these. This whole time, I've only received 2 phone calls from them from people telling me not to set a sign up in front or on their property. I do have one more batch of 25 that I plan to unload either this weekend or next weekend but I am not expecting anything unfortunately after getting no leads. I don't plan on putting out signs again or at least for a long time.

My Results & What I've Learned. From putting out 500 yellow letters, I've received 12 phone calls in which all but 1 caller had a condo property in mind to discuss for selling retail. For myself as a wholesaler, I think I'm going to be changing my list criteria in properties to single family residences only. Also, I need to be more specific in my list and find inherited properties, look through foreclosures, damaged properties, and divorces if I'm going to have better prospects as a wholesaler of distressed properties/home owners.
On top of this alteration, in regards to my yellow letter, I'm actually considering using postcards because yellow letters are too expensive for me to use at this time. In addition, with a diverse list, I believe I'll also be using different post cards for these different people and so if I already know that they have an inclination towards a particular problem and that they may want to solve it, I'll have a much better chance at those opportunities to help them as a wholesaler.
Looking at my own letter, using the words "I pay FULL price" will give people the impression that I will take their property at retail value, regardless of condition. I know it sounds silly but from my phone calls, this is what I've discovered. So I'll be looking into using different cards instead more tailored to my client's situation and not just have a general letter like mine and try to take a stab at this blindly.

In conclusion, I will be unloading the last of my signs and hoping for the best. As for my yellow letters, I will be switching to post cards in the meantime to help me save money. Additionally, my list needs a ton of adjustments and I need to find out more information on getting more specific lists (ie probate and inheritance, death, divorce, disaster) and formatting post cards appropriately to each situation.

These are my findings and experiences from my first yellow letter campaign and first bandit sign campaign. I'll be trying another direct mailing soon after I readjust my targets and change my tools. And hopefully, I may get that lead that'll bring me to my first deal!

Thank you so much for reading my post! All suggestions, insights, comments, and constructive feedback is greatly appreciated!

[Karyn T.]

Your update is very useful and appreciated. I'm not a big fan of bandit signs in general...I find them "trashy", and since I plan to be marketing in the neighborhood I actually live in, I have no desire to junk up my own neighborhood (or anyone else's, honestly). That being said, I realize that in some markets / areas people don't really care (advertising is much different in the Pacific Northwest, than in the South, etc...the value of the landscape supersedes) so to each, their own on that. I never see them around here anyway, so I'm quite certain they are banned or heavily regulated in some way.

As for the yellow letters, I find it fairly interesting that you actually had a couple people call you to be taken off the mailing list. That means they actually read it (I usually give a quick glance and circular file stuff I consider "junk")....and then took the time to call you. In addition, I will be interested to see how the postcards go....I would almost think that would be more accepted and more likely to be read in today's hectic society. They can see your message on first glance and then decide if they want to read further. Less costly postage is even better!

Keep us posted!