Brand new and full of questions

[Bryan Chuchta]

So I have read and listened and am ready to get the ball rolling, so to speak.  I am new to real estate but not to sales.  My take away, from what I have learned so far, is that generating opportunities is the place to start.  I'm good with that.  I have done some "driving for dollars" and captured some addresses to reach out to.  So here is my first cache of questions:  Do I need to have a company name?  Number?  to put on a letter?  postcard?  to send out to these folks?  Is it feasible to knock on the doors, if they look occupied?  Neighbors door?  

I had thought about writing a letter saying I was just starting and was interested in buying property in the area, were they interested.  Or something along those lines.  Does anyone have a letter or snippet that they have found works well for them?

Thanks for your feedback

Bryan

[Ray Lai]

@Bryan Chuchta

Good to see you take some action and do some D4D already. How many properties have you captured? This is a numbers game.

Having a company name and brand is CRUCIAL. Some newbies miss the point of direct mail, you're trying to build a brand and awareness with a specific market and it takes repetitive mailings, it's a long game. People get response from 2-50 mailings, with a lot of responses after 4+ mailings. It takes tracking responses, results, and tweaking adjustments to increase your response rates.

You absolutely need to have a telephone number for them to call you, way better to answer than letting it go to voicemail. 

Protip 1 out of hundreds: start with a first class postcard and get the rejected letters off your list, then mail standard yellow letters for better response rate. You'll save some money that way.

If you want templates, I can send you some.

Door-knocking is great and all, but make sure you know what to do after you convert. Do you have contracts in place? How are you actually buying the property. Are you buying with cash, HML, PML, keeping it or wholesaling?

Have you practiced door-knocking scripts yet? Do you know what key questions to ask? 

"Hi I'm looking to buy a house in your neighborhood, might you know of anyone selling?" Is a great opener but then what?

Do you know how to estimate ARV and pull comps? All very important to be able to tell whether you're getting a deal or not.