My unsuccessful direct mailing - Lets Discuss it & Fix it!!!

[Jonathan Abbott]

Hello again BiggerPockets community and fellow real estate investors,

At the beginning of this month I launched my official real estate investing business/side venture. I have been taking as many tips from wholesalers as I can. While I am considering wholesaling a few properties, the main goal is to use wholesaling strategies to find great deals for buy and holds. 

From all of the success stories I heard on the podcast and read on the forums, I decided that direct mail, despite the cost, would be the best strategy for me to pursue. I work full time and do not have a ton of time to explore other deal finding strategies right now. Well, at the start of this month I sent out to around 500 properties a postcard with the name of my business, and the typical "We buy houses, we pay cash, we close fast" in bold letters. So as the letters went out I waited, and waited, but to no avail. All I received was one guy kindly asking me to "drop dead" and another wanting to sell me their 1920 rental house (money pit) for a crazy price.

Did I do something drastically wrong? I know that it takes a few mailings before people typically see results but wow, .3% is not good. While I am far from giving up, I am wondering whether or not the mailing should be altered (yellow letters/another means of advertisement). Below I will list the criteria that I used in purchasing my list from listsource:

- 10 mile radius around where I am looking to invest (great investment properties here!)

- Have at least 40% equity in their property

- Property has not been sold in the past 3 years

- Only SFR's, duplexes, or triplexes

- I also limited the assessed value to under 200k (just personal preference)

- Finally I only targeted owner occupied homes excluding corporate owned. 

Let me know if there is something I missed, something else I should do, or any other tips you all have for me to get this campaign up and running. Money is not an issue for advertising but of course I want to be sure my dollars are being put to use in the most effect way. 

Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you all! Help a newbie out! 

Best,

Jonathan Abbott