2 Months Of Work for Direct Mailers -Would Appreciate Advice on how I can use my list

[Robert Lisak]

Hi Everyone, 

I am a Realtor and I have been working very hard over the winter gathering a list of 2700 Multifamily leads. I am reaching out to you all because I would appreciate your thoughts/advice on how you would approach farming this gigantic list of 2700 multifamily leads for the best result and some idea's on what I can do with it. 

Plan: Currently the plan is to mail every owner and see what the response is. In the meantime, I plan to cold call opportunities I picked out that look promising. Getting their numbers was a pain... Based on success, I will do more rounds... The mailer I am sending is going to be simple - 5x7 cards and in 2 languages based on demographic data (I speak both those languages fluently) ... Also less than 100 words on each side (sell your property with me! Free Evaluation etc)... I would say of that 2700, 85% are 6 units and below. Also, the average age of these owners is 60 years old with on average 15 years of ownership... 

Backstory: I will share with you also, I have a ton riding on this endeavor. I purchased a 3 unit in 2022 which I completely remodeled except the ground unit. The numbers are excellent; 2000 cash flowing monthly AFTER I finish the ground. Right now though, I am breaking even on the top 2 units thankfully. However, I am heavily in debt and have a lot of pressure to kill it this year which brings me here... 

Questions: 

1. How would you approach this mailer campaign given what I have shared? - My friend has a whole sale account for printing mailers for an excellent price however, I would have to mail them somehow. I still don't know how yet...

2. If you had a list of multifamily owners with their home addresses, PINS, and a bunch of data, how would you approach getting as many listings as possible if you were in my shoes? Or from an investor standpoint what would you do to try to get them to sell you their property?

3. Lets say an excellent opportunity came up that I would have the option of purchasing, being heavily in debt, would you do it? Can't do another HELOC...Is seller financing the only option in this case? I don't know of any lenders that would give me a loan or what the process would look like... Yes I am dreaming but, just seeing what you all think.

Realistically, I plan to just list the opportunities/shop the opportunities to my sphere, pay my debt off, and eventually be in better shape to do another round. 

 I know you have all learned from experience and am super greatful for your wisdom in advance! So thank you

[Jeff Hamann]

More general advice, sorry for not getting too specific, but careful with how you frame your direct mail outreach. 

If nothing else, be memorable/stand out. 

Likely 99%+ of the recipients won't be interested in selling at the moment (and with a list that large, some of the data is invariably wrong or has changed since collection), but if you can stay in their mind for when they are ready to move forward with something, it's potentially worthwhile.

If you've collected their data, likely someone else already has (or will soon), so differentiate and show your value. 

If your prospect doesn't know why you've mailed them in less than 2 seconds, that card is probably getting tossed.

Regarding your third question, you'll likely want to look at financing options that are more asset-based than borrower-based. For sub-5-unit properties that may not be too viable, but if you're looking at slightly larger assets a few options may open up there, but even Fannie/Freddie will be a very tough go unless you have a net worth equal to the loan amount. 

Your best bet may be to keep focused on your current investment and move into something else once your finances are a bit more stable.