Direct Mail to source multifamily deals

[Chihiro Kurokawa]

Have any of you used DM to source deals? I'm planning to target a list of ~700 multifamily owners once a month for six months and I have a few questions.

1. I'm not sure on postcards vs. direct mail - do you know which has better response rates? I feel like postcards are great because you see the message immediately. I personally throw away envelopes when I know it's marketing that isn't relevant to me and I don't want to risk that with my campaign. 

2. Do you have tips on what kind of verbiage to use? What I'm thinking so far is very generic:

"Hello XXXXXXXXXX, We are actively seeking B and C class multifamily properties. If you or your colleagues are interested in selling a property directly to an experienced investor group, please let us know."

3. How can I incorporate skip tracing into my campaign? Should I skip trace the entire list as soon as I get it or only skip trace returned mail?

Thanks a lot! 

[Nick B.]

I've been mailing to long time (over 15 years) MF owners for 2 years. 

Got 4 responses in total. All negative. 

Last two were in response to my latest round of letters that contained actual LOIs instead of a vague "I will buy your property".

It seems an LOI is taken a lot more seriously to the point of an angry owner lecturing me on how much more his property is worth :-).