New Member from Queen Creek, AZ

[Jim Shoemaker]

Hey there Bigger Pockets family,

My name is Jim Shoemaker and I am a new investor from Queen Creek, AZ (Phoenix Market).  Married 12 years with a 5 month old beautiful daughter, I have recently decided to leave my 9-5 career in IT to pursue 2 of my lifelong dreams.  The first of which is to own my own business and the second to be a successful real estate investor.  Beginning on 8/11, for better or worse, I will be working my new business full time, and I am eager to get out there and work with others to gain mutual success in investing.

I have started with a couple of different marketing stabs so far, but I'm still digging for my first deal.  I am looking for any/all advice that you guys can share with me on marketing to generate leads.  I sent out a yellow-letter campaign back in April which consisted of a little more than 1000 pieces to out-of-state absentee owners.  From that I got 1 call from someone whom I couldn't help due to a language barrier, and around 12 calls asking to be taken off my marketing list.

Since then I have been working a few weekends putting up yard/bandit signs in some areas, around 200 signs total.  While I have gotten 2 calls from those efforts, one was a short-sale scenario which I referred to another investor, and the other is a home in an outlying area where I am less than hopeful about being able to find an interested buyer.  My plans moving forward are to go back to direct-mail and try some different lists and see how that goes.

I look forward to getting to know all of you and learning the business as I dive into it.

Jim.