New member from Orange County (Laguna Niguel, CA)

[Matt Turcutto]

Hello BP! I've been trolling the site for the last few months without posting anything but finally decided I should participate since I'm feeling a little defeated. 

How I found BP:

I discovered BP after listening to Josh & Brandon's audio book I found on Audible, "The Book on Investing In Real Estate with No (and Low) Money Down: Real Life Strategies for Investing in Real Estate Using Other People's Money."

I really found value in this book, and since they talked about the podcast and website, I thought I'd check it out. I subscribed to the podcast and decided to begin with Episode 1. I'm now finishing up Episode 69 (been going through each one in order). I have found much inspiration in the podcasts and that has kept me going thus far. 

About Me:

I'm an analyst for a commercial real estate firm in Irvine, CA. I started off as a broker in the business on the commercial side but made the decision to switch to an analyst for the company I was working for at the time about two years ago. More on this decision in a different post. Fast forward to today; I want to start my side business of investing. I want to fix & flip (rezi homes) and use the proceeds to pay down debt (damn student loans) and then eventually buy commercial (office & retail) assets. 

Why I Wrote This Post:

As a broker I knew the value in direct mail. I knew I wanted to get into direct mail for my fix and flip business. I did some research here on BP and launched my campaign. I've had a good response rate but most calls are the "stop sending me letters, you a-hole" type. I've had 2-3 real leads of people wanting to sell, but they wanted above market let alone below market. I'm at a point where I almost want to give up so I decided to keep pushing through by introducing myself on BP and giving it a shot. More on my campaign on a separate thread.

[Aaron Norris]

Hi @Matt Turcutto welcome to BP. You'll be happy to know OC has a ton of local real estate clubs as well that are really great for plugging in with local actually doing the business. You're not alone on the mailer front. Since I own rentals I get them. I get the same yellow letter all the time. I'm sure other equity sellers do as well. It's very competitive and I think it has to be part of your method but if you're going to attack with mailers, it's a numbers and follow-up game. The people I know who are successful at mailers are consistent and the don't do one-and-done campaigns. Some send a number of mailers of different shapes/forms to very targeted lists. I know others who have ditched mail altogether and now do door knocking,  cold calling, and paid ads (SEM).