How to find houses to flip?

[Doug Lovett]

I've flipped a couple of houses and want to do more but am having trouble finding houses to flip. I've heard that direct mail is the best way to find leads and sent out 2,800 postcards and only got one phone call. I also have a website and am doing google AdWords to send traffic to it. Have gotten a little bit from there but not nearly the volume that I want. Have submitted dozens of offers on homes on the mls that my investor friendly realtor has found with nothing under contract so far. I'm getting a little disheartened. What actually works to get houses under contract? Thanks for your help.

[Claire Trammell]

@Doug Lovett

What type of leads did you send to? 

How many times did you mail to these leads?

Once or twice isn't enough. Direct mail tends to work best when you send a campaign of 5-7 different pieces, 4 weeks apart from each other. Follow ups are key as the average person takes 3-5 touches before picking up the phone to respond.

Also, just like @John Mathewson said "tough question because every market is different." Each market will have slightly different response rates, however based on our customer feedback as well as our own mailings throughout the years, we have seen these averages in response rates with the different types of direct mail pieces:

Yellow Letters- average response rate of 8%-9%, all kinds of calls (angry calls, curious calls, tire-kickers, quality calls)

Postcards- average response rate of .5%, mostly quality calls.

Zip Letters- average response rate of 2%, mostly quality calls. (Great for follow ups)

Greeting Cards- average response rate of 2%, mostly quality calls. (Great for follow ups)

Keep it up! And feel free to PM me if I can help any further!