Starting my first direct mail campaign

[Wade G.]

For the first time in my life I am 100% serious about making RE a business. This is largely due to extreme stagnation at my job and a diminishing income. I have bought a few rentals over the last few years and that is fine but I want to actively do more. I mainly want to do rehab flips but I'm sure some wholesale deals will also come with the territory (I want to generate cash). For my first mailout I have identified a couple of neighborhoods. Within those neighborhoods I have narrowed the search down to owners with mature loans or paid off properties. My first mailout will be about 400 and I will probably extend out to other neighborhoods too. In about 5 months or so I will probably rework the same addresses and send a second round of mailouts and then a third and fourth. I have purposely excluded properties purchased within the last 15 years in those neighborhoods unless they put down a large down payment. Is that wise? Does anyone else exclude certain properties or do you just do a mass mail out to all addresses in the neighborhood?