Direct mail: lists and mailing to trusts?

[Dave Boswell]

Hi, I just recently joined bigger pockets. Man, this site is amazing .. wish I would have discovered it years ago. I have been house flipping for several years now in the Sacramento area. Mainly we have been doing short sales, and finding deals through the MLS and other business connections. Obviously the deals are drying up on the MLS these days so I've finally started my direct mail campaign and I have several questions.

First, my main list is high equity, absentee owners in my area. I would like to also get a list for vacant/substandard homes and recent landlords who went through evictions, but I'm finding these lists a lil tougher to get a hold of. The county says they don't have em. Any recommendation on how to get my hands on these lists for a reasonable price?

Second, what is the verdict on mailing to trusts? Is it worth sending a letter to family trusts, revoc, or irrevoc trusts?

[Rick H.]

If the question is to include trust-owned property in your campaigns, I'd say yes.

I think a better question has more to do with the triggers that people who have done some estate planning respond to. 

I'm not the big fan of mailing to absentee owners without either a massive multi-media campaign which hit pain-specific triggers with matching USP's or a data list overlay such as default, tax default, deceased, etc. 

Had lunch today with a friend who mails large 20K piece drops and knows how to measure his responses and ROI. Impressive logic.

Another approach that I prefer is to segment lists into sub-lists and nano-niches and spend more, not less, in reaching exactly the ideal prospect with the perfect message arriving at the right time after a sequence of touches has conditioned them to be predisposed to buy. 

Sound far fetched? Not when well planned and executed.