Creating custom lists

[Charlie John]

I have been in real estate now for 1 year and have only done 1 deal. It was a wholesale deal that netted me 29,000 profit. I got the lead from a driving for dollars list I created. It was a 1970s house that had a lot of deferred maintenance from the outside. Sellers called me from the letters I sent and we met. The sellers were elderly and the husband was a hoarder. Basement had snakes, mold, 8 cats, and piles of ****. Bought the house on the spot and then double closed to another investor. Since then I have been on the hunt, have met about 30+ sellers and have learned a lot about sales, presenting offers, comping properties, etc. No deals since -  trust me, it has been a tough road! but I truly believe it will make me a great investor someday by learning how to actually do this (build rapport, negotiate and sell).

In the last 3 months, I have become very focused on driving for dollars (literally every street) in my farm areas as well as new areas and have created custom lists based on this criteria:

1. House needs to show neglect or deferred maintenance or datedness from the outside (usually a good indicator of the inside condition).

2. House needs to be purchased prior to 1996 (chances for significant equity)

I know have a list built of about 4,000 addresses all custom created from driving for dollars and then niched down further (last sale date) on the county's website. 

Here is my problem: I don't have enough money to send out the letters and postcards! I am a young guy supporting a family of 4 and our budget is tight already. As much as I want to get the mail out to these addresses, I can't do all of it. I am continuing to expand the driving for dollars areas too.

I am looking to partner with someone locally who would like to be apart of this. They would essentially fund the marketing machine for us. Our plan would be to wholesale any deals we get from these lists/leads. Out of the profits, the partner would get reimbursed for his marketing contributions and then we would split the profits above that. 

What I am asking BP is -- does this even make sense? Would someone want to do this? How should this be structured? Etc. etc. 

Any help would be much appreciated!! Thank you.

[Steve Vaughan]

@Charlie John- I'd hate to see you lose a large % of any deal just for a couple hundred bucks in postage and postcards. You've worked hard for these addresses.  I created my own postcards on vistaprint.  Got 500 of them for about $25 if I remember right.  I like postcards.  Hard for the receiver not to read your message.  

Is it just the mailings you're having a hard time with, or do you need someone to lookup the owner's address and stuff?  You've done the real work already.  Even if you print a letter from home and get your family to sign, fold and address them, I'd sure give that a try before giving up a lot of my profits just for that.  Good luck and hang in there!