Effectiveness of Direct Mail to Defaulting Borrowers

[Andrew Fielder]

Was looking into some of the direct mail posts and it seems a lot of people are targeting absentee owners or probate.

Does anyone target borrowers who have been given a notice of default? I have access to a data base which gives me all the information I need to do identify these owners and create a direct mail campaign but I'm just wondering how successful this strategy is compared probate, absentee etc.

Any success/failure stories would be greatly appreciated.

[Jay Hinrichs]

@Andrew Fielder  I second Rick's take on Foreclosure radar..  I wish the tool existed when I was buying courthouse steps.

as for letters.. here Is my personal take on it. At least as it relates to our Portland OR. market someone with a filed NOD will probably receive no less than 150 to 200.. post cards and letters from NOD filing on..

when I would buy a courthouse step probably it was not uncommon when I walked into a home and the homeowner for whatever reason had left the pile of letters they received.. I read many of them.. First telling thing is verbatim copy in the letter.. so it does not take long to realize these are not private folks looking to help these poor people out.. and there was all sorts of sob stories.. it seemed that everyone in the foreclosure rescue business had indeed been in foreclosure their self and knew exactly what this poor couple was going through.. some would come with a biblical bent. etc etc.

I suspect not much has changed since the early to  middle 2000's in this regard other than the information is that much more available to the mass's and those trained on BP to do direct mail.

Realtors mortgage lenders they all sent paper to the homes.

I had a team of 6  3 couples we did not send any letters we door knocked 14 days and 5 days before the sale our specialty was curing 1 to 3 days before the sale... this is when the owners get motivated.

prior to that time they are still thinking uncle George is going to rescue them or they will just sell the boat.

That all said its a numbers game and I would think you have to send out a lot of numbers and be uber diligenct on follow up and one hell of a closer... !!!  and lots of dough for your area which I am sure you have covered.