Direct Mail Marketing

[Aryelle Collins]

I am putting together my first direct mail campaign as I begin my journey into the real estate industry as a buy and hold investor in the Tampa and St. Pete area. I am going to hand write the yellow letters but most importantly I have questions on how to create my list. I only want to send mail to owners of multi family properties that owns it free and clear. I am looking for owners that are highly motivated, such as mom and pop, and retiring landlords, that will allow me to owner finance the property. My question is how do I find lists that meet those criteria in addition to driving for dollars for only multi family properties?

[David Dey]

@Michael Nicholson thank you for your kind words.  Any way I can be of service.

@Aryelle Collins here's another way you can be very proactive... And get a lot more deals.

What I shared with you, was a campaign I actually ran, with one exception, instead of mailing them, I called them.

Here's the hint, if you make your list targeted enough, then every lead will be a quality lead.  For example, as mentioned before, instead of just looking for 2-4 units with high equity, how about looking for 2-4 units which have been owned for over 20 or more years with the owner out of the state?

Here's the thought process.  If you are an owner of a 2-4 unit, then you are thinking of cashflow, which makes you an investor.

An investor thinks, "everything's for sale for the right price."

When you call, you can expect 1 of 3 responses, "yes," "no," or "how much?"

Very rarely will you get a angry response.  Most know what you are doing and will actually respect you for your proactive approach.

The second thing is that, the earliest age when you start to think about real estate as an investment is in your 30's.  Therefore, the average owner you call that has owned their property for over 20 plus years will be in their 60's or older, which means that they are probably thinking of retirement at this point.  As well as the fact that they are in another state adds to interest in selling.

Also, probably having not looked at the price  or value of the property in the last 20 plus years, he/she will have the current price somewhere based on the time he/ she bought it in the first place.

So when you ask them what the lowest price they would accept for an all cash offer, don't be surprised if you get an absolutely low priced offer. 

Of course, just because you asked for a cash price doesn't mean you can't make an owner finance offer.

I usually ask the lowest price/cash offer question first, to establish the number.  I then ask if they have a mortgage.

If the answer is no, my next question is, "would you be willing to take any of their purchase price in payments.

The answer will always be either, "yes," "no," or "what do you mean?"

If the question is the last one, I then explain owner financing along with the tax benefits of not taking the full price in one shot.

(Btw, I don't mention interest until they do... I have gotten quite a few no interest loans that way)

Bottom line, since I chose the list with such specific criteria, every lead is a good lead.  So I take the proactive approach of calling them.  You will get a better response.

If you write 200 letters you may get 1-2 deals.  If you call 200 leads, you should get at least a 10% close rate.  (Does 20 deals sound good to you?)

Hope this helps