Marketing Resuts for May

[Matt Granquist]

I have been trying to wholesale on the side for 5 months with little results and due to a layoff, (don’t feel bad, I’d rather be doing this than my old job any day of the week. Though I eventually do need to pay the bills) I’ve been doing it full time for a month with little results. After researching different marketing techniques on this site, my local REI and various books, I chose the avenues that seemed to work the best while being cost effective. Below I have listed my marketing efforts and responses and would greatly appreciate any feed back or suggestions on how I can get my phone ringing. For the month of May, my marketing efforts were;

Direct Mail – 1088 postcards to high equity homeowners. This was actually the third mailing and I received 5 calls after the first mailing, 1 after the second and 0 after the third. The mailings were spaced a month apart. Would a fourth mailing in June be a waste of time? Do I need to spread out my frequency?

Expired Listings – I sent 105 letters to expired listings with 1 solid lead and 1 person just kicking tires. How long do you generally wait to send a follow up postcard?

Evictions – 59 letters to landlords, one call not considered a solid lead. Planning on sending follow ups in 60 days

Farming - 396 postcards, 0 calls The postcards were sent to houses that looked beat up or vacant in addition to FSBOs and for rents.

Obits - From the obituaries, I sent out 105 letters, 0 calls. I sent them to the deceased and am not really sure what my follow up plan is, if any.

Craigslist/Backpage etc. - Emailed 95 FSBOs or for rents, 2 calls neither of which were very solid.

Classifieds – Called on 11 classified adds, nothing solid. There weren’t many classified ads in my local publications. I’m sure this is do to craigslist.

Business Cards – I had new cards made that have my logo, WE BUY HOUSES, my number, website and name and I have them placed at the counters of 18 local liquor stores. I have received two calls, neither solid.

REOs - I made offers on 7 REOS, none accepted. The REO market in North Denver has all but dried up. When I started 6 months ago my agent could pull 50 REOs under $150K. The search this week had 12 and there wasn’t one below $100K.

Car Magnets – I have a magnet on each door and on my tail gate. You can see them from a mile away. I just put them up earlier this week. I haven’t received any calls but believe that I’ll get a call or two.

For the month of May, I received 7 calls. I feel this is pretty low considering the effort. The market I selected are blue-collar neighborhoods below the median. My marketing material is fairly generic, “We Buy Houses†or “Cash for Your Home,†etc. I tried bandit signs on the weekend a few months ago but between CAUSS.ORG and the City, I couldn’t get them to stay up for more than a day.

As we move into June I’m going to keep plugging away and I’d greatly appreciate any feedback or suggestions. Thanks a lot and good luck to all!! Go Nuggets!