My First Driving for $$$ Campaign

[Ryan Blake]

I am getting ready to start my first Driving for Dollars campaign and wanted to get some of y'all's (in Texas this is a legit word) expertise. This is my plan as of current.

1) Target 4 neighborhoods/areas I feel comfortable with.

2) Drive an take down addresses that are over grown, lacking curb appeal, or down right ugly. Ideally targeting 150 - 200 distressed homes.

3) Research each address through the county assessor's website to get the name & address of the owner and the mortgage attached to the most recent lien for a frame of reference on how much may be owed.

4) Send a form letter to all addresses.

5) 2 weeks later follow up the form letters with hand written sticky notes to leave on each door that is owner occupied while looking for more properties on my quick drive through.

6) 4 weeks after sticky notes, follow up with another mailing.

7) 8 weeks after follow up hit the homes one more time with another mailing.

Any thoughts on this plan? Am I wasting time? Am I missing an important step? 

Thanks in advance for all your help and advise! :)

[Adrien C.]

Sounds like a good start. Instead of taking the time to sticky note them, I’d spend that same time driving new areas. Mail them initially and them at day 30 and then quarterly. The majority you’ll find are bank owned or foreclosures but they’ll be a few gems in there. The returned mail is $$$ to so don’t toss that. I just closed on a deal from someone I mailed 2yrs ago. It’ll be our record wholesale deal and we’ve had a few big ones. 

[Ryan Blake]

Thanks @Adrien C.! I appreciate the advice. What do you mean by "the returned mail is $$$ too?"

[Adrien C.]

You'll get probably 15-20% or more of the mail you sent out returned. That' because the house is vacant and no forwarding address is available anymore. If the house has equity and you can track down the owner, little competition and high probably of closing for a massive profit. 

[Ryan Blake]

@Adrien C. I get it now. Thanks!

[Andrew Briggs]

Ryan, good luck to you. Sounds like you have a good plan. I don't believe you can get data on the owners mortgage balance or lien info but I may be wrong... I'm sort of a data nerd/programmer and I'm starting a new REI data business starting coverage first in DFW. I provide Excel formatted list leads to investors looking for off market deals. Just starting out, nothing official quite just yet... I specialize in identifying absentee owner properties, which can include vacants, estates and rentals. There are approximately 200k owner absentee properties in Tarrant and Dallas counties. Lots of opportunity! If you're interested in learning more, shoot me a message and we can chat. Like I said I'm not officially up and running quite yet but hopefully will be soon. Again good luck to you.

Andy Briggs

[Andrew Briggs]

@Adrien S.  Great info about returned mail!

[Ryan Blake]

@andrew biggs You can get info on the most recent deed from TCAD.org. That will tell you the amount associated with the deed in most cases. Not perfect but a good reference point in a non-disclosure state. I will be sending you a message either later today or tomorrow.