Driving for dollars then door knocking ?

[Timothy Crawford]

Hi to everyone and thanks for any feedback in Advance. I recently decided to start driving for dollars (last week ) while running my life insurance appointments. I found a few houses that were vacant so I pulled up the owners info and knocked the door of the owners primary address. When I spook with the owner she raved about how impressed she was that I took the time out to come find her and speak with here face to face about her property, then she pulls out a stack of mail from investors inquiring about her property. She then goes on to tell me she has 6 properties she wants to get rid of. Needless to say we are meeting tomorrow to sign a contract on 1 that I made a offer on (fingers crossed). My question though ,is how many people have seen a significant amount of success by just looking up the owners info and meeting them face to face about their property instead of sending mail ? I know mailers will cut time in half because the door to door method is a lot of running around, but do you think you can get as many deals doing it this way ?

[John Knisely]

@Timothy Crawford this is a great strategy and often can set you apart from the keyboard quarterbacks who are looking to Tim Ferris their way into real estate millions. Nothing wrong with that but sometimes I find that there is no substitute for boots on the ground, meeting with owners.

You'll always find unmotivated sellers in direct mail and in person, the beauty of direct mail is that the effort comes from the owner to contact you, rather than you seeking them out. It's definitely a numbers game with direct mail, so you may have a significantly higher success rate by doorknocking. It will definitely take you more time of course to find properties, track down owners and then give your pitch.

I think there is potential to get more deals this way if you also focus on your "failed" leads as an opportunity to put them to work...give them your card, tell them to contact you if anyone they know is looking to sell. It will grow your network of leads in an area in a way that direct mail might not as its very easy to throw away a postcard.