Finding motivated sellers (my list)

[Kenneth E.]

Hey guys, over time I have taken lots of ideas from BP on finding motivated sellers. I compiled a list and am sharing it back with BP members. Enjoy!

Hey guys, over time I have taken lots of ideas from BP on finding motivated sellers. I compiled a list and am sharing it back with BP members. Its nothing new, just my list.... hope it helps a new person out.

1. Tired landlords
a. List of eviction court attendants
b. Mailers to Out of state landlords
c. Mailers to Landlords who own more than one property with back taxes
d. Mailers to Landlords who own tax delinquent multi-family properties
e. Buy a “leads list” of landlords from: (www.realquest.com)

2. Mailers to Property owners whose assessment went way up this year
3. Mailers to Properties that were owned by known investors who went out of business
4. Mailers to out of state landlords/Owners of multifamily houses
5. Mailers to Tax delinquent homeowners
6. Place “We Buy houses” flyers/business cards at unemployment offices….a lot of people there could be having trouble with their homes and may need a solution
7. One-page Flyers posted on bulletin boards at large stores
8. Mailers to Vacant land owners (only in specific areas where development is ideal)
9. Using Craigslist to find sellers:
a. Post ad that states, “We Buy houses”
b. Send emails to craigslist ads with apartments for rent (the emails go to landlords who may be looking to sell, or buying more properties)
10. Mailers to specific zip codes (preferably low income neighborhoods) asking if they want to sell or know someone who does
11. Mailers to People getting divorced
12. Mailers to Divorce Attorneys who can refer clients to us
13. Mailers/emails to FSBOs
14. Send mailers to expired MLS Listings
15. Post ad on www.Backpage.com: We buy houses
16. Send mailers to properties purchased between 3k-20k within last five years (owner might be wanna-be flipper who did nothing with property)
17. Send mailers to estate Executors/Administrators
18. Send mailers to Estate/Probate Attorneys (consider having my attorney send letter, business cards to Estate attorneys because attorneys always open mail from other attorneys)
19. Bandit signs: We buy houses
20. Big Baller marketing: TV, billboards, radio ads
21. Send mailers to Out of state owner who have owned for more than x years (more than 30 years, so you know its free and clear meaning they will be more flexible with sales price)
22. Send mailers to Building code violators
23. Send mailers to Health code violators
24. Send mailers to people facing foreclosure
25. Purchase leads lists of folks who inherited homes
26. Send mailers to people making double payments (bought a new house, REALLY want to sell old house)
27. Target people who have been transferred (job) and must sell NOW
28. Target people with medical problems / health issues who cannot keep their houses
29. Target who own vacant homes
30. Target people who are having financial chaos of any sort
31. Target people who are 30-60 day late on mortgage lists
32. Send ads/ mailers/business cards to Credit Repair Agencies & Credit Counselors
33. Target HUD/VA Foreclosures
34. Send mailers to people arrested for violent crimes (going to prison for a long time)
35. Send Mailers/ads/business cards to Realtors
36. Send mailers to employees who have been laid off (ie “corporate downsizing” in the news)
37. Networking with other investors, ACRE
38. Locate list of section 8 approved properties—send mailers to the owners
39. Post Newspaper classified ads: We Buys houses
40. Send mailers to Properties with liens: Mechanics Liens, HOA Liens, Tax Liens
41. Contact sales people at new home subdivisions (their clients will want to sell their OLD houses) (or place signs near new home subdivisions that say "Sell Your House Fast" with your phone number….they will want to sell their old house ASAP)
42. Contact mortgage companies; they may know of people wanting to sell their old house/last house
43. Hire bird dogs (sometimes even through craigslist “help wanted” ads)
44. Send mailers to Bankruptcy court listings
45. Send advertisements, business cards to Accountants and CPA Firms: They have clients with financial problems where an investor can be of help.
46. Send ads, mailers, business cards to real estate attorneys
47. Advertise using Apparel with Logos: Hats, T-Shirts, Golf Shirts,
48. Send to anyone getting their car repossessed: If the car is going the house isn’t far behind.
49. Send ads, business cards to carpet cleaners: Many of their customers are preparing a house for sale.
50. Consider sending mailers to charitable groups/churches: They frequently receive gifts of real estate, but they’d rather have the cash
51. Send ads, business cards to City & County Inspectors: Code violations and red tags. (If you develop a reputation of buying distressed properties and improving them, you become an asset to the
52. Community)
53. Send ads to Large Employers (HR departments): Let them know you buy properties because if they need to transfer an employee, they don’t get stuck carrying the house. This can be good for renting
54. executive properties for short-term transferees, too.
55. Place ads on boards at Nursing & Retirement Homes: Frequently residents need to sell a house.
56. Consider placing Door Hangers on target properties: You can also use pre-printed post-it notes to leave messages at target properties. Be sure to advertise on both sides, you can even sell the back side
57. and recover your advertising cost!
58. Send mailers to addresses having Garage Sales: Are they moving?
59. Send mailers to Hair Salons/Barbers: A social hub! Lots of talking going on during haircuts!
60. Send mailers, ads, business cards to Insurance Brokers: Policy changes from owner occupant to landlord or vacant house coverage.
61. Recruit Mail Carriers to notify you of vacant properties
62. Send mailers to Owner of multiple properties (target them to offload portfolios)
63. Post advertisement in PennySaver type papers: We Buy houses
64. Send mailers to Water, Gas, and electric company shut off lists
65. Or, just buy leads from:

a. www.Listsource.com
b. www.USLeadsList.com
c. www.MelissaData.com
d. www.propertyleadsnow.com
e. www.foreclosuredata.com
f. www.Wehavehomeleads.com

[Kenneth E.]

Samantha M. 1200 addresses received mailers from me. I sent some post cards, some letters, some got letters AND post cards, some got handwritten letters, some got typed letters, etc. I

I have a ton more leads but only sent to about 1200 in a variety of neighborhoods to get a feel for wholesaling.

I once read that, on average, out of 100 mailers you send, you should get 10 that may be deals, and will end up with 1 under contract. 100:10:1 = general rule of thumb. I didnt do it enough to confirm if thats true but if you are asking me that question to know how many mailers to send and how many deals you should get, that might be a rule you can take into account. But, based on my closing only two deals out of 1200 mailers, I really suck at this! :)

[Samantha M.]

Kenneth E. Good information thanks! Did you notice how your call volume was spread out? Did you tend to get the most calls a day or two after sending out your mailers. Did you get residual calls throughout the month long after you had already send out mailers?

[Kenneth E.]

Samantha M. I didnt track it really, but i can tell you the calls flooded in for about one week after the mailers hit their mailbox...then faded gradually. Whats odd, though, is that people may not call for months after getting your mailer. One buddy of mine got a call TWO YEARS after sending a batch. Ha. But, i set aside time the first week (for sure) they were sent for sure so i would be free to return calls (all of mine went to voicemail because i have a fulltime job...and I returned the calls in the evenings and on the weekends).

[Samantha M.]

Kenneth E. TWO YEARS after sending the mail. Wow thats really amazing. Anyways thanks again for your input.

[Seth Williams]

Hey Kenneth E., great post - thanks for sharing these ideas. I've played with about half of these methods, but it's always great to get some new inspiration.

I was curious, where do you go about getting lists of people who have inherited their properties? I've also found these to be EXTREMELY valuable leads, but I've never figured out how to whittle down my list to ONLY these people. Usually they just get mixed in with a much larger list, as I don't know how to pick them out of the crowd.

[Kenneth E.]

Seth, the county I live in puts probate records online. I set up a mozenda program to extract the data from that website and populate it into a spreadsheet for me. Then, i had my own list to send mailers to.

Ps none of my probate mailers panned out, so I'm not sure what I did incorrectly.....though, again, that's what my friends say is the most lucrative......but not based on my minimal experience. :)

Sorry I cant help you more.

[Tracy Royce]

Great list!

[Kelly P.]

Kenneth E. - I too have had no success with probates. I have been mailing to lists every month; new filings and repeat mailings. I totally understand how this strategy can produce the best motivated sellers but its just a matter of when they are ready to sell.

How do you contact your leads? I use type written professional white letters.

[Kenneth E.]

Tracy Royce Thanks!

Kelly P. I basically had mozenda extract all of the probate records from a six month period and mailed to all of them. I didn't send one of those cheesy ‘sorry for your loss….but sell me your deceased loved ones house' letters and just opted for the basic ‘we buy houses' message. I used typed letters and envelopes for the probate ones, sending them to the last address of the deceased, to the executors address, and even sent a letter to the attorney who was handling the probate case (all names and addresses were on the probate site). The letter to the attorney was basically a typed letter about how I can help their clients who are stuck with unwanted houses. The letter to the attorneys surprisingly yielded a few calls but nothing ever panned out since they were either just feeling me out or wanting to see if I would buy the house their client already has listed on the MLS for full market value (I did not). I also included five business cards with each letter to the attorneys so they could hand them out for me. :) No deals resulted so I didn't do another batch of probate mailers again.

I got one call from a lady who was super motivated to sell her moms house and she wanted to sell quickly because the estate taxes were due within a few weeks. I got her to agree to $8k for a house (including the appliances!) that was worth around $50k but she ended up calling another wholesaler to get a better deal than the $8K I agreed to. What she didn’t know was that the wholesaler she called was my mentor who told her he was working with me on the deal already. So, she got caught trying to shop the deal around……. but wouldn’t return my calls after that. That was the closest I came to a probate/estate deal.

I may do it again in the future but I am not entirely sure of what I did wrong so I would need to research probate mailers a bit more here on BP before doing the next batch.

[Kelly P.]

Kenneth E. I received a call yesterday from a probate mailing - only my third in the past 6 months! PR does not want to keep the house but at the same time hinted at getting retail. Comps are around $200k but there is a mortgage of $160k. Plus PR wants this sale to cover some of the other debts of the estate.

Because of these numbers, I don't see a wholesale deal and don't think this is a sub2 or lease option deal (which I have no experience in) because the estate wants to liquidate. What do you think of this idea: have the PR contact the lender and negotiate a full and final settlement of the loan for $100k. I offer PR $125K giving the estate $25k to pay off other debts. I have no experience with negotiating a reduced payoff so I'm just thinking out loud at this point.

[Kenneth E.]

Kelly P. That sounds ok in theory but I have never negotiated on a mortgage before so I cannot help you out. The only drawback is your are counting on the PR to negotiate when they may not have the skills or experience in negotiating.

Hopefully someone else can chime in and give some advice....

[Rick H.]

The simple truth is that a probate estate is not, by itself, enough of a reason to be considered a distressed sale.

There must be a catalyst, one or more triggers that cause the person(s) in charge to want to sell quickly, willing to trade off equity, price, problems, etc.

The other factor is timing. Most people that I observe who attempt to mail to estate reps are too worried about getting there first and have no sense of why a letter that arrives when the problems are perceived as overwhlming by the PR will have a higher response rate, other things being equal. Marketers must learn to think like the targets they mail to.

Lastly, most attorneys do NOT want their client to sell directly to a buyer, especially an investor type. They would overwhelmingly prefer to have their PR client list the property via an agent/broker and see the property get maximum market exposure.

[Carolina E.]

Hi Kenneth, great list. Was just curious, if you dont mind, which two did you come up with yourself? Im not sure if you mentioned it already I just scanned the postings.

[Kenneth E.]

Carolina E

The two that came from me are these:

2. Mailers to Property owners whose assessment went way up this year. (we had new property assessments done this year in Pittsburgh and I figured some people might become motivated to sell if their taxes were to go up a lot). This was just an idea and I never pursued it.

3. Mailers to Properties that were owned by known investors who went out of business (This was a reference to a local investor here in Pittsburgh who sold crappy properties to unsuspecting buyers at high prices. He is out of business now but I figured targeting his previous customers--who by now should be aware they were ripped off--might get me a deal or two). After finding 15 of his previous customers who still own the houses they bought from him (through court records), I sent them mailers and tried this..... but didnt get any deals.

[Kenneth E.]

Rick Harmon I totally agree about attorney's wanting their clients to get the most money possible (and thus encouraged them to list it on the MLS). Several of them actually told me that on the phone, in fact. :)

The attorney leads didnt pan out, as stated above, but I just wanted some practice at the marketing component....'just to see if it would work'. It was fun to do but never yielded any profit.

I even learned a little trick here on BP where one guy suggested having your own attorney send your ----professional-looking---- 'we buy houses' mailers to other attorneys for you. The logic is that they have to read mail from other attorneys so 100% your letters should get read (envelopes opened, at least). I never tried it but thought it was a clever idea.

[Rick H.]

@Kelly P. - not sure about your logic as to why a secured lender would want to discount their mortgage, given the numbers in your example. Probably why you walked.

An active probate wil not, in most states, hamper a foreclosure. Therefore, a mortgage lender without a breach (payment default, etc.) who is well secured with a marketable property has a number of profitable options that don't require discounting.

[Tara Brown]

@Rick Harmon You mention most attorneys do not want their clients to sell the property to an investor, rather have them list it. However, you said in a recent post you like to get leads from attorneys??

"You could consider an entirely different approach to your marketing, such as marketing to the people who refer the type of sellers you do want to work with. For example,for the past 20+ years I prefer to market to the attorneys who refer their clients. "

[Kelly P.]

Rick Harmon - Rick, I was simply thinking out loud, and yes, I am walking away from the deal. The PR is motivated to sell but with a mortgage of $160k on a property valued at $200k, the deal is too thin.

[Rick H.]

@Tara Brown - yes, you've caught me! My marketing to attorneys has historically been to provide liquidity services for their probate and trust clients, not real estate services, per se.

[Mineto Anfield]

This is fanatastic. Thanks for sharing

[BRANDON S.]

Great post, thank you so much,

[Jason Cotner]

Thank you for taking the time to share your list. As a newbie this is very helpful to me. I really appreciate it.

[Kenneth E.]

You are welcome. I hope it helps. Keep in mind, though, that all of these ideas (except the first two) were taken from BP, other REI websites, and even some youtube videos. So, I cant take credit for them at all.

[Morris Lucas]

Did you target a specific area or zip code when you sent your mailers out,( recent cash sales, good schools, high rental areas, etc), or did you just look for motivated sellers anywhere that met your list criteria?

[Eric Benzenhoefer]

Great topic everyone! I am trying to set up an automated wholesaling business so I was particularly intrigued by # 65 (referenced above)

Does anyone have experience using these sites that can speak to the costs per closed deal of using the services?

OR if this is covered else where in BP, would a veteren mind sharing a few key words that I can search the BP forums to read up on them?