Graciously asking: Driving for Dollars Tips and Advice

[Matt Huber]

Hello all!

I'm just starting out "driving for dollars," and have decided to give Deal Machine a try. A question: on their mailers, they strongly recommend taking a photo of each property you add and including that photo on each postcard mailer. I don't think they charge extra for this, however my driving would lose a bit of efficiency if I stopped at every lead to take a photo. Do you all think the photos really make a difference? I mean, they know what the house looks like, right?

The best-case benefit I can think of is an absentee owner of a rental property who perhaps hasn't seen the property in some time, and might be interested to see its state of deterioration or the cars and trash in the front yard. But these cases are perhaps 1-2% of the houses I've tagged so far...

Also, I've been sending an "I'll buy your house" postcard to owner occupied properties and a nice hand-signed and addressed letter to absentee owner properties. (The letter explains that I'm a new investor looking for a property in the area.) Any feedback on this tactic? 

Thank you in advance.