$5,000 Direct Mail Budget for Motivated Sellers- Help!

[Ben G.]

I have been told by a few respected individuals in the community that I am over analyzing the criteria for my list and that I just need to get started. I do agree that analysis paralysis is preventing me from pulling the trigger. However, when I plan on shelling out $5,000 towards my overall campaign (multiple letters to absentee owners) I want to be somewhat confident that I'm targeting the right absentee owners.

Anyone who uses wholesaling as a strategy, and has had success with direct mail in the past if you could share the criteria you have used for building your list it would be greatly appreciated. I really want to make this $5,000 work for me. I plan on sending 500-1000 mailers per month depending on the # of absentee owners I have access to based on my criteria.

The struggle I'm finding is that some successful wholesalers are saying that 10+ years for length of residence is important because it's hard for ListSource to ultimately determine equity in a home and there's a good chance someone with 10+ years in residence has enough equity. However, what if they have recently refinanced?

Is LTV or Equity % important. What if someone owns the home outright, and therefore there wouldn't be any LTV. How are these list providers determining equity?

I guess I would like to hear what success you have had with direct mail if any, and if so what did your list look like? From there, I am sure I will have the confidence to settle on my list and pull the trigger with my $5,000 marketing budget.

Ben

[Aaron Mazzrillo]

Originally posted by Ben Grise:

@Aaron Mazzrillo

My question is what are you selling? I do admit that you do make a lot of sense, but really you're that much more luckier than everyone else that you're able to confidently say just gamble and go for it?

What am I selling? Directly, not a dang thing. Indirectly, maybe just an idea. The idea that you will never know the outcome if you don't take a chance. I don't buy 100% of the houses I don't make an offer on. All the houses I drive by every day that I don't own don't do a thing for me. I get no benefit from them. Of course, I can't buy any of them if I don't let those owners know I might be interested in buying them.

Now, the ones I do own and rent out pay my mortgage, buy my groceries, pay my health care, cover the vet bills, pay for my automobile insurance, the visits to the dentist, chiropractor, and yearly medical check ups. The houses I own pay my airplane tickets and hotel rooms when I take vacations or attend seminars, cover my utilities costs, buy my clothes, pay my internet bill, cover my phone bill, and buy the gas for my car. I'm a pretty low lifestyle kind of person, but there's not much I can't go buy today if I really want it. Luckily, I don't want much so it works out quite well.

Of course, I never would have purchased that first house if I didn't decide that the money sitting in my bank was really not doing anything for me. That it was more of a liability than a parachute or safety net. See, the fear of losing that $5,000 has you so paralyzed, you can't do anything. It's just $5,000. My visa bills (personal & corporate) every month are more than that. When times are slow, I spend more money. Because I know, without a doubt in my mind, that investing money into my business will produce a good return. It will come back and bring more with it. If I don't spend that money every month, whether I get a deal or not, if I let the fear of losing money keep me from doing business, I might as well just sell all my houses, put the proceeds into government securities, and go get a cushy job working 9-5, 5 days a week, with good health benefits, a soft chair to sit in, and hopefully some kind of pension at the end of it all.

If I had $5,000 sitting around and the fear of losing it was keeping me from doing anything, I'd just spend that ****. I'd get it out of my life as fast as I could. Cuz once it's gone, I've got nothing to be afraid of any more. I will also then realize that when I wake up in the morning, I still have my arms, legs, hands, feet, I have my wits, I have my knowledge, I have the ability to go out and get some more money and spend it all again. Money isn't a security blanket. It won't work as a parachute. If you think losing $5K is going to end your life, I think you ought not to get into this business cuz I've lost so much more than that I can only laugh about it. $5K is a pittance. I can't even take a decent vacation with $5K. Airline tickets alone cost me almost that every year when the wife and I fly over to Asia.

Only when you realize what money truly is will you have the internal power to easily dispose of it. I know for every dollar I spend on marketing, I get back more than $2. I never fret about spending money on marketing. Just spend that ****. Get it out of your life so you can stop worrying about it.

*steps down off of soap box....