All Forum Posts by: Al Bunch

Working up some direct mail pieces and wanted to get some input from anyone who does direct mail on a regular basis. Would you recommend sending the same mailing piece every time or would you mix it up sending a new piece each time or repeat the first piece 2-3 times then the next piece 2-3 times?

I can obviously run trials to see what works better, but if you've done it before, I'd definitely like to hear your thoughts.

I'm curious what the competition is doing - I'm about to start a couple of direct mail campaigns - saturation mailing for a couple of neighborhoods and targeted mailing to absentee landlords.

If you haven't tossed the postcard, I'd love to see a scan or cell phone pic of the front/back.

I'm almost completely out of owner financing mobile homes (Lonnie deals) and the excuses people come up with for late payments are nothing short of amazing. I can't count the times in the past 10 years that I've gotten a late payment excuse from someone wearing obviously brand new designer clothes, sporting a brand new smart phone or otherwise displaying some kind of behavior that was incongruous to their situation (new car, new tv, new bbq pit, daughter runs in and says she can't wait until they leave this weekend to go to six flags, "lost my job" but they're leaving the house freshly showered wearing their uniform....)

At the end of the day, you have to do what you can live with, but if you're asking for advice, my guess is you're looking for support for what you already know you have to do. Just based on what you said, it sounds like she's (successfully) buying time.

Business is business.

...it probably goes without saying, but just in case. She gets the cash when she hands you the keys after she moves out - and I wouldn't offer her more than my cost to evict.

He's not a tenant, please stop addressing him in such a manner. He is a guest of your tenant. My leases always had a provision requiring my prior written consent of any guest that stayed longer than 7 days.

I'm with Tevis - serve a cure or quit notice. When your tenant calls to try to cure, give her two choices - her guest either vacates the premises in the timeframe given or you'll file for her eviction. If she's in a talking mood, you might offer her cash for her keys in lieu of an eviction as long as she leaves the property in the same condition it was in when they moved in (you do have pre-move-in pictures, right? If not, serve a 24 hour notice to do something with the property and document the current condition before you serve).

It also doesn't hurt to let her know you just documented the property condition with pictures and that New York state allows garnishment of wages for judgements.

BTW - taking regular property inspection pictures before/after a lease starts/ends are great tools for documenting repairs, insurance issues, code compliance, use in court to illustrate damages. With just about everyone carrying a phone with a camera in their pocket these days, it's easy to document and save for later.

It only takes one problem tenant to change how you do business.

Arthur Garcia New tenant, first week in the house, I stopped by to check and make sure everything was ok - there were fresh bleach-foot-prints from the garage (where the laundry room is) to the living room on brand new carpet. Having to replace brand new carpet makes my eye twitch. After that I now keep a room worth of carpet in a bag in the attic and have a carpet repair company come out and batch bad spots.

Rob K When we were rehabbing properties, we'd occasionally come across a house with a bunch of "junk" in it and for walking around money I'd do some quick listings on Craigslist...those same people calling from craigslist are the ones calling you leaving incoherent messages. I really laughed out loud at your description. The second cell phone with a voicemail trail to a website is great. That and if someone can't string a complete thought together I do the same thing (delete).

Working on some direct mail pieces for absentee landlords - what were the hardest lessons you learned as a landlord - the kinds of things that -almost- made you throw in the towel.

For me, it was listening to late rent excuses and watching bad tenants tear up properties knowing I'd have to pay for the repairs before I could rent it out again.

Looking forward to more info on this one...Austin is just down the road from Houston.

About to start farming in/around the Katy area, specifically working Cimarron. I'm looking for a few (2 or 3) serious cash buyers.

Private message me with contact info and let's talk about what you're looking for property and number-wise.

-Al

I'm interested in doing a series of saturation mailings to specific areas - I plan on using those mailings to shape a future more targeted mailing list. I don't really want a turn-key mailing house to handle this, I'd rather get the permit and manage the entire process myself so I can really tightly control the input until I get a handle on what's working. (Hint: I've done direct mail before, but it was always targeted, now I'm looking to spam everyone and look for trends).

If you're an expert at this kind of thing, I'd really like to talk to you. If you're in Houston and have a couple of hours to spare, it's worth lunch or dinner (I prefer Strip House, though I'm open to suggestions).

...otherwise, pointing me in the right direction works and I'd be grateful.