All Forum Posts by: Blake Reynolds

That sounds like it could be a good marketing strategy and a good cause as well! Like Blair said just make sure you actually do donate some money to the charity. Maybe set a certain percentage of your profits on each sale. 

I would try to find a way to back up your claims as well. Some way to prove that the money actually goes to the charity. Not quite sure how you could go about doing that but it is something to consider. 

Best of luck on your marketing campaign Andre! 

@Ryan M.

I just checked out and set up a google voice number. That service is pretty cool. Im excited to give that a try when taking calls.

I still might think about getting a separate phone so I don't have to bother my personal phone with all the calls but at least I feel better now about not putting my personal number out there on all my letters.

@Robert Curls

 I didn't think of coordinating the mailings with when I would like to expect calls. Thanks for the tip. I would actually prefer to take calls on the weekend because I would be more able to answer and respond to them since it is a little more difficult when I am at work during the week. 

Do you list your personal phone # for your marketing or do you have a separate number exclusively for marketing purposes?

@Matthew Berry

 Thank you for some of the insights on the Twin Cities market. I currently am located in East St. Paul so I was thinking of sticking to Ramsey county and possibly some other bordering counties so I wouldn't be outreaching my boundaries yet.

I Plan on sending out the first wave of my direct mail campaign the first week of may coming up.

Right now I am planning on sending to a list of absentee owners with significant equity to start off with. I am going to get a list of around 500 (probably from listsource) and I will plan to mail 4 waves within 3 months, so once every 3 weeks or so.

Should I diversify my list more to different prospects or should I just try concentrating on one group for now with the first 4 rounds?

Wow thank you all for the information. That is very helpful.

I will try to rely a little more heavily on craigslist since that seems to be the common consensus.

@Nick Coonis

You bring up a valid point. I was just thinking to myself today that I should probably be keeping track of which ones I've listened to. So yea I might just start from the beginning.

What is the best way to estimate rent for a specific property which doesn't have any rental history?

Is it common to just find comparable properties in the area that are rented out? Also does anyone have any input on how accurate Zillow.com is on their rental estimates that they provide?

Welcome to BP @Ryan Blevins

A great place to start is the Podcasts. You can look through and pick a topic you are most interested in and start listening to the podcasts about that topic, you can really learn a lot.

Regards,

Blake

Hello all,

I have been gaining a lot of interest in REI recently, mostly after reading Rich Dad Poor Dad like everyone else, and I never really knew where to start. One afternoon on the radio I heard an ad for a free house flipping seminar by Fortune Builders in the twin cities of Minnesota. I knew I had to take a step forward with my interests in this market so I decided to sign up and go. I knew that there would be some sort of upsell or service they were going to try and market and I told myself that I wasn't going to bite. I planned to just go and see what they had to offer and what I could learn from the free 2 hour lecture.

2 Hours and $200 later I walked away with a full weekend in my May calendar now occupied by their 3 day insiders summit seminar. I fell victim to their sales pitch and upselling.

The point of the story is however that if I had not taken that step, to at least go to that seminar, I probably could not have gained the heightened interest in getting into this market. During the free 2 hour lecture they talked about wholesaling and cash buyers and lots of ways to build capital to get into the investing market. All of these which I had ever heard of before hand.

So I get home and start doing more research on all these subjects on come across this amazing website called BIGGERPOCKETS.COM. This website has been such an amazing find. The wealth of information that is available here is just astounding. From all of the podcasts to webinars and articles available to the calculators and just the forums to be able to ask questions and connect. This site I feel is the key to staying motivated and educated with real estate.

I recently graduated form college and just entered the workforce and I am already sick of the "Rat Race". I have higher goals in gaining financial freedom and being able to support my current and future family. This three day seminar will be the first weekend in may coming up and I am excited to be able to network and learn more about the topics I am now somewhat familiar with. If anyone else has attended these seminars I would greatly appreciate your feedback on your experience and If you want to follow this forum I will provide feedback myself after my 30+ hours of real estate education.

So I guess you could say the $200 has already in a sense made it well worth it through the discovery in this site alone and the renewed passion for becoming a real estate investor!

@Phil Strickland

Congrats on getting your first house under contract! That must be pretty exciting.

For your Direct mail Campaign how many actual letters/flyers did you send out to get those dozen or so phone calls. Also how were you able to find the information on which properties to market to?

I am planning on starting a Direct Mail marketing campaign soon also and I am trying to get as much information as I can before I jump into it.