All Forum Posts by: Corey Petersen

Thanks @Brian Stephens.  I totally agree about setting up clear expectations, goals, and roles.  I need to get this taken care of.  All of the money/investing is on me (business expenses, lead generation, etc.), as well as any other part of the business.  So pretty much all of their investment is time, which is very valuable.  So maybe somewhere in the range of the 80/20 to 70/30 split makes sense depending on their involvement level.  I really probably need to sit down and think out all the scenarios of different involvement levels they might have, then put numbers on those.  Or maybe another way to look at it is define their roles more specifically and put a number against that.  As you can tell I'm just thinking out loud here... I'll need to spend some more time thinking this one through.  Thanks again.

I have a question about something that I'm trying to decide on, and I can't seem to find previously posted on any forums.  I have a couple of people that I've sort of brought on my team to help me out with finding and negotiating properties to buy or wholesale.  Without going into too much detail, they are each helping me out on specific niches or strategies that they are particularly suited for.  Both guys are valuable individuals who I will want to keep close to me for a long time I believe.  Neither are employees, they will essentially be acting as contractors for me.  When we successfully turn a deal into a profit in which one or the other specifically helped me with, I want to make sure I take care of them well enough to keep them interested in growing with me as my business grows.  

My questions is... how are you compensating people who help you out in this way?

I know that every situation is going to be unique depending on the needs, relationship, business structure, and other things, but I'd be very interested in hearing some examples of how people handle this or what they think this service is worth.  As of now, I'm thinking of a percentage of total profit at the end of whatever it is I do with it (flip or wholesale).  So far, they've been along for the ride based on trust that I will make it fair when it happens, and I haven't put any numbers out there, but they are comfortable with taking a percentage of the profit at the end.  I just don't want to go too far down the road before we have an understanding on this and risk a sour situation due to mutual mystification.

Thanks in advance for the help!

Hey Benjamin.  Good question about the second letter.  For those that I had conversations with, I'll reference our conversation and try to make it more personal.  For the rest, I may reference the last mailing, but I also think I'll alter the message a little to have a few pain points that might be relevant to them.  Something like...

"I'm reaching out to see if may have any interest in selling your property at (address).  If so, we are an investor local to this area, and may have interest in purchasing the property.  Many people we work with commonly choose to sell because they are tired of managing a property and tenants from a distance.  Sometimes, they do have someone helping them locally to manage it, but just don't feel confident that their house is being cared for as they would like it to be.  Other times, people just want to cash out for any number of reasons and don't want to mess around with the hassle of listing the property.  If any of this sounds familiar, please give us a call."

I might cut that down so it's not so long, but something to that effect.  I'm struggling about the type of mail, because the handwriting and stuffing envelopes takes so damn long, but it seemed effective.  If not I might hire it out.  I think this message is better in a letter than a postcard, now that I see it written out.  Maybe a postcard on the third mailing.

As for tracking, right now I have an excel spreadsheet that I'm updating as well as a spiral notebook.  It's all bad and will have to change before not too long, but I'm not quite there yet.  I'm trying to focus on some proof of concept on some ideas before I invest in a system to support them all.  I'd rather start with a mess and a deal or two, than a perfect and empty system.

Thanks for the question, it helped me to focus on a few questions I've been rattling around in my head.

Hey @Ashley Jackson, thanks for asking.  It was an interesting process.  I got about 12 call backs, including a couple of "take me off your list", a couple good conversations that I will continue to follow up with a more personal campaign, one guy I'm still talking with and may have a seller finance opportunity to pursue, and several just calling to see "what I would pay for the house" who were not really motivated at all.  So short answer is no, no deals.  Although, that was what I expected, and was happy to have the handful of calls to at least practice on.  It definitely got me moving though, just getting into the conversations, since I'm new to this.  I learned a lot, have a couple of new marketing ideas to work toward, and will be sending another mailing soon to this list again.  I think my piece of mail was solid, with the colored "birthday" style envelope and handwritten letter, although I'm not sure how great the message was or how good the list was.  I also don't know that I was gutsy enough in my conversations.  I was maybe too quick to disqualify when it seemed there was no real interest and the property was in good shape.  I've gotten some advice from someone wiser than me since that made me think I should have hung in longer.  

Anyways, if you have any pointers or probing questions that might help me think through some things, I would definitely appreciate any feedback, and I'm happy to share more about my results if you've got specific questions.  

Thanks!

Awesome, I just got on here tonight to see if there might be a meet-up coming up sometime, and looky there, just a couple days away!

If you're a Westsider, shout out so we can meet.  I know at least Randy is!

Don,  I'm sure there are other ways as well, but I use a Surface Pro 3 for a computer and it has a program built in called OneNote.  One of the main features of the Surface is that the stylist is really good.  OneNote is basically an electronic notebook that you can hand write into.  I basically save a template of the letter sans the name of the person and the address of the house I'm asking about, then make a bunch of copies and fill in the blanks.  Below is an example of one that I've sent...

Justin, good call on Podcast 37.  Listened to it today.  Thanks for the tip.

Hey Brian,

It's funny timing that you post on this now.  I had to focus hard on my day job for a few months and only TODAY sent out my first round of about 300 letters!  I get the fatigue thing.  It was very time-consuming.  I used a brightly colored "birthday card" type envelope and used a program on my surface pro to hand-write a template, but change the name and address in each.  I also hand-wrote on the envelopes.  I think I'd have to start soon to get next month's round out.  Probably not sustainable.  I'm considering hiring someone to help me with the bulk of the work.  Seeing as how the whole thing is an educated guess, from the type of mail, to the list, to the message, I'm trying to decide how I will go about the next mailing.  How do you think you'll be contracting this out?  A professional company or cheap labor?  What are you mailing?

Rick, I really like you're point on evolving the message over the course of a campaign.

When you say I'll fatigue long before 300 letters, what specifically are you thinking will be the fatigue? The responding to leads?  I just want to make sure I'm clear on your advice since you took the time to give it.

Thanks a lot.

Thanks Alexander. 

Can you explain why 300 letters is too high to send out?  What's a number that works better from your experience?

Your point about the list being the same list others are purchasing is one that I've definitely thought of.  I was thinking that if I could find a way to cross reference the list with some other county information (delinquent taxes, code violations, etc.)  I might have a more target list that I could focus the message on better.  Is that the kind of thing you're thinking?  Or what advice do you have here?