All Forum Posts by: David Wolf

I just asked this same question, thanks for making my life easier. 

While it's great if everyone comments, please only answer this if you have closed at least one deal by mailing absentee owners or tax delinquents so we can avoid muddying the waters with speculations. Thanks in advance

Question1: Do you mail to LLC's or scrub them from your list in most cases when mailing absentee owners (there are always exceptions)?

Question2: If you mail to them please describe what circumstances are required for you to include them i.e (Higher equity qualifier, multiple properties, you always mail to them, only if absentee and tax delinquent?)

Thank you in advance. 

I finally finished this thread and felt like adding one additional piece of value to help improve the campaigns of the other experts out their I have learned from on this. I am just starting the lead gen process in real estate but manage about $500k/month in online adspend on Google, Bing, etc.

I am not an expert on DM yet, but I have several customers whom we have implemented complimentary remarketing campaigns to supplement their additional touches on Motivated sellers that take action. You have to have at least a few hundred emails, phone numbers or website visitors, but if you do, you can setup remarketing campaigns on facebook and also on Google to carry your message forward online much less expensively than the post cards. Does that mean you shouldn't do the postcards? Absolutely not, keep mailing those suckers, but in the 30 days in between mailings you could be touching people that have interacted with you on a daily basis for Pennies. If you already have DM nailed, unless 90% of your buys are from 65+ then it's a great way to go. If they don't have a computer, you can pretty much ignore my existence or anything I post in for the next 3 or 4 months until I nail down some offline funnel chops. 

I might as well ad a point about DM vs just doing online. We are experts and I am still focusing on setting up DM 1st. Why? Because we have done lead gen in other markets like title loans (read other motivated customers), and when someone is motivated enough to take their own action, go online and find a solution, they go big. They will go to goggle search "sell my house in **** fast" and fill out the form on the 1st 5 or 6 websites they see ads for. You will get that lead, but so will 6 other companies, many of which have excellent marketing systems setup to close that lead. Competition means your offered price may need to be higher. I am hoping that when someone calls of a DM piece there is a much higher chance of having the lead to yourself. Maybe other mailers know about the absentee, but they don't know he is motivated today unless he calls them too. I doubt most absentee's save  up all their we buy houses letters so you may have the only one around. When that same motivated person goes online everyone who gets that lead knows they are motivated. 

Bottom line, I think the other DM's will agree with me. I would pay 8x the cost for an exclusive motivated lead vs. a motivated lead with 4 seasoned cash buyers aware he has been activated. The deal you will get will more than offset additional cost. Someone tell me if I am off here? That doesn't mean I won't be advertising online. I'd be an idiot not to. Thank you for all the great information. In particular your list filter settings, the right list was my main focus.

thanks Michael. Glad to be here. Now off to get the lay of the land loose myself in podcasts

Hello Bigger Pockets, 

This is my first post (which is why it is here!). I love this forum. Plan on meeting some great people here. I will get to where I might add value to the experience members in the forum.  While I am only on my 3rd flip as the investor with more experience partner doing the work, I am keen on getting into the fray and taking an active roll in scaling this process. Here are a few of places I plan on adding value to make it enticing for experienced investors to strike up a conversation and allow me to pick their brains. 

Immediate Value: I own several Ecommerce stores the resale popular brands in high volume as well as import our own brands directly from China. These includes housewares such as towels and linens as well as furniture. I have not been responsible for the selling of our currrent properties, but Intend to change that and see what kind of effect offering something like a closing bonus of $10,000 gift card would have on selling properties at higher margin or (at least as negotiating tool).  My margins in this area are significantly higher than rehab investment costs so If I can spend 4K in product to get 10K more in value then I great. 

As an experience importer I am also beginning to look at importing raw materials such as finishing fixtures, cabinets, tile, etc. We have a line of Barn Door Hardware that sell really well.  I just read a forum post about someone becoming a distributor for windows and similar products and he has been able to gain substantial cost savings. We won't be at scale for importing construction products unless we are doing a lot more volume than currently doing so I am interested in reaching out to other investors doing volume to subsidize our own and begin importing containers of common builder spec materials. P.S. when you here the word "China", don't get scared. We are experience imports and know what steps need to be taking to separate great factories from bad ones.

Second are of value: We also run an internet marketing firm, it's how we got into owning ecommerce stores, and ecommerce stores is how we got into importing. I plan on using my experience in this are to develop some strong lead funnels for great deals. If anyone using other channels or doing this process online already in a non-competing area that is willing to discuss share their model, please reach out. I would happily pay some solid commissions on every deal or do a JV to skip the learning curve and re-implement what already works. I don't need money, just people to work with that have already taken most of the arrows on the way through the wall. We have plenty of money to buy as long as the deals are solid.

I am looking forward to networking with some of the great people on Bigger Pockets. I am in the Orlando, FL area. I hope this post isn't consider spammy. When I decide to commit to a new community I try to take the time to draw my starting line in public so others can hold me accountable to see if these things are ever implemented.