All Forum Posts by: Ethan Johnson

Maqbool,

Welcome to BP! It's great too see the community grow with new people daily! 

I am a newbie as well and appreciate all of the awesome resources this website provides. Without Bigger Pockets I probably wouldn't have continued to pursue RE INvesting. 

Best of luck,

Ethan

Sierra,

I believe whether you realize it or not you have already begun taking the first steps to start wholesaling.

Chris is right. You HAVE to meet other real estate investors near you who are like minded . Even if you don't end up working with them, sitting down for coffee or lunch to pick their brains about questions is priceless. You can only learn so much from videos podcasts and books.

I am also in the  beginning stages of launching a wholesale marketing campaign to try and find off market homes that still have some meat on the bone for me and the cash buyer I assign It to. So I am new at all of this too.

Your next step will be to decide how you are going to find deals. some different options are direct mail (which is what I decided to do), driving for dollars, which is driving around neighborhoods in your target market and looking for unkept, overgrown, run down properties that you can contact the owners to see if they will consider selling, or bandit signs which you would place around busy intersections or areas with a high volume of traffic that it will be seen. These methods have all proven to work but you need to stay consistent and have a plan.. My recommendation is when starting out just choosing one method and sticking to it. If you spread your self too thin I would imagine you may not see the productivity you were expecting and possibly end up quitting before you even get started.

A SIDE NOTE ON BANDIT SIGNS if that is what you decide to do. Make sure you do your due diligence on the laws pertaining to signage in your area/market. I haven't really been too fond of them, and hopefully someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you can receive some hefty fines if it is against the law and you are caught with bandit signs in the area.

Those are just my thoughts on the topic. Once again I'm about as green as they come in the world of RE INvesting, but I've learned that answering easier questions on BP and interacting through the forums and Personal MessagesS will substantially increase your knowledge and networking skills overall. 

Pm me if you have other questions! 

BEST OF LUCK.

Ethan

Thank you for your input Dani. I appreciate the time everyone took to post something.

Here is what I came up with today in between classes at school.

DIRECT MAIL MARKETING LETTER DRAFT 3...

Hello Homeowner,

My name is Ethan Johnson. I am a real estate investor in the Portland Metro area that buys houses for cash. Recently, we came across your property at (address) and would like to talk to you about making an offer. We buy homes in “as-is” condition, in other words you won’t have to lift a finger doing the cosmetics typically needed to sell a house. In the past we have assisted folks that have fallen behind on their mortgages or property taxes, were experiencing emergency situations, had unexpected medical bills, or the property just ended up being too much work. Regardless, we are here to help. If you or someone you know are experiencing any of these problems or anything else related, please give us a call at (phone number). We are looking forward to doing business with you.

Thank you,

Ethan

Hey guys,

Thanks for the responses. I think it's safe to say that the draft is too long. I will go through and see what I can take out in order to shorten it. 

After I shorten it I will post the 3rd draft to see what y'all think.

Also, is this forum category the best for getting people to read my posts pertaining to the letter? If not, what would be a better category to get the most exposure?

Thanks,

Ethan

Hello BP!!

My Name is Ethan Johnson. I have been a member of Bigger Pockets for a few months now. I have posted a few times here and there but for the most part I just read and try to learn as much as I can from you experts. 

When I started learning about real estate investing the first thing that grabbed my attention was the idea of "house hacking". The fact that people could purchase a multifamily property, do some small repairs, move in and then get a tenant to move in after and pay the majority or all of the mortgage for the owner was mind blowing. I still can't wrap my mind around why everyone isn't investing in real estate. After binge listening to the BP podcasts and reading a ton of the articles and blogs on the website day after day, I came to the realization that as a college student taking a decent amount of classes every term from now until I graduate, I don't have much time to put in the necessary hours to work in order to save up enough cash as a down payment for my first property.

After brainstorming many different ways to come up with the cash for my first buy and hold investment, I decided that I wasn't going to ask my family for any money  and also knew the banks wouldn't give me a loan at this time either so I began looking into wholesaling. One thing led to another and I set a goal to go ahead and launch the marketing campaign mid to late October. I will be targeting absentee home owners that own 55% to 100% equity in their property. I chose to start out with simple target filters for my first list of addresses to get a feel for how things are going to work out. Once I mail out letters to all of the addresses on the first list five to seven times (2 to 4 weeks in between each letter) I will start looking into purchasing more advanced, larger lists. My first list will consist of 500 to 600 letters.

After deciding to launch a marketing campaign, I knew I needed to read up on wholesaling a bit more and familiarize myself to how people are finding deals off the market and efficiently capitalizing on those deals. The next month or two I spent my free time reading books and re-listening to the podcasts that I thought may be beneficial for what I was going to be doing. On top of that, I reached out to a local investor in the BP community that does marketing through direct mail for his day time job. We e-mailed back and forth for awhile and eventually met up for coffee to talk about real estate and so he could answer the many questions I had been accumulating, especially the ones about where to find and/or buy my mailing list. He explained what makes a good or a bad list and gave me some websites that sold addresses specifically for direct mail. He also shared with me what a good wholesale letter consisted of and went into great detail about what people tend to read and not read and why. His insight on the subject was gold. After taking into consideration all of the things he said, I wrote out 5 or 6 drafts of the letter, all very different but conveying the same message. After having a few people read over the rough drafts and sharing what they would do, I re-wrote a 2nd rough draft. I planned on sharing my 2nd rough draft with Bigger Pockets to receive some feedback and advice on how I can improve the overall quality of the letter once more before I go ahead and pull the trigger. I honestly do not know where I stand with what I have so far. For all I know it could be god awful. Regardless if it's god awful or just fine PLEASE respond and share what you would do to improve it and possibly what you think is done well and what needs some work.

Sorry for the long intro. I wanted to re-introduce myself and share a little bit about how I got into wanting to do wholesale real estate and why. 

DIRECT MAIL LETTER, ROUGH DRAFT # 2

Dear (Homeowner's Name), 

         Hello (homeowner's name), my name is Ethan Johnson. I am a real estate investor in the Portland Metro area that buys houses for cash! Recently, my team of investors and I have been searching for homes in your neighborhood and came across (Homeowners Address)! It is an ideal property for us and we would like to talk to you about purchasing it! One of the benefits to selling your property to us, among many, is that we will buy your home in “as-is” condition. In other words, you will not have to lift a finger re-painting the walls, fixing the dents and dings, cleaning the stains out of the carpet and all of the other traditional cosmetics usually done in order to sell a home. 

      Unlike other real estate investors, our team takes pride in being 100% transparent in all of the deals we are apart of. We also make it a point to ensure that you are comfortable throughout the process of the deal and that everyone involved walks away more than satisfied with the outcome. Our main goal is to offer a quick, easy solution to homeowners that have encountered problems pertaining to their property, or just want to sell their home hassle free. In the past, we have assisted folks that have fallen behind on mortgage payments and/or property taxes, are experiencing emergency life or housing situations, had a recent death in the family, have unexpected medical bills, or the property just ended up being too much work. Regardless of your situation, we are here to help! If you, or someone you know are experiencing any of the problems listed above or any other issues, or you are just curious, give us a call right away at (555) 123-4567! Our office hours are Monday through Saturday, 8am to 6pm. When you call ask for Ethan! We look forward to doing business with you. Thank you.

Best Regards, 

Ethan 

Thanks Phillip. I will definitely check those out for sure.

So you said you started with post cards and switched.. Did you try both methods of mail to the same lists of were you changing lists as you changed mailing methods? Just curious to know if you limited to changing only one variable at a time because if more than one thing is changed and its for the better you wont know exactly what you did to create that success.

So up to date, what are you usibg as far as mailing methods and address lists? Are you having better luck these days? And how often are you pumping out mailing rounds and typically how many times are you sending to the same list?? 

Thanks again for your input anything helps!

Ethan

Hello BP,

My name is Ethan Johnson. I live in the Portland, Oregon area. I am new to the world of real estate investing and i'm looking to get my foot in the door through launching a direct mail marketing campaign to bring me potential sellers that are either in trouble financially or just need to sell their property quickly . My goal is to send out my first round of mail by the 1st of October. I have started making my website, figuring out what its going to cost to send out the mail, as well as weighing out the pros and cons of sending out postcards, yellow letters, typed letters or flyers and getting prices on them all as well. I believe there was a thread that covered the different mailing methods, if i'm not mistaken. 

My question is, what criteria is used to filter down addresses for that initial send off? What is a good starting point? Are certain zip codes used or is it more based off of the potential sellers financial situation? Im sure plenty of you are familiar with listsource, what is a good starting point on their? Also if there are any additional places productive lists of addresses can be obtained please share some details! i'm just not sure how to narrow down that first mailing. I understand that later on in a direct mail campaign it becomes easier and easier to have a general idea where to send mail and where not to waste time. A good marketer will record the data and analyze as they go and switch things up to produce better results. also, when launching the first round of mail, what are some general guidelines, or specifics that have been used to start a successful marketing campaign?

Welcome to BP guys!! Good luck.

Ethan

Thanks a bunch for the tip Gordon. I think it's a matter of finding a property that I can move into as well in order to create a cheaper environment for me to live in and to utilize the experience I would gain being a property manager on site.

The idea of remotely managing a property from across the country for my first investment makes my stomach turn but that is something that I will definitely have to keep in mind moving forward as I become more seasoned and experienced. Thanks again Gordon. Much appreciated.

Ethan

Super cool to read that Mike. I hope to be where you are in 6 to 8 months and hoping to find a second property in as little as a year to 18 months. That may be a bit ambitious but its a start.. Congrats on the house hack and making it work. 

BP has not only inspired me to go out and do this myself but has also connected me with people I  would have never met otherwise. BP is awesome from the podcasts to the forums.