All Forum Posts by: James Case

@John Horner Thanks for your feedback, John.

Has anyone else experienced the same phenomenon?

@John Horner I agree. I ditched the long VM in favor of a short and simple message. If they want to know about the process before calling, my website is on the postcard.

@Dev Horn That is definitely interesting. I will consider including a photo on a future mailing... I have to get a professional photo taken. As far as using a local #... that is what I'm doing for all future mailings. I also created a simple 3 page website (lead form, page explaining the process, and a contact form). It makes sense to give people a low commitment way (some people are shy) to give me their details. And I'm definitely going to stay the course... there is no other option as I have burnt the bridge back to mediocrity behind me haha.

@Clary C. Thanks, Clary. I'm just using a very simple voicemail now... I ask for their name, number, and address of the property they want to sell.

@Abdul R. Thanks, Abdul.

@Stefanie Bergmann Thanks for your input, Stefanie.

@Cale Ferguson I acknowledge you on taking action. Congrats.

Action update:

My last mailing was... a learning experience. I tried completely different text on my postcard. Looking back, I focused on features, not benefits. No big deal, time to test something else.

I sent out 966 cards and got 5 calls. One call was from a guy that wanted about 500k, ARV was $550k. Loan balance was 395k. I made him an offer of 400k. I'm pretty sure he felt insulted and said no thanks, bye. Maybe it would have been better to send that lead out for a traditional deal since I knew he was expecting retail.

2 calls were people just curious and wanted above market. I offered to connect them with a realtor with lots of buyers. One said they would think about selling in the next 6 months, the other already has a realtor.

One call was from an elderly man that knew very little about his property as he kept asking his wife for basic details. He owes 98k and the ARV is 135k. He wants to get rid of it because it's losing money each month. The property manager rents it to 2 of her friends for $700/month. He said he would gather more info and that I could call him back on Monday the 21st. I'm not quite sure what to do with this one... wholesaling it is out, so I'm leaning toward sending it out to a realtor.

Lastly, a lady called me to say she wasn't interested in selling, but her neighbor was. I asked her to take the postcard to her neighbor and if a deal came out of it I would give her $500.

What's next:

The mailing for group 2 (of 4 total groups) goes out on Monday. I'll be using totally different language on the card. I'll be using a local number and adding the website I built today to make sure I'm not missing any possible shy leads. That's all for now. I look forward to your feedback.

Gotcha. Each touch for one of the four groups is around $450.

@Thomas I. Not sure what you mean by "how much is each touch". For now, I am just sticking with postcards exclusively. I am using Click2Mail for my mailings.

Action update:

The mailing that I ordered on Monday should be going out today. In the first group I sent out 479 using my 877# with a 3.15 minute voicemail explaining what I do. The second group had 487 and used my local google voice number with a very simple voicemail asking for the sellers name, number, and address of the property they are looking to sell. I am looking to see if the 877# or the local number will provide a better quality lead. I realize that it is a small sample size, but if I can notice any difference between the two groups... I will definitely be happy.

Things I will be tracking:

Date, Group #, Touch #, pieces sent, total calls, motivation avg, offers sent, wholesale deals, RE leads sent out

You can never improve if you do not test.

For the motivation average, I will be scoring each caller on a 1-3 scale. 1 is little motivation, 2 is medium, and 3 is highly motivated.There are 4 groups of 1000 sellers each. Each group is sent out every 8 weeks (so one mailing every 2 weeks). I want to track the results from each group and each touch for that group separately in an effort to visually see where the most action happens (most deals), with respect to the touch number.

I also want to track how many offers it takes, on average, to secure a wholesale deal. I want to use this as a way to gauge my negotiation skills and how they improve over time.

That's it for now. I will update after some calls start coming in over the next few days.

@Tim G. Thanks for the tip... I had not thought of that. I'm sure I can figure that out this evening. As for trusts... I will be including them in my lists from today forward.

I'm going to purchase an additional 3000 sellers today to complete my total list of 4000 sellers for the year. The list will be split into 4 groups of 1000 sellers each. I will send 1000 postcards out every two weeks so that each of the 4 groups will be touched once every 8 weeks using a message that builds on the previous. This total list size is based on the current maximum amount I can allocate to marketing each month consistently.

Also, I'm considering using the equity filter (40-100%) for my list purchase today. Have you guys found this to be an essential addition to your filter criteria?

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

@Tim G. I'm by no means set on that as a rule. My only reason for taking them out was to avoid the tedious task of tracking down the real owners name of the trust via public records. I thought addressing the card to the name of the trust may be awkward.

@Jordyn Pfeiffer The realtor claimed that I knew the property had been listed in the MLS a day or so before my mailing went out. He wanted to sue for trying to prospect a client that had an exclusive listing agreement. Since I'm fairly certain this is not illegal, just against the realtor code, I took it as an empty threat and went about my business.

Regarding the referral.... I gave the lead to my girlfriend and her partner. They co-list the property and split the commission. I then will split her portion of the commission for giving her the lead. I'm sure there is a more elegant, and legal, way of doing this... so I'll have to look into it more. I'm just focused on getting things done and not letting anything hold me up at this point.

After months of quietly gathering information from BP and other sources... 2 weeks ago, I decided to break away from the throngs of other wannabe real estate wholesalers and take action.

I purchased my absentee owner seller leads from Listsource. I setup my voicemail greeting for sellers on Freedom Voice. I carefully crafted my first postcard. Then, the moment of truth... I pulled the trigger and sent out 580 postcards. All this, without so much as a whisper... at least on the internet.

Only now, having taken action, do I feel the right to begin the process of chronicling my journey.

What I will give to you:

- My results and procedures. No B.S.

What I request of you:

- Your honest feedback (I am willing to listen and will do anything to be successful).

Now that things have been established, let's begin.

My current setup:

- 877 # and 3.15 min voicemail greeting for prospective sellers. All calls go to voicemail. All calls get a call back, regardless of whether they leave a voicemail or not.

- 1000 name list of absentee owners. SFR. 10 years + sale date. 1940 or newer build date. No corp. No trusts.

- Small yellow postcard highlighting how working with me will benefit them. My full name is in the body of the postcard text and on the return address. There is no mention of the name of my company on the card, in an effort to make it more personal.

- Spreadsheet to collect data during the call with sellers.

My current results:

Out of 580 postcards sent I got 15 calls. 2 called to say there were not interested. 1 was a realtor that threatened to sue me if I did not make a cash offer within 24 hours. I was not able to reach 4 of them when trying to return their call. 1 was curious about how I got his information. 1 was expecting my voicemail to make an offer on his specific property. 3 were expecting retail. Out of those 3, I referred one that has a 1.3M property to a realtor. If that goes through... I will get 9k on the deal for referring. The listing agreement was sent out yesterday and the seller is reviewing... fingers crossed. 1 I made an offer on, but we couldn't agree on price. The last 2 were from a real estate company and a design firm.

I am actually really pleased with these initial results. If the traditional real estate deal goes through... it will be enough to make for my marketing this whole year.

My next step:

Tomorrow I am sending out another 500 postcards. This batch will have the same 877 # as my first mailing. A week after that, I will send 500 more (to the other half of my list) and this will have a local google voice # with a very basic voicemail " Hi you reached James. If you leave your name and #, I will get back to you as soon as possible".

Based on these results (and I don't mean the quantity of calls, but rather the quality ie. motivation level) I will either use the 877 or local number for future touches.

I strongly believe that multiple touches to the same list is the key to success. I will be touching my list every 8 weeks. Looking to increase my budget so I can market to another list of 1000 every 8 weeks too.

So that's it for now. I look forward to hearing from the community!