All Forum Posts by: Account Closed

 The Turnkey provider I buy from in AZ just tells you what he has. If you like the numbers you buy or make an offer. You don't need a real estate agent unless you want to pay their fee. It isn't included in the Turnkey price.

It isn't about cost. It's about knowing if the mailing is going out as you mentioned. "Is the mail actually hitting? Who knows."
This bit of information is for those who read this but haven't done bulk mailers: The mail house will put your order in a queue. That means eventually they will print your order. Then, when they have enough small batches they will aggregate them and take them to the post office where they will sit for a week to 10 days while the post office schedules them for delivery. That's one reason bulk delivery is a few cents cheaper than 1st class.

It takes a minimum of two weeks and sometimes 4 weeks for a mail house mailer to hit from the time you hit "send" on your computer to actual delivery at the house. You don't get returns when you send bulk mail. So, you can't remove bad addresses from your mailing list.

If you do small mailers (1,000 - 2,000 pieces) using 1st class postage, it goes out immediately and you get un-deliverables back. You can improve your list thus wasting less time and money. I'd rather have phone calls coming in a few days after I mailed, rather than waiting two to four weeks. Time is money. I can make better decisions. Saving a few dollars using a mail house isn't in my vocabulary.

Why are you using a mail house on an untested mailer? Seems risky. You have to figure out why it doesn't have any draw.

Take your monthly budget of 3,000 mailers and split it into 4 groups.

For your testing, you will pay a high school student to assemble it for you. Use real stamps. Address the mailer to the owner by name. Tell the owner what you have to offer them. "I buy houses for cash!" "I'm interested in your property at 1234 Main St" or something like that. Keep the message short. Include your phone number. Answer the phone when it rings. Don't let it go to voice mail. They won't call back.

Split the mailer into 1,500 postcards and 1,500 envelope/letters with "see through windows" from Staples. Make sure the envelope is slightly larger than a standard envelope. Put a return address on the mailer so you can track returns. Send it out so it arrives on tuesday thru thursday. You don't want it to arrive on a monday when everybody else's mailer arrives.

Send 750 of mailer 1 to list 1 (On each mailer put a "1" in the lower left corner so you know which list it came from) Include a mailer to yourself. It's called "seeding" the mailer so you know when it hits and that it actually got delivered.

Send 750 of mailer 2 to list 2 (On each mailer put a "2" in the lower left corner so you know which list it came from)Include a mailer to yourself. It's called "seeding" the mailer so you know when it hits and that it actually got delivered.
 
Send 750 of mailer 3 to list 3 (On each mailer put a "3" in the lower left corner so you know which list it came from)Include a mailer to yourself. It's called "seeding" the mailer so you know when it hits and that it actually got delivered.

Send 750 of mailer 4 to list 4 (On each mailer put a "4" in the lower left corner so you know which list it came from)Include a mailer to yourself. It's called "seeding" the mailer so you know when it hits and that it actually got delivered.

Do this for 4 months with different lists and different mailers.

Keep a spread sheet so you know which lists and mailers work for you. Most lists are garbage with old information and there are hundreds of ways to compile lists some of which work better for your area and offer to buy.

Once you start getting calls, you know you are on to something and then you can use a mailing house. Keep in mind that most mailing houses take weeks to get out that which you can get out in a few days. Is your time important to you or is ease of marketing? For mailings under 5,000 do it your self. You can be sure it got done and sent out in a timely fashion. 

How about using "Starwars Cantinas?"

@Nghi Le: Good find on those posts.

Here's the problem, the attorney general doesn't just file one charge. They throw in things like equity skimming, practicing real estate without a license, mortgage fraud, wire fraud, consumer protection act, and ultimately you have to prove you didn't do those things. It doesn't matter that you didn't know or that you didn't intend to.

You need only one complaint, particularly from a vulnerable party (elderly, black or other minority, someone deemed "incompetent", someone in bankruptcy, and on and on - then they pile on the charges. That complaint will come from a relative or friend of the person you are charged with defrauding, and they aren't even a part of the transaction. But it doesn't matter.

Then, you have to provide all materials you used for marketing, everyone you sent mailers to or contacted, all transactions you've completed and who you sold to, all scripts, conversations, web sites, sources and methods, contacts, bank accounts, licenses, text messages, emails, anything on your phone. They get to sift through it all and they win a promotion if they get you convicted. No, it isn't fair but that is how they play the game. And remember, they have an unlimited budget and I suspect you''d have trouble paying for a lawyer. The AG's office's motto is "the process is the punishment".

Stay away from foreclosures in Washington if you have any sense of wanting a future.  Not fair? Sure, but there are sooo many other ways to make more money in real estate that are deemed "acceptable and legal" in Washington that you just don't need to buck the system on this one.

I don't mean to ruin your plans, but apparently you voted in people who set laws that would rather have people in foreclosure lose their homes to banks, than to be able to sell to you and save some of their equity. I guess you might say that Washington State is for big banks and against homeowners.

Consult with a real estate attorney immediately and seek guidance.

What you are doing is a felony in Washington State.

RCW 61.34.030

Criminal penalty.

Any person who wilfully engages in a pattern of equity skimming is guilty of a class B felony under RCW 9A.20.021. Equity skimming shall be classified as a level II offense under chapter 9.94A

RCW, and each act of equity skimming found beyond a reasonable doubt or

admitted by the defendant upon a plea of guilty to be included in the

pattern of equity skimming, shall be a separate current offense for the

purpose of determining the sentence range for each current offense

pursuant to RCW 9.94A.589(1)(a).

Subsection 1(3)(a) can be broken down into the following elements.
Under this language, a person is a “distressed home consultant” if the
person (1) solicits or contacts a distressed homeowner in writing, in
person, or through any electronic or telecommunications medium and (2)
makes a representation or offer to perform any service that the person
represents (3) will produce one or more of twelve different results
listed in the statute:

i. Stop, enjoin, delay, void, set aside, annul, stay, or postpone a foreclosure sale;

ii. Obtain forbearance from any servicer, beneficiary, or mortgagee;

iii. Assist the distressed homeowner to exercise a
right of reinstatement provided in the loan documents or to refinance a
loan that is in foreclosure or is in danger of foreclosure;

iv. Obtain an extension of the period within which
the distressed homeowner may reinstate the distressed homeowner’s
obligation or extend the deadline to object to a ratification;

[original page 5] v. Obtain a
waiver of an acceleration clause contained in any promissory note or
contract secured by a mortgage on a distressed home or contained in the
mortgage;

vi. Assist the distressed homeowner to obtain a loan or advance of funds;

vii. Save the distressed homeowner’s residence from foreclosure;

viii. Avoid or ameliorate the impairment of the
distressed homeowner’s credit resulting from the recording of a notice
of trustee sale, the filing of a petition to foreclose, or the conduct
of a foreclosure sale;

ix. Purchase or obtain an option to purchase the
distressed homeowner’s residence within twenty days of an advertised or
docketed foreclosure sale;

x. Arrange for the distressed homeowner to become a
lessee or tenant entitled to continue to reside in the distressed
homeowner’s residence;

xi. Arrange for the distressed homeowner to have an
option to repurchase the distressed homeowner’s residence; or

xii. Engage in any documentation, grant, conveyance,
sale, lease, trust, or gift by which the distressed homeowner clogs the
distressed homeowner’s equity of redemption in the distressed
homeowner’s residence[.]”

 I just read a real estate agent agreement in AZ that says that if I back out anytime within 6 months, I owe the complete commission anyway. Obviously, I didn't sign that.

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Hmmm, let's see . . . you offer to buy a house from an accused murderer (nothing has been proven yet, he may be innocent) but let's just say he did it, and you offend the guy and he knows where you live and he still has friends on the outside and  . . .