All Forum Posts by: Laura Alamery

Hello Chester -

welcome to wholesaling! :)

These are some of my thoughts/suggestions:

• First of all, the quality of the list is important for the best response rate. If you don't get at least 5% phone calls from your mailing, you need to revisit the source;
• I am more inclined to printed letters and envelopes with a good tag line to get people to open the envelope - I am not much for yellow letters;
• To increase your success rate, after you do the mailing, try to get as many phone numbers as possible for the people you mailed to - you can try to use whitepages.com, 411.com or intelius (fee based) - you might also want to visit personally a few of these properties, and talk to neighbors, to find out more about the owner.

To me direct marketing is a 3 step process - good list first, tweak the mailing until you get 5% or better response rate, follow up as many as possible (via phone or personal visit.)

Good luck! :)

Hello Frankie -

welcome to Bigger Pockets! You will find a lot of good information and support here.

I know several wholesalers in the Atlanta area and I also partner on deals as well. 

Hey, we are both from St Louis! ;)

Co-Ventures or Joint Ventures can be done for different reasons: one of the investors could be a "money partner" - he/she brings the money to the table and you find the property and supervise construction if needed. Or one of the partners has access to lots of properties and you just look for buyers. And vice versa.

Or one of the partners brings OPR (other people's resources) instead of OPM (other people's money.) May be he is knowledgeable in construction - he can put the labor in rehabbing a property and wait until the sale to get compensated for his labor plus some of the profit as an incentive.

Hope this helps. I have done all of these scenarios successfully in St Louis. :)

Hello Frank -

there is nothing wrong in putting up a general ad stating that you are an investor in (state the area) and that you come across properties all the time. Have them call you for more information. When they call, I ask 4 key questions:

• Which area do they want to invest in?
• What type of property (single, multi)?
• How much do they want to spend?
• Are they ready to buy now?

That way you qualify them over the phone, get their email and phone number, and ask them if they can be added to your mailing list for future deals. That is all. :)

Hope this helps.

In my experience, I would like to suggest a few things. You definitely got some things right as far as your approach and assumptions: yes, a physical address is definitely a must - PO box is not advisable for the reason you stated. If you don't want to use your home address, get a virtual office (through a co-working community in your area or a UPS store, where you can rent a mailbox.)

Also about the envelope: I write my personal name with a physical address as the return address. As far as the addressee, I put first name and last name of the person, and if there is a spouse, I am very careful about including both names: people get "offended" if you omit one of them, I know I do :) I try to get an interesting stamp, not the generic 'forever' stamp. Also I put a tag line on the envelope underneath the return address, like 'bail out plans available', 'cash for your equity - any condition.' They get more envelopes open.

Don't worry about a website - more important is establishing an internet presence in social media, especially Linkedin. People will "google you" and an internet presence has more weight than an unknown website.

The letter should be brief - the main point you want to come across is that you are here to give them solutions, help. It is about them, not you. They don't care you have closed on hundreds of deals and you have a big company. They want to know that you are the person helping them out of a sticky situation and that they get some money out of the deal. Always give them money - even a short sale, squeeze out a couple of thousands for their moving expenses, etc. and state that in the letter.

All my letters and envelopes are printed - I don't handwrite anything, to me it is unprofessional. I think how I would feel - it is a little "scammy" to me to receive a handwritten letter, when I don't know the sender and I am being made believe otherwise just to open. May be that is just me, but I have had good success doing things as stated above for over 20 years, so I guess it worked ;)

Good luck!

You can get the list from TransUnion (better) or ListSource or Blackbook Data.

Test it though - sellers that are delinquent are also in denial :) ... I have a better success rate with sellers who are 4 to 6 weeks to the actual foreclosure date. You can find that information for free from the filings at the Recorder of Deeds office (research filings for Notice of Default - ask one of the clerks the first time, she/he can help you.)

I have been doing this successfully in Cook and Dupage counties.

Hello everyone - I have been investing in St Louis and surrounding areas for over 20 years. Let me know if you have any questions :)

I invest in Chicago and South Florida as well.

I think the whole central part of the USA from Chicago to Texas (Midwest and South) is a great area for rentals - that is what I have always invested in. So much more for the money!

Florida is definitely seeing a good market for lease options and subject to.

If the numbers work out, like it seems they do, I would suggest in looking for a JV commercial lender (usually they are out of California :) - you can find them via Google or Linkedin. They will fund up to 100% if they like the project.

Are you talking about private money for buy and hold or wholesaling? You can perform a search of cash sales in the area where you are buying (through the MLS for example - that would not cost you anything, just ask a real estate agent) and contact these cash buyers and see if they would be interested in partnering with you or funding your deal. You will be surprised how many people with "real money" are looking to fund deals every day. :)

Good luck!