All Forum Posts by: May Emery

@Kyle Schroeder As @Chris Webb said, mail is a great way to find off market leads. However, I would recommend getting a relationship with a list broker to help you get owners who share motivating factors for selling a home. It's much less time consuming than knocking on doors or driving around and looking at properties.

Some lists I'd recommend you consider would be Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS), Seniors with Long-Time Ownership and of course the ever popular Absentee Owners with Equity.

It is certainly best to try to reach out to people who might want to sell, but don't want to put the time, effort and money they think they need to in order to list it the traditional way.

Good luck with your campaign- I hope you get some great properties.

@Mason Yost. Driving for dollars might seem like an easy way to start out. But it is extremely time consuming! between the actual driving and writing down the properties then researching the owners. Of note: if the research is easy - you aren't the onlyl one getting in touch with the owner.

Consider buying some lists of off-market leads - especially if you have a day job! For a hundred or so dollars, you can get the contact info for people who fit in the motivated seller categories. These could include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores, Seniors with Long-Time Ownership and Absentee with Equity. These lists can be crafted to avoid mailing to the same people every other investor in your area is calling on.

Find a good list broker to help with suggestions.

@Arun Kumar Once you get to understand the ins and outs of seller financing along with the benefits for the seller, you can get a list of homeowners who have owned the property for a long time and have possible reasons to sell.

A list of Seniors with Long-Time Ownership can be usefull for a mail or phone campaign. Most people who have had homes for 15-20+ years are most likely to own free and clear. They are very often ready to downsize or move to assistance. Having an income stream and tax benefits of seller financing could be very beneficial 

Find a good list broker to help guide you in building your list.

@Hildamarie Suarez - Congratulations on getting started! I agree that mail and cold calling are key to finding properties to invest in. I also agree that the list is all-important. 

You should consider mailing to people who aren’t on every other investor’s radar. Absentee Owners have been popular for a long time, and are apparently still somewhat effective (people are still mailing to them) but they are getting multiple offers to buy their home. It's hard to stand out.

There are some owner-occupied segments with people who share motivating factors for selling their home.

Seniors with Long-time Ownership: often ready to downsize or transition to assistance.

Homeowners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS): Struggling financially and likely ready to cash in on their asset. These are people who's financial status has changed since they bought the property.

Both these categories have additional advantages in that they probably don’t haven’t been updated and may have deferred maintenance. They won’t be expecting the same money as their neighbors with the shiny new kitchen and fresh paint.

What ever else you say DO NOT MENTION THAT YOU MIGHT KNOW THAT THEY ARE IN FINANCIAL DIFFICULTY! That's the best way to get their defenses up and cause embarrassment. 

Make it sound like it's a coincidence that you are calling them. If you are considering selling your house, I can offer an easier alternative to going the traditional route of working with a broker. You wouldn't even need to fix anything up!

I'm curious why you just want to concentrate on Absentee Owners. They have been so popular for so many years that they have been getting inundated with offers from all the other investors. 

Consider working with a list broker. They can make some recommendations and segment lists to target a number of different "motivated seller" lists. You might not want to exclude absentee owners, but there are lists that can add in owner occupied as well. These might include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) and Seniors with Long-Time Ownership.

Many investors have found that mail is effective in reaching out to people that might be thinking about selling but haven't done the work they think they need to do to sell their house.

One of the most important parts is getting a list. Consider working with a list broker so you can get recommendations. For instance, you don't want to do your campaign with JUST absentee owners because they have been getting so many offers from all the other investors that it will be hard for you to stand out.

This is usually a 2-step process. 1. pull a list of people likely to want to sell their home. 2. append phones and email to that list where available.

You can work with a list broker to walk you through and make recommendations for your target.

Please note that "loan balance" is not public data and the only sources that do have it are credit score companies and there are a lot of legal restriction around selling the data. Most companies use Loan to Value to estimate the equity % in home. This compares the full original loan amount to the current home market value. For example, an LTV of 55% means that they have at least 55% equity - plus the payments that have been made.

Direct mail has been effective for a lot of investors. You just want to make sure that you aren't contacting the same people as all those other investors. Absentee owners get way too many offers to buy their property so it is nearly impossible for you to stand out.

Work with a list broker. They can help you get a list of properties that fit your criteria. One to consider is Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS).

At any rate, don't spend your budget all at once. And take several approaches including internet, social media, telemarketing and mail.

I agree that you are sort of over thinking.... What type of lists are mailing to? Is it the same one everyone else is mailing to? (Absentee owners get a lot of offers). Consider working with a list broker to get good leads.

What's in your letter? Are you talking about the benefits you bring to the table if they go with you? Fast cash isn't always foremost on their mind. Point out that they don't have to fix things, clean up or have a slew of strangers walking through their house.