All Forum Posts by: May Emery

@Darian Berry I wrote a blog on writing benefit-driven letters to sellers. This focuses on Seniors but would also apply to Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS)

https://www.biggerpockets.com/member-blogs/11806/84376-your-letter-to-seniors-offer-them-something-they-care-about

I think letters that resonate with a seller will be more effective. "selling your house will be easier than you think when you work with me" 

Where did you get your list? Most reputable brokers will offer you the choice of getting only the un-registered numbers or will at least indicate if they are registered. 

You can register as a telemarketer on the federal website. 

https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov/

From there you can look up the numbers to see if they are on the do-not-call (DNC) list.

@Johnathon Kim I have to ask why you don't want to invest locally where you can take a look at the property and better assess the value and potential cash flow?

I know that many parts of CA have gotten priced out. However you can still find gems in the rough. I'd suggest mailing to Seniors with Long-Time Ownership and Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores. 

Both these categories have motivation to sell and the additional advantage 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.

@Zk Lani South Carolina has recently passed laws prohibiting the use of public data for marketing. Unfortunately, this means that we are no longer able to get Absentee Owner information in the state.

You can work with a good list broker to get motivated sellers from a consumer list that doesn’t have the marketing restrictions. These will be owner occupied, but segments such as Seniors with Long-Time Ownership or Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) have been effective in all parts of the country, so they are a good bet in SC.

@Terry Brisco Why did you decide to do your mail campaign in another state?

@Andrew Allen As Anthony says, mail is a good way to jump in to find motivated sellers, but you want to avoid using only the same lists that all the other investors in your area are using. As you ask around, many people will recommend Absentee Owners.

You might consider mailing to Seniors with Low Financial Stability Scores. These folks are often ready to downsize or transition to assistance. They are off-market and can really benefit from not having to fix things up before putting on the market. But consider that no matter how motivated, they are probably getting a lot of offers in their mail box from the people who recommend them to you. 

You might try some of the newer motivated seller lists. These include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) and Seniors with Long-Time Ownership.

Both lists can be mixed with Absentee Owners if you don't want to put all your faith in owner occupied - and can be customized with property type and home value along with other limiting factors

@Lane Babb Good to hear that you have had success with mailing. What sort of list do you use? In some areas the Absentee Owners lists aren't doing as well because so many investors are are mailing to the same owners.

Some newer motivated seller lists are catching traction but haven't yet been over-mailed. These include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) and Seniors with Long-Time Ownership.

@Tyler Bobo Consider other types of lists. It doesn't matter how many times you mail to and absentee owner if you are one of a dozen or more sending mail to them. It will simply be hard to stand out. AK isn't as competitive market as other parts of the country, but if there's another investor in your area, chances are they have already mailed to the absentee owners.

Consider combining absentee owners with other motivated segments such as Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) or Seniors with Long-Time Ownership.

@Joseph Porturica I'll PM - you want to get one specializing in REI

The Financial Stability Scores (FSS) aren't specifically tied to credit scores because that is tightly regulated. They were developed as an alternative to the credit scores lists. As an example,  a car dealer doesn't want to use a list based on Fico scores because that would require that they include a firm offer of credit (you are pre-qualified). However, they do want to mail to people most likely to qualify for a loan. The Low FSS list pulls from the opposite end of the scale to get people who are likely to be struggling.

So to give a short answer, yes, Low FSS is people who are likely to have poor credit.