All Forum Posts by: May Emery

@Blaine Alger Have you considered buying a list? You can work with a list broker to get a good filtered list for your area. Some of the newer lists include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) or Seniors with Long-Time Ownership. Once you have a list, a broker can run the purchased list along with ones you have through the National Telephone Database to find the best matches for phone numbers and email. 

Good luck.

@Christian (Whitehead) Scott If you don't find the tax delinquents at at the county assessor, you might consider working with a list broker to find a good alternative list. One that you might consider is Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS).

Good luck.

@Kody Ward ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ Mailing is probably the best way to find your own off-market deals. These are people who share motivational characteristics of people ready to sell, but haven't yet done all the work they think they need to list property. The best way to find them is to send out mailers.

Some good lists to target are Absentee Owners with Equity, Seniors with Long-time Ownership and Homeowners with Low Financial Stability Scores. 

You can work with a list broker (especially if you are just starting) to optimize your list for your area. From there, there are a lot of companies that can help with the printing and mailing. Be sure that you highlight that "selling your house can be easier than you think" with the advantages of working directly with you instead of the more traditional route.

Good luck!

@Hannah Bailey I agree that letters are the way to go on a smaller scale campaign from Driving for Dollars. I wouldn't bother with a photo. They know what their property looks like. Instead, focus on how EASY it is for them to sell to you - rather than the traditional route of fixing things up and paying a realtor.

You can customize the letter based on owner occupied or absentee. I wrote a blog about seller-focused letters to seniors, but it can apply to all potential sellers. 

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

When you are ready to ramp up, you will want to buy lists. It will be a better use of your time rather than driving and researching owners. Work with a list broker who can recommend some of the new motivated-seller lists.

Good luck!

@Justin Westgate I also agree with @Aaron K. and @Jake Soper. You definitely want to narrow down your criteria rather than mail to everyone in a zip. You might consider working with a list broker who can suggest some filters. 

Be aware that a lot of investors are mailing to the Absentee Owners, so you will be competing with other offers in their mailbox. Some other lists might include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) or Seniors with Long-Time Ownership. These can be combined with home value, property type, owner age, length of ownership and have both absentee and owner occupied.

Good luck 

@James Watson I'll speak to the lists. Absentee with Equity have been the go-to list for years with investors. Lots of people use it and the absentee owners get LOTS of offers in the mail. In the more competitive markets I hear people talk about getting several a week.

Consider working with a list broker to learn about some of the newer lists. These might include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores and Seniors with Long-time Ownership. One good thing with these lists is that you can combine both absentee and owner occupied.

Good luck with your ramp-up. 

@Corey Meyer I wrote a blog on marketing to seniors here on Bigger Pockets. 

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

The biggest thing on ANY campaign is to focus on the benefits you can offer to the seller. If someone is thinking about selling; Why are they hesitant to start the process? Because it is hard when they use the traditional method. You need to address those fears and preconceived notions.

Selling your house will be easier than you think!

Good luck. I was in Condon this summer for a small wedding. It's a wonderful area.

@James Canoy When you are new, you should consider working with a list broker. They can offer suggestions for your area and have access to some of the new lists that aren't available on most on-line sites. 

Some suggestions would be: 

Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores (FSS) - combine with age 40+, 5+ year ownership, specify appropriate home value for your area, owner occupied and absentee owners, property type (single, multi, condo)

Seniors with Long-Time Ownership - combine with age 60+, 15+ year ownership, specify appropriate home value for your area, owner occupied and absentee owners, property type (single, multi, condo)

Absentee Owners with Equity - Combine with appropriate home value for your area, owner occupied and absentee owners, property type (single, multi, condo)

Good luck

@Nathan Miller Sounds like you found a great prospective property. I think that the big thing to emphasize is how EASY it will be to sell the property to you. I wrote a blog about letters to seniors. You can get some ideas for your letter from it. 

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

Good luck

@Christopher Brown When you are mailing to off-market leads be sure to emphasize the ease of selling to you. They might be thinking about getting out of the house but expect that it will be a lot of work to fix it up before putting it on the market. "Selling your home will be easier than you think" should be first - then the reason why.

You might also consider working with a list broker to get some of the new motivated seller lists. The targets you mentioned tend to get a lot of mail from a lot of investors. It's hard to compete in the mailbox. Some of the new lists include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores and Seniors with Long-time Ownership. 

I wrote a blog with suggestions for mailing to seniors that will also work with other target lists.

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

Good luck.