All Forum Posts by: Miles Stanley

@Ryan Dossey

i was shooting for 750-1000 letters a month for 6-8 months for this campaign

Thanks for the input!

Setting up to launch a direct mail campaign ASAP and i am contemplating three ways to handle the incoming leads:

1. Answer every call myself
2. Set up and pay for a call center
3. Let each call go to voicemail and call back later

Answer every call myself

This is not ideal for me bc i work an 8-5 so i cant just step away every time the phone rings just to get rejected 90%+ of the time by tire kickers.  i can see where this could yield a higher conversion rate, but it just isn't feasible.

Set up and pay for a call center

This seems very appealing bc they receive calls and pre-screen leads with a script and send me just the filtered leads with the pertinent info i can use to analyze the property.  Yes its a paid service, but would allow me to focus on work without running out every so often to answer a call.

Let each call go to voicemail and call back later

This seems like the best approach, its free and i can deal with leads on my time.  BUT i still need to filter through and qualify leads and determine true motivation.  My hope is that making them leave a voice mail will help filter out most tire kickers bc i would think a truly motivated person wouldn't mine leaving a message.  Plan is to use google voice so i get a transcript and notification when this happens.

Does anyone used or swear by any of these methods?  I'm not trying to overthink this process, but i want to do it "right" from the beginning and not waste money.

i appreciate any input!

Thank you!

I am an engineer and I would definitely request concessions on this because who is to say the house is finished settling (its only 9 years old). Its 4.6" at this time, but what about in 10 years? If you are already having cracking in the tiles and walls, i would think it could only get worse from here (potentially). As far as $550 for an engineer's report, that is pretty cheap. 4.6" sounds like a pretty large differential for any SFR slab in my opinion.

For me its peace of mind...would you rather spend $550 now and know for sure and possibly get a discount or potentially spend thousands later to fix something you assumed was OK?  

As far as walking or not, it depends.  i would think any potential buyer (especially someone who isn't used to dealing with this) would be put off by the cracking and knowledge that the house is shifting so much (i.e. he is already under contract with you - presumably - and it would be easier for him to sell to you than the next guy...him not budging on price is at his own risk).  If the data and your gut say repairs are needed and he won't budge AND you don't have the capital to make the repairs yourself...i would walk.  

Foundation problems can also cause plumbing problems...so keep that in mind too.

@Natalie Kolodij

Same here, can i get a list as well?  Same story, i have a CPA, but i want to look into some real tax strategists geared to RE investing, not just someone who will crank out my tax return.

Thanks!

Hello all!

I'm formulating my direct mail campaign and i had 2 questions about the mailers themselves.

1. (maybe a dumb question but not sure...)  do i need to state the address of the specific property i am mailing the owner about or keep it general like "If you have any properties you are wanting to sell..." knowing that they have the property i am after?  FYI the list i am mailing to is targeted.  My gut says to spell out the specific property address, but a lot of online printing services (Costco for example) don't give you the options of merging a mailing list with the mailer to create tailored postcards and letters for each owner on the list.  The ones that do are much more expensive.  Costco lets you upload your design and print them, but that's about it.  i can create them myself with a little extra legwork, but I'm trying to outsource these types of things and stay focused.
   1. side note, does anyone have referrals to online services that can do the tailored mailers at a reasonable price?  I have seen yellowletters.com, but haven't delved deeply into it yet...just saw that their unit price per mailer is much more than other services.
2. i plan to mail to 1/4 of the entire list every week and plan to hit the entire list every month or about 6-8 months.  Is there any distinct advantage to using a sequential mailing (i.e. the Month-1 postcards looks like/says this, the month-2 cards say that, the third month is a letter, etc) or can i send the same mailer every time?

Just trying to get this right going in so i don't waste money.  Hopefully the answers aren't all "it depends on your market".

Thanks

thanks @Seth Teel

Great insights!

i love the "ladyfriend test"...i ask my wife all the time what she thinks when we are driving around neighborhoods in the evenings/night...she has no issue telling me her thoughts lol

@Joe Funari

That $2,000/year/property...so that covers small things (light bulbs, handyman, etc) AND large replacements (roof, paint, damage, water heater, etc)?

I've been (over)thinking how much to allocate for these repair/maintenance expenses and have not been able to arrive at a solid and REASONABLE method.  Of course, i have seen the "take the expected replacement cost and divide it by the expected life and into a monthly cost" approach...but that seems too idealized to be practical, never mind that its impossible to predict how long something will actually last.

Thanks,

Does anyone have some objective data (crime, tenant quality, etc) for the area along IH 37 between IH 10 and 410?  More specifically, the residential areas close to IH 37 near Southcross and Pecan Valley?  See below...

Are these areas that should be avoided for rental property investing?  I'm into residential rentals, but not interested in war zone/bad-area investing (don't feel like chasing rents every month)..

Thanks,

@Nicholas Robillard

My guy is Perry Zelner, great inspector.  PM me for contract info.

@Don Konipol

thanks for the explanation.  I ran this by my agent as well and he says it might be best to start an entity with our cash partner (didn't mention what kind) and open a bank account so we can furnish a statement or something as proof of funds.  Sounds like i might need to lean on my attorney more fore this.

BUT, my exit strategy for these purchases is to refinance out, pay back the cash loan and repeat the process. I have learned that most banks will not refinance if the property is owned by an entity (unless there is some loophole/workaround). By "property", my main focus at this time is SFR and small MF, so the options for commercial loans are out (right?).

his answers generated more questions, ha!