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All Forum Posts by: Greg S.

Greg S. has started 6 posts and replied 94 times.

Post: A Newbie's Birddogging Journal

Greg S.Posted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • Forked River, NJ
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 10

Jessica,
Thanks for the advice. What is typically a good time period to wait before follow-up calls? I would assume about a month?

Michael,
I plan on birddogging to start off, although I really need to put some effort into finding people to supply deals for. That's the plan for this weekend.
My letter text was "Dear X, I am interested in purchasing your house at Y. Please contact me at #." I created a font that looked like my handwriting and used mail merge to print the letters.
I made my own preforeclosure list using the public records webpage for my county. I wrote a script to pull data from the page, but it would almost be as easy to just copy and paste it manually.
I started the LLC online...I forget which company I used but I can look it up. I think it was around $200 and was pretty easy to form. The costs vary by state, however.
I am doing this part time. I am a high school math teacher as my full time job, although my degree is in computer engineering. I really enjoy my job, but it doesn't provide the financial security I would like. I figure real estate is the best way to supplement my income, so here I am. As a reference since I hadn't mentioned it in my intro, I am 29 years old.

George,
I don't have any particular reason as to why I'm targeting preforeclosures, aside from the fact that it was the easiest data to find. I was speaking with a few people at the last real estate meeting I attended, and they let me know that preforeclosures will most likely provide short sale leads, but not much equity. Hopefully I'll get lucky, and at least get some practice speaking to sellers.
What would you recommend mailing to? I'm not sure I'm ready to deal with probate, although I spent the last 7 years telling myself I wasn't ready to do anything.

Back to the text of my letter...It produced a decent response rate, but I'm not sure I should stick with it. Should I identify myself as an investor to try to weed out some of the unmotivated sellers, or keep it as is and try to get as many calls as possible?

Thanks again for all of the comments!

Post: A Newbie's Birddogging Journal

Greg S.Posted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • Forked River, NJ
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 10

Thanks, everyone!

Rob, I would love to see the first thing that you give to your coaching clients. Please let me know if you post it!

Post: A Newbie's Birddogging Journal

Greg S.Posted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • Forked River, NJ
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 10

What I've done so far...

Joined a real estate club - I joined the closest real estate club to my house, which is unfortunately about an hour and a half drive away. I chose this club because they have a monthly subgroup for my county.

Created an LLC - I know this wasn't an absolute necessity, but it gave my wife some peace of mind about my new venture.

Sent direct mail to preforeclosures - I sent a first batch of mailings on 8/13. This was a big step for me since I FINALLY took some action with something. I mailed 88 letters and received 5 calls in the days following.

I was scared to answer the phone, so I let them all go to voicemail. I did call them all back, and spoke to one person directly (unmotivated), and left a message detailing my services to the other callers. I didn't hear back from them and didn't follow up.

I haven't done anything since then since we had a guest staying with us for about 2 weeks. I plan to get started again within the next week. From now on, I know I need to start actually answering the phone. Otherwise, what's the point of even doing this.

This week...

I would like to send out another batch of mailings, probably preforeclosures again since that is the list that I have available. I will probably only send out 50 letters, in an attempt to start a routine where I send 50 out every week. I figure that is a manageable number where I can find time to print them out and put them together.

Next Tuesday, I plan to attend a Sheriff's sale to see if I can find and talk to some buyers.

Post: A Newbie's Birddogging Journal

Greg S.Posted
  • Real Estate Investor
  • Forked River, NJ
  • Posts 96
  • Votes 10

Hello, everyone! My name is Greg and I have been talking about real estate investing for the past 7 years. I spent tons of time reading articles and posts, setting goals for myself, and doing...well, I didn't really DO anything. Until recently, at least.

I am starting this journal to try to keep myself motivated. I hope to post everything that I do so those who are interested can follow along. Feel free to provide feedback or criticism...all comments are appreciated!