All Forum Posts by: Stephen Kiser

@Ryan Dossey

As far as the message goes, would you suggest short and to the point? Or should I tell a little about me and how I can help them sell their home better than the next guy?

I am going to implement your suggestions for my December mailing and see if I can get that response rate up! 

Thanks again @Ryan Dossey

@Ryan Dossey Thanks so much man! 

@Ryan Doss Thank you for the feedback! Do you buy your list from a list provider or some other way?

I have the cash to do 1k-2k/mo just not the addresses. 

@Ryan Dossey

Hello everyone! I started a direct mail campaign to 4 neighborhoods in my local area to see if I could land a couple listings. These are first time homebuyer homes in the $109,900- $159,900 range. All owner occupied. I am on month 2 and have had one call. I am using postcards and switch the message up monthly. I am also sending direct mail to about 10-20 FSBO's in the area weekly. I am on week 2 for those as well and have not heard anything.

I have focused mainly on buyers for the first 1.5 years of my real estate career and want to shift over to the selling side now. 

Hello everyone, After 1.5 years of selling residential real estate and being stuck in analysis paralysis I started a direct mail campaign. My goal is to get my phone ringing with motivated sellers. I want to be able to look at a deal from all angles and not leave money on the table. Whether the deal is best to wholesale, fix and flip or list on the MLS I am open to all angles.

My first batch of mail was sent out 1 month ago and my second batch was sent two days ago. I pulled my list from the Realist tax search that comes with my MLS access. I narrowed it down to specific cities in my area that I am interested in investing, last recorded sale earlier than 2009, over 1,000 sq ft, under $200,000 last recorded sale. (I am looking for less than 200k for ARV). I used the pre-foreclosure and distressed lists for both owner occupied and non owner occupied homes.

Month 1: I sent 230 letters to a pre-foreclosure/distressed property list. Yellow letters with handwritten font and handwritten address on the envelope in red ink. I did not use a return address.. 

My results were 7 phone calls, 4 said take me off your list, 1 asked me if his house was being foreclosed and acted completely clueless, 2 left messages seeming a little angry and never returned my follow up calls and 1 had a home with a terrible tenant that wanted to sell but she had no equity, monthly payments were within $50 of the average rental rate for that neighborhood and I was unable to take the listing due to the fact she would have to bring a check to closing in order to cover realtor fees, attorney fees etc. 

Month 2: It has only been 2 days since the letters hit the streets and no calls to date. I used the same list minus the few people that wanted off the list. I tweaked my original letter to see if that affects the response rate at all. 

I contacted my county last week to get a list of home owners that are behind on their taxes. They sent me an excel file with 68,000 entries.. I narrowed that list down to about 200 home owners that are way behind on their taxes. I am having to take the bill # on the spreadsheet, plug it in the bill search on my counties website, take the parcel # to Realist where I find the home info. For the past week the bill search website has been down and I was unable to include this list in my second mailing but will be including it on my third.

Has anyone used Realist tax search to pull lists? 

Will 240 letters a month pull enough leads to do a consistent amount of deals? 

Is $10,000/mo in passive income a realistic goal for 10 years? 

Thank you in advance for all of the great feedback/advice! 

• Hello everyone, I am wondering if the Realist tax search software that is available for MLS subscribers is a good tool to use to generate a list for a direct mail campaign. I know a lot of real estate agents use it to farm certain areas for listings but I can't seem to find anything about whether or not investors are using it to put detailed lists together. Any feedback is appreciated!

We are having an REI meeting this Sunday at the Queen City Q by Concord Mills at 6:30! Would love to see you there!

@Chad Thomas

@Michael Noto how do you go about identifying the tire kickers? 

Thank you everyone!! I am going to implement these suggestions and see if I can increase my conversion rate. Would you reccomend having a meeting in person and discussing everything? I do not have an office so I would be meeting at their place or a local business. Should I have some sort of buyer packet laid out with the steps of buying a home etc or would that be too much info?