Hey all,
Is anyone willing to share a letter that they send out to pre-foreclosures that works for them? I got a good in with an abstractor who wants to work with me as she can supply me with a ton of info on each property that is facing pre-foreclosure. Now I’m looking for a letter.
Nate-WI
I have a pre-foreclosure letter that I found online, I’ll share it with you tomorrow. The writer claims to have a 17% return rate, which is pretty good.
Thanks much. I have one letter that is too long in length in my opinion. Another poster sent me one on a PM which was great. I look forward to seeing what you are working with.
Nate-WI
Hello - I would love a copy of that letter as well!
Thank you!
I have a kick BUTT advertising campaign which I have been given.
17 calls in 3 days.
But I am not sure if I am allowed to share it.
TG
Can you please share this letter and techniques with me as well? I have very long one, but response rate is about 1-2%.
Thanks,
DFW
To boost your response rate a lot, add a novelty item in the envelope that will illicit curiosity. The first sense people get from holding mail is touch. Secondly, people look at the mail (from the outside). If it only contains a letter, they’ll tend to ignore it. If it contains something that puts a bulge in the envelope, they’ll tend to open it.
If you wouldn’t mind I’d like a copy of it also. I think my letter is too long. Thanks.
I wouldn’t send any novalty in your letter.
My coach did a survey and the bottom line is the debtors hate it.
They look at it as if you think their situation is somewhat of a joke.
98% of them felt humiliated and did not want to talk to the investor.
just for for your information.
TG
[b][i]I wouldn’t send any novalty in your letter.
My coach did a survey and the bottom line is the debtors hate it.
They look at it as if you think their situation is somewhat of a joke.
98% of them felt humiliated and did not want to talk to the investor.
just for for your information.[/i][/b]
Interesting. It had just the opposite affect for me.
I think it depends on what the novelty is. Its worth trying for me.
Here is a short letter, my other letter is long, so I wont bother posting it, cause its probably the one you already have.
Here is a short one I found.
Dear XXX,
As you should already know, your mortgage lender has just filed a lawsuit in Hillsborough County Circuit Court to foreclose on your mortgage loan.
This means that if, for whatever reason, you cannot bring your loan payments current before the scheduled foreclosure sale date, your house will be sold at a public foreclosure auction sale on the third floor of the Hillsborough County Courthouse to the highest bidder, and you will be evicted by the new owner.
If your house is sold this way, you will get absolutely nothing from the sale. The bank holding your mortgage only cares about getting back the money that you owe them. They do not care about what you get.
You could put your house on the market and try to sell it yourself. Or, you could take your chances and list it with a real estate broker. However, right now it takes about four months to sell a house in XXXXXX County.
I specialize in helping people in XXXX County who are in foreclosure. And I can help you, too! All that you have to do is to pick up the telephone right now, and call me at (XXX) XXX-XXXX to set up an appointment so that I can make you an offer to buy your house today. I will give you a cashier’s check for your house within five business days from today and stop the foreclosure and keep it off your credit report. I will also help you find another place to live. And, I will handle all of the details of the sale and deal with your lender and the title company processing all of the paperwork that is necessary to transfer the property’s title.
I look forward to hearing from you very soon and to working with you to stop your lender from foreclosing on your house.
Sincerely,
thats the Thomas Lucier letter. Good Choice, I used that letter but made a couple little changes such as informing them of their choices (loan mod, sell on market, etc…). I offered to explain their choices in more detail free of charge WHENEVER they wanted. To make a long story short, I mailed my letters on thursday got 3 calls saturday morning before noon, 2 calls the next day, 5 emails and actually had somebody stop by my house with her husband in the car to discuss their options. To be honest, the options helped get me in the door to explain their situation. Everyone wants to know what to do and how to do it so I informed them of their choices. When we sat down and figured what would work, selling to an investor seemed the best choice for them (with no influence from me) as I can offer cash within two weeks and the opportunity to help them move on. My letter however did stretch to two pages which I was highly nervous about, but being that it was the first and most informative of my 6 mailings to them i don’t mind because of the response. good luck
Put yourself in their place. Do you really want to take time to read a letter when you are about to lose your castle? Your personal investment? Keep in mind, they have lost their job or going through stressful divorce and someone very dear in the family is seriously sick and you want to talk to them about how you can make money off of their misfortune? Yes, you could save their credit from total destruction but person has to care and emotionally they are not capable to think ahead or the repercussions.
I don’t necessarily agree. Everyone’s not in a bad situation, some just don’t care. The first call i receieved was from a guy looking to GIVE AWAY his investment property. mortgaged back in '88, owes 20k, needs 5k of work, worth 50k, but he can’t handle doing the work (too old). He wants no profit, just wants the house gone. He can still make the payments, but in his own words “why bother? I’m already up in age and I want to use my money to enjoy my life before I die instead of paying some D**N bank”. A basic strategy of direct mailing is mail often and mail to your targets. Eventually they will HAVE to deal with the situation one way or another, and when they do they’ll see your letters/postcards/etc… sitting in front of them. the worst thing that can happen is someone who’s not in foreclosure gets the letter and decides to give you a call. If someone is in a bad situation let them read your stuff and try to work it out on their own. They’ll remember where they got the idea and if they can’t do it they’ll call the “experienced investor” who gave them the idea so they MUST be used to this sort of thing. Good Luck!
Your example is not consider as someone losing their home but an investment property. There is a difference. I will agree that, there might small percentage of homeowners that might not care but I would like to hear from people with their success stories to be convinced.
One more comment about your senario; You have a (too old) investor owned a investment property since 1988 … let see, that is almost 20 years experienced investor that didn’t want to infuse 5k to get 25k didn’t make sense to me. After all, he is a real estate investor and he could of had someone else do the work and still net 10k or so…
James,
Some day, you too shall be old…it’s different when you’re old…things take on different importance relevancies…
He wants to do other things than diddle with an investment property…he’s old, he’s wrung out most of the depreciation. He just wants to be done with it…he probably doesn’t really need the money.
Keith
Keith,
I am networking with real estate investor in the 70’s and 80’s. Yes, we all will get old in time but what is that got to do with thread? Now, if you would read the original subject to this thread and my comments to working with people in foreclosure… it was not gear toward old investors or investment properties rather, it was about how to approach people losing their home, private domaine if you will. The purpose of my comment was to point out what would be the obsticles and what to consider when approaching unfortunate time of homeowners life.
Can you please share this letter and techniques with me as well?
Thanks
Here is one that I wrote that, I didn’t get one single reply. You should be able to modify it to fit your personality.
Dear homeowner:
Since, time is of the essence, I will get right to the point. You are in pre-foreclosure status and we are interested in discussing with you about a way of helping you.
If it were possible for you to get a 2nd chance with your current mortgage, would you consider it? If not, maybe you would consider selling your property to me and save your credit while obtaining some cash? There are many ways to look at your current situation.
There is absolutely no obligation to sit down and talk with us. Our objective is to gain your trust by being honest with your situation by bringing various options to the table. We understand the emotional and anxiety involved in making important decision so, we would encourage you to think about it before making the decision.
Best Wishes