1- Does anyone have any non-offensive and successful letters they use to mail out to people in pre-foreclosure?
I want to contact these people but have found some form letters to be very cold.
2- Does anyone recommend just knocking on the door or do you feel an intro letter with contact info works better?
These people are in a bad place and I want to be polite/considerate to them while letting them know I can help them. I just really stink at wording things…lol
I have used this simple letter for initial prospecting.
Dear Homeowner,
I am a real estate investor and also interested of buying properties around your neighborhood. I found out from county courthouse that your property is in default and eventually foreclosure if no further action is made.
There are several things that you can do to save your equity and protect your credit. If you are interested in a free and confidential consultation, please call me immediately at (123)456-7890. Please don’t hesitate to make an appointment, as time is of essence; it could take several days to stop the foreclosure action.
Sincerely,
Mr. Real E. Investor
You just have to keep sending them, it’s a numbers game. Good luck.
Personal interactions with homeowners especially those in default could be tough. You have to realize that most of them won’t even open the door for you.
Thanks for sharing with me RESLYNN. I appreciate it.
I made a series of letters myself that were very similar. I actually did my first set of mailings last week.
Let me ask you -
What has been your general response rate from your mailings?
Did your respondants ever comment on your letters or make recommendations for the future?
For conversation sake we can assume -
A pretend group of 50 people in pre-foreclosure with letters/followups mailed to them once every 2 weeks.
Personally, I feel that knocking on their doors would be rude and intrusive so I plan on sticking to mailings.
The success rate is pretty low. For 20 letters you sent, maybe 3 the most if youre lucky will call you. But you have to look at it at different perspective. Those 3 responses, 50% of your negotiation is almost taken care of. They’re mostly motivated because they already took the courage of calling you. Just like what I said, homeowners in financial troubles avoids contacts to people particularly creditors.
And when you have someone called you from your prospects, you better make your decisions quick. That meeting you could have with these folks will be one shot. You will probably never heard anything back from them after that meeting. Bottom line, you have to know your market because you better know what kind of offer you have in case this motivated homeowner wanted out of his home. You also need to know if his loan is in first or second lien…the more you know about it, the better.
And as far as knocking on doors, I agree with you that it’s kind of rude. But with them answering your letter first by calling you is the absolute way of those prospects looking for you.
Then, you could send them a followup letter for those folks that didnt call you. Persistence is the key and you have nothing to lose anyway…oh yeah, the 37cents stamps. But you received that got that call, it’s like money ringing for you.
I figured the response rate would be alot lower. I figured one out of 50. I have mailed 50 so far and have not heard anything. One more week and I will mail follow up letters. I know it takes time. Mostly for them to work past their denial. All I know is, if I was in foreclosure without options, I would take any fair deal that came my way. I have dealt with bad credit. I never want to go throguh that again!
The most successful investors knock on their door with a contract/check in hand on the DAY they go on the default list. If you’re not getting any response to your letters it’s because you’re way late.
I know a guy who did 154 deals in the last 2 years and he knocks on doors… most people are just too afraid to try that approach, but the early bird DOES get the worm!
But I would have to think over the “knocking on doors” strategy alot. I don’t think everything has to be about money. Sometimes, you have to consider the other human beings around you and have some manners or courtesy. Lack of common courtesy…I think that is why I rarely see people holding doors open for elders, pregnant women or women with strollers. People just push right passed them and go into the store, mall, etc.
I love the idea of getting the deals Z. No doubt about that. I will have to think about this long and hard.
Also, some people argue that early is not necessarily the best strategy because many people are still in denial. Now they are angry with you for knocking on their door and they will not forget your face. No second chance there. lol
I was in sales so I have no fear. I do know from experience that confrontational sales tactics can be a dead-end. I left one company because my supervisor tried to make me sell equipment my prospects did not need and could not afford. I changed to another company, used my own gentle approach of selling only what was right for my prospect. My sales tripled!!! My reputation was solid too.
I have to agree, that knocking on doors is not the ONLY way to get the deals… I hope I didn’t insinuate this… but like I said, a friend got 150+ deals in 2 years this way. ;D I know he is very polite and is a wonderful communicator as well.
A lot of people build their business around letters and are VERY successful too. There’s more than 1 way to skin a cat!
Hey Z,
I know you were just offering your insight and I found it stimulating. Obviously there is more than one way to do something but your input and point of view was still valuable to me. Thanks for sharing.
I think I will do some door knocking. I might try some of the deals I find to be long shots first. That way I can “practice”. Then maybe I will use it only for the deals I feel need to be snatched up. Maybe I will see that I am very good at it and will do it more often. I truly just want to have a certain amount of courtesy and care for those that I am dealing with.
I went through hard times and I know that I only blamed myself. If someone had come knocking at my door with a legit solution I would have taken it. Bad credit is a nightmare to go through!!! lol