Expensive mistake

So I bought a preforeclosure list (60 day late list) and mailed 250 people from the list with FORECLOSURE prefessional letters (they’re obviously no where near foreclosure). Of course now I’m getting called from 250 pissed off people asking if they’re going into foreclosure or why I’m sending them a foreclosure letter in the first place! How could I be so stupid to send out such a letter to people that aren’t in foreclosure?!

I’m trying to turn it around when they call by saying, I apologize for the mistake and that I accidentally sent the wrong letter out. I think I burned most of those leads I just bought. :frowning: I was thinking to mail out to them again in a couple weeks or month (give them time to cool down) a handwritten mary letter. With this type of letter, maybe it will look so different that they wont associate it with me.

The weird thing is that all of these people are telling me they are 100% sure they pay their bills on time, aren’t late on payments, etc…These leads are pulled from Equifax though and I guess they just don’t want to admit they are late?

Well, at least I’m getting ALOT of calls! haha :smile Just not the calls I wanted. Needless to say, it’s enough to leave a bad taste in your mouth…

Bad list?

Could very well be…

Send mary letters and see if there is any motivation.

How are the percentages breaking down? That is to say, what percent of the total list you bought has contacted you? Of that number, what percentage of them have expressed that they are not in foreclosure / that they are current on their mortgage note, etc.

The reason is, if these percentages come to be more than half of what you purchased then I believe you would have proper justification to complain. You were sold a bad list.

Yes, the majority of the people will more than likely deny their misfortune. But at the same time, if they are in fact facing foreclosure…why would they bother calling you? If they know they have not made their mortgage payment, why would they call to tell you they have, if you are not the bank?

Either way, you seem to be the kind of person who’s glass is half full. “Well, at least I’m getting ALOT of calls! haha” I’ve always found that it’s the best way to look at things too. Like the Real Estate market…it’s not busting…it’s booming. It’s all a matter of how you look at it.

GooD LucK! :beer

BTW you are supposed to mail a certian type of letter to the 60 day lates with an opt-out feature… You have to be very careful and follow the rules…

I have seen people asociate thier we buy houses business with a mortgage company, the mortgage company sends a letter with all of the opt out instructions, and the we buy houses people keep mailing postcards etc…

Just what I have seen not saying its right or wrong

And for the lack of not wanting to do any research right now, do your own and always follow the rules ya’ll end up better off or better yet not looking through bars.

Well, I mailed them out on Saturday morning and since have had about 30-40 phone calls from different people/numbers. Almost all of those people have said there is no problem with their mortgage. Most of them were pissed off as well.

That’s what I’m trying to do. At first I was upset that I spent $300 on the list + $100 on postage + materials only to send that crap out. It is what it is, I’ll just have to suck it up and keep going.

Michael, can you send me your letter? Is it in your course - I haven’t seen it. When you say an “opt out feature”, I don’t quite follow… You mean like direct people to my website, have them fill a form to remove them from mailings? Follow what rules…? Is there something I’m missing or some way I SHOULD be marketing to these people to avoid getting into trouble?

My next letter I was thinking of just sending handwritten saying I buy houses in your area type of letter. That way I’m not letting them know I have a list saying they’re late.

From my experiences… You were sold a bad list.

There are rules and regs around mails that go out to people that are 30,60,90,120 days late, a search of reiclub.com should bring you to the exact message you are supose to put in your message. Its some big paragraph of an offer of mortgage, stating the interest rate, etc… I think Michael has actually posted the exact paragraph in one of his treads before. There are even laws around whether you can use their name in postage; I dont remeber all the rules around this stuff, although I should. I need to refresh myself on this stuff, haha.

“There are no mistakes…only lessons…”

Profound, I know (but still true).

Chris

Wow, that does sound like one bad list if you ask me. I would recommend contacting the company who sold you that list and ask for a refund or something. Unless it was a dirt cheap list (i.e. cheap enough to raise your eyebrow in suspicion), you should let them know about how poor the list was.

According to the guy I got the list from, the list is pulled from Equifax as soon as someone pays him. 2% of the list will be bogus according to the guy but says that if the data is wrong will give more leads to compensate. I gave the owner who pulls the list data a few examples of people that called me and he verified with Equifax that they were 60 days late on their mortgage payments.

When you say there are rules and regulations about what you can send people, is this to only the late list or to everybody you mail (expired, NOD, fsbo, etc…)??

Change up the letter and send yellow letters to that group to test response.

Can I get in trouble if someone complains that I sent them 2 letters or a series of letters? Some people said not to mail them again, but I don’t know all the people that said that.