I just had a marketing question and was looking to compare to things with other investors.
How many calls a day do you get on average from sellers?
How many calls a month do you get?
How many calls from sellers does it take to be able to proceed with a transaction?
Right now I am doing the Yellow letter campaign to Expireds / NODs (Multiple mailings) / Property Liens / Successions and get about 100 calls every 2 weeks but I need a bit more than 100 calls to get a deal.
Why such low conversion rate? what type of discount do you look for?
Last month I spent under $100 on my marketing because I do not want to buy any more. I ended up buying two houses, one with 10k equity but in perfect condition, the other with 35k equity but needs $8k repairs. This month I spent about $50 so far, I have 3 appointments but looks like all 3 expecting to be cashed out and I dont want to deal with all cash deals.
Again, not looking to buy but I don’t want to shutdown my marketing to keep my name out there. People just want to sell.
I am looking for some sort of motivation, atleast 80% LTV equity and about 85% discount.
I don’t do any subject to deals. I haven’t done one yet for Quebec and don’t plan to keep any single family homes anytime soon. That’s why I wouldn’t even touch a house with only 10K$ in equity. The rents in my area wouldn’t even make sense for 99% of mortgage payments out there on SFH’s.
If I can get a house cheap enough at 70% LTV I buy that cash, if it’s about 75-85% LTV I option the property and auction it away.
I have had successes with these round robin auctions where I am able to sell the houses at about 90% of market value.
I believe we had 3% appreciation so far this year, so the market here is still good. It took me over a year to find the right balance for my marketing, and I will still do the direct marketing campaigns once I get back into the buying game. I made some costly mistakes by owner financing to the wrong people and doing some evictions/foreclosures right now so I need to get rid of the houses I have before I buy more.
My marketing works for the type of deals I do. I find it waste of money for those who are looking to wholesale or get such discount because I hardly ever get such deals. However, when you get a 2 year old home in a good condition, you don’t need 30% discount.
I am trying to stay under $120k homes. I do buy sub2 and owner finance them, although I am thinking of venturing into medium rehabs and doing some cashouts because I am getting strapped on cash with some defaulting loans. I don’t rent, I just sell on owner financing… the notes I have vary between 8% and 10%.
I don’t like NODs for many reasons… First, we get about 700 to 800 notices a month. We have as many investors in the local REIA club who market, door knock, calls them. I also don’t like having to spend the money to bring their loans current, paying them to move, and fixing up the place. I do not have the cash to go after them yet.
Don’t take me wrong, I will definitely go after NODs, Expireds, FSBO, FRBO in the future… but I have enough leads right now that I do not need to target them yet. Once I change my investing strategy, or max the return on my current marketing, I will go after them. But right now I don’t have the need to yet.
I will probably go after Expireds first before NODs with strong copy (letters/post cards).
I think I remember your posts from dealmaker cafe!
The language barrier is preventing the Quebecers from learning creative investing techniques from the Americans and Americans or other creative investors are not getting involved in Quebec cuz of language issues.
Yeah I hardly ever get any 120 000$ homes in my area that aren’t 2 bedroom / 1 bath homes that almost nobody wants to buy…
That isn’t to say I won’t do subject to in the future, just isn’t the time for me.
That’s what sucks about living in large metropolitan areas, it is extremely difficult to get a house that positive cashflows with the mortgage payments.
Here in Montreal, my target market area has around 2 million people, and there is only 130 defaults a month. So it’s really easy for me to filter the NOD list and send direct mail / telemarketing to that list.
Also there are only about 2 other investors that send direct mail to this list and about 4-5 others that are doing telemarketing as well but they all suck.
It’s the same here in Kitchener-Waterloo, very little competition. I only do lease options so you and I work very different segments of the market. For example I don’t like to deal with people in default, they don’t make good candidates for ‘partnering’ on a L/O.
and i sort of got an insight of how to get NODs here in ontario, i’ve always tried to ask for this “list”. but there is no such list.
just copy paste an article here, it’s not mine!
[b]YOU MUST MAKE YOUR OWN LIST.
That’s right, depending upon your county, you must look up each individual recording or filing information and compile your own list. Once you have done that, then you’ll have a list. Recordings and filings are done daily and usually by book and page number. So the easiest way is to compile your lists on a daily basis is from the previous days filings/recordings. They may also be categorized or assigned a specific routing code or there may be some kind master index showing all the filings or recordings for that day.
When you first go down to your county clerk, courthouse or recorder’s office, don’t ask for a list, ask them how foreclosures and notices are filed. Ask them if there are specific ways to look up foreclosure notices, whether it be the default or sale notices. Ask them if there are specific codes you need to gather that information. Ask them how the information is made public. Ask them if there is any indexing of the notices. Ask them if they are online. Ask them if what information is accessible online. Ask them if they have time to show you how to look up the information; if they don’t have time right now, ask them when is the best time to return and set up an appointment if possible. Above all be courteous, businesslike and nice to these people, because if you do this right, they will become friends in the long run.
Another place to check would be the legal section of your local paper or you may also have a legal newspaper in your area. This legal section might not only list foreclosures, but may also have lawsuits and summons, divorces and probates and anything else of a legal nature. You just need to dig.[/b]
that’s it. i am sure Canada is a bit different, but should be following the same logic.
I buy 1 house for every 10 calls I get. And I get 10 calls for every 150-200 letters that I mail out. I use the yellow letter consistently and regularly, and always get results that are good!!!
Equation= Mail 150 Letters= Buy 1 house.
Remember, though, that It’s all about the marketing, stupid!!!
After that, it’s all about the training.
If you dont know how to negotiate and talk to sellers, it doesnt matter how much your phone rings.