Hey all,
Over the past month or so I have been working with a local real estate investor to provide him motivated sellers using leads he provides (NOD’s). This is done by driving to each address, speaking with the home owner(s), going through a script with the home owner, provide them literature about what can be done to help them out of their situation and get a phone number and setup a time to contact them for consultation.
My thoughts were to make this process more efficient and start a direct mailing campaign using yeller letters, Mary letters and postcards. To me my time would be better spent doing this versus driving to literally hundred of addresses and speaking to the homeowner, especially not knowing what the response rate would be. So I have been sending out letters and postcards every 3-5 days using 1-3 varying letters and 2 varying postcards – about 200 per week. To date, no responses but I will continue down this path until I get my first commission unless I get no responses after a month or so. After a month I plan on trying the direct approach in addition to a direct mailing campaign. I’ll cut to the chase - my questions are as follows:
- What are your experiences with direct contact with home owners that are in pre-foreclosure (NOD) or foreclosure? I get the impression they wouldn’t be the nicest people to chat with knowing their situation. Is this generally the case or am I wrong?
- What is the response rate of direct contact? In your experience is it generally more or less than direct mailing?
- What is the best way to handle the conversation knowing the type of leads I will be dealing with? I hear doing this can be a nightmare. In some instances I have heard of homeowners waving guns around.
- Is my timeline of one month long enough to allow home owners to act or should I wait longer? I hear it can take as long as the 7th mailing to get responses. It’s not an exact science I know.
Is this the best way to spend my time? In a manner of speaking I feel as if I’m not doing enough to start my REI business. Is this normal or should I be more aggressive? I want to be efficient, but if efficiency is not producing then I need to do something else. Fundamentally I’m working on commission until I have enough capital to do this entirely on my own.
In advance, thanks for your input.
Best Regards,
Chris
Hello
Please stop driving around… And why arent you doing the deals yourself?
Anyway… Vouchers out pull Mary Letters for 60|90|120|NOD Mary out pull everything else however understand the cost to drop those bad boys in the mail… You can buy them for 1.19 or produce them yourself for about the cost of a first class stamp including postage…
I posted a massive mail campaign which should only be done when wanting a ton of lead generation… So with that said cut your mail back to a voucher, followed by a Mary letter then postcard(Very specific message) and go on to your next prospect… This prospect group is too abundant to worry about touches where as a free and clear need a lot more touching…
Good luck
Michael
Thanks Mike.
a. The leads are provided to me by the company I am doing business with and they are provided by a title company on a weekly basis. The leads are by county and vary anywhere between 30 home owners to 300 depending on the county. I’m not sure that I could get the same list so I can market the leads since I don’t have a relationship with the title company. Furthermore from what I read here it would be quite expensive to get these lists by week. Question: If I receive a new list every week – what is the best way to manage my mailings? I’m finding this to be quite difficult to track and maintain. The list is continually changing from week to week and managing it is arduous at best. There must be a better way that’s relatively inexpensive.
b. I know quite a bit about the options that are available to people in these situations but am concerned that when I receive a call from prospects that I will not either have all the answers and thus will be unable to obtain the business due to lack of home owner confidence in me. In addition, if I do happen to get a yes answer to proceed, that I won’t be able to complete the deal. I just don’t feel that I have all of the tools to finish. Items such as the analyzing the deals and organizing the money makers against the time wasters.
c. I don’t have any experience and feel that if I tell them I’ve done this before it would be false. Due to the lack of experience I don’t have any references to provide them of happy customers I’ve provided services too. I want to be honest and maintain integrity with my business.
Paralyzed with fear to do it all myself - highly likely - yes.
I certainly wish I could or would, especially since I’m losing my Engineering JOB in the middle of April. It would be great to have some money in the bank - Anyways I digress. I agree with you I should do it myself. I need to create of list of actions items to get to that point.
Best Regards,
Chris
OMG Chris…
Stop with the self pity and worry rant… Go kick some house butt… Do some mail, then answer the telephone, get some contracts, sell those bad boys and make some friggin money…
The last time you were new at anything was the day the doctor slapped you on the fanny and made you cry… From that moment forward you have learned and have gained experiences which now reclassify you into the “Seasoned” person status…
Youre giving way too much credit to the average foreclosure victim… Maybe theyre not victims… Besides you already are defeated unless you try… A silent non voiced “NO” is still a NO and you are allowing money opportunities go by because of your personal fear…
If you connot let go of the fear then allow me be more blunt… Get out of investing completely… This is not a business for those that worry about fear of the unknown…
To be more frank… If it were easy everyone would do it… If everyone did it it would not be worth the money we make…
Done with my rant.
Michael
I agree with what your saying. I need to quote anaylizing and preparing and just do it. Fair enough. Thanks for calling me on my sh@! - my wife says I need that once in a while.
Best Regards,
Chris