I am a beginning investor, I’ve read some books and took foreclosure seminars to help increase my knowledge in that area. They tell you different systems and strategies that may help you find your own system for the business that you set up. We’re marketing right now and have sent out a hundred letters to addresses of properties through a software we received. 43 letters came back as a vacant property or a non-existent address. I checked out those addresses again through an online website and all but two came back as properties that were just recently sold. The two were bank owned. So I decided to go back and check the addresses of the properties with letters that never came back and realized that out of 57 properties only 7 weren’t recently sold. Basically I narrowed it down to the 7 and tried to look for the homeowners of the property and only one name came up. I am determined to stay in this business for a long time no matter how hard it is, but there has got to be an easier way to look for pre-foreclosures and foreclosures. And along with that how do I find the homeowners? This isn’t just the only we look for properties by the way, we just feel like its a waste of money if we’re going to mail out letters that are only going to have a less than 10% chance of it actually being a foreclosure.
Please any suggestions :banghead, would be greatly appreciated :beer.
James, where are you located?
I have discussed this a little topic before but the easiest way to market to foreclosures is to make or get lists of Lis Pendens filings. If you want to trade time for money you can get info from several national services. If you have more time than money you can go to the court house and pull down the records yourself. I discuss this type of marketing on my blog and you can either go there or send me an email and I will provide you with more information.
There is no getting around the fact that some of your foreclosure property is going to be abandoned. Finding vacant property owners is a challenge. If you go to the court house and follow the file you will often see where the person in foreclosure has been served. The lawyers for the banks often hire skip tracers. However, some of them just disappear into a black hole in space.
Good luck this is a great business
I am located in Huntington Station and Port Jefferson Station atleast that is where we are looking to do a lot of business.
In order to find the owner of an abandoned or vacant property do a six pack of the neighbors and then put a For Sale Sign in the front yard…
The owner will call you.
Michael Quarles
HAHA thats great I love that guerrilla tactic, but is that legal and what is a “six Pack”?
That’s actually a great idea! …but I’m sure I didn’t have to tell you that.
A six pack is
a) 6 cans of beer, I like Bud Light
http://www.reiu.com/Editor/assets/u1001/bud2.GIF
b) great abs,
http://www.reiu.com/Editor/assets/u1001/abs1.JPG
c) the 3 neighbors across the street and the neighbors on each side of the subject property
http://www.reiu.com/Editor/assets/u1001/61.GIF
I have way too much time on my hands today… Sorry Moderators
In Ohio it is HIGHLY ILLEGAL to put a sign in front of someones house if you do not have the proper listing paperwork signed by the homeowner. The instructors who teach the Realtor Schools have examples of people who have been fined and jailed for doing just that.
Check your state laws.
Good Luck! :beer
I agree as a Realtor don’t put a sign in the front yard… BUT don’t become an active Realtor either…An Investor needing the number to the property owner it’s not a bad way to receive that info…
Jail time is hog wash…
I agree and that is a genius idea Michael…
Government agencies imprison terminally ill patients for smoking a plant…
Law enforcement imprisoned an 86 year old woman for the grass in their front yard being taller than the ankle…
And the president of the united states has openly stated that the constitution does not apply to him…
Jail time for putting a for sale sign in front of some elses house without their knowledge or permission is fraud…
Jail time for breaking the law is possible, regardless of your personal opinions. Many of your comments are ‘hog wash’ in my opinion.
Again, I suggest checking with your state and local laws before you put any signs up in front of someone else’s property.
Good Luck! :beer
I wasn’t calling your comment hog wash I was saying jail time for putting an 18 x 24 inch house for sale sign in the yard of a house to find the owner is…
But I guess you could go to jail for driving 1 mile over the speed limit too.
I laugh at the investors that build their own road blocks… Can’t do this because the boogie mans going to get you!
I had my local board of Realtors call me about my “Mary” letters that I send to expired listings. They wanted to chat with Mary… I told the board president that Mary was a phantom. She immediately said that my letters were deceptive and false advertising… That I couldn’t make up a name of someone and have a letter sent to a seller by someone that doesn’t exist…
My Response… "Do you think Ronald McDonald and Jack 'n the Box are real?
She hung up on me and I haven’t heard from her again… I guess I could have apologized and stopped my practice of sending expired letters but I DIDNT. I buy houses…
Good Luck and I rarely think anything you say is Hog Wash.
Michael Quarles
So if you put a for sale sign on someone’s house to get them to call you, will they actually do business with you?
I would be irritated and certainly would immediately think that you were a real weasel and not anyone who could be trusted.
Of course, I am not in foreclosure, so maybe people who don’t pay their bills would react differently?
But is ticking someone off the best way to buy their property?
You wouldn’t be getting any phone calls from me until about your third “for sale” sign. Your signs would just go into the trash. And maybe if my house got vandalized because there was a for sale sign on it, I might be talking to a lawyer about suing you for damages.
I will not put a “for rent” sign on any of my vacancies because that is an invatation to get your copper plumbing and maybe your AC unit stolen.
But again, I am maybe not your typical homeowner. Maybe they aren’t so territorial.
Great point…
They are pissed off… But now I have their number which was the reaon for the for sale sign. An associate can call the next day and ask if they are thinking of selling…
When I cold called a lot I was always surprised that people were jerks one day and nicer then nice the next… Because of this I stopped taking notes about the seller when I called people.
You will find the same thing…
As for the liability of a for sale sign… havent been sued yet… These are self created road block people…
Good Investing
Michael