Ron LeGrand's "Yellow Letter" campaign successes?

General Real Estate Investing
1

I’m in transition from Realtor to Investor and live in North CA. Wondering if there are any Ron LeGrand students out there who have successfully used the Yellow Letter marketing method. My LeGrand material is a little outdated, but getting ready to spend some $$ on marketing and have some questions/comments about the method. Sure would love to hear from some of you that believe it really is “the most successful method of mailing” out there, according to LeGrand and others. Even if you are in another state or market, please post and
Thank-you for your feedback.

teresa

2

I recently got some books on a book swap with a fellow investor who sent me a LeGrand book. . . and told me that he is MIA.

3

All:

My fiancee and I have just completed the Ron LeGrand Ugly House and Pretty House Boot Camps. We haven’t completed a deal yet (we just started) but we’re very well set up. We have already placed classifieds in 10 different newspapers, purchased signs, business cards, and car magnets. We have two different websites, one for sellers and one for buyers. We have the toll free number, and today, we began creating our phone automation through Voice Connect (www.voiceconnectinc.com) Our next marketing plan was a Yellow Letter campaign. We have been in communication with a handful of other investors who have already done a yellow letter campaign, and they have had responses anywhere from .05% to 25%! The trick is to get a good list of people truly motivated.

One hint: Divorce, Lis Pendens, judgements. Find them and write to them.

Good luck.

4

What is a "yellow letter campaign?

5

I am getting ready to start a yellow letter campaign and would like to get advice from anyone who may be able to help me, before I get started.

6

I have read Ron Legrand’s book and on wholesale deals he specifically says to make phone contact with the sellers. “No letters” is what he says…so I am not sure how his yellow letter campaign factors into the equation. Does someone know the answer to this?

7

Do you handwrite or type when doing the Yellow Letter?

8

I’ve had what many would call extraordinary success with the yellow letters. They are the cornerstone of my investment strategy.

Here are some tips that have really helped me be successful in my yellow letter campaigns:

  • Do your research on your lists.

I usually do very narrow mailings. Meaning, I will only do one county, and very specific people. My last mailing was for one of the counties in New York City, multifamily only (2 family up to a 16 unit apartment building.) Also, I only sent it to people who were in default of a mortgage, not people getting divorced or sued. Just people in trouble with banks. (My reasoning there was to get a handful of short sales.)

  • Get buyers before you even send out the first letter.

I go to REIA meetings, I have a good rapport with the investment community. Make sure you know some buyers who will purchase these houses as soon as you get them. Talk to your investor friends, tell them what you’re up to, and what you have in store for them. This way, you can just assign any contracts you get from the yellow letters and get paid within 15-30 days.

  • It’s a numbers game.

The more you do, the more responses you will get. I realized that after sending out my first 250 letters (September 2004.) I got 37 responses, went to see 11 of the homes. Signed purchase agreements on 7 houses. Assigned 3 contracts, purchased a two family house with a conventional loan (at 70% LTV with no money down) to rehab and flip, two short sales fell through, and one contract was a dead deal.

If you are curious at my total income from that particular yellow letter campaign (rehab included) just look at my username.

  • Use technology! (It’s the 21st century, for the love of pete!)

I should really approach Ron about creating my own product for his yellow letters. Here’s what I have done to expedite the YL campaigns:

I created a database system that automatically downloads the Lis Pendens off of PropertyShark each week. It whittles down the list as per my specifications (multifamily, zip codes, etc.) It then creates a mailing list of the properties I want to send letters to.

It imports that mailing list directly into MS Word, to fill in the blanks of a form letter version of the yellow letter, so all I have to do is load up my color laser printer with yellow legal paper, and print them all at once. (Oh, yeah, I guess I forgot to mention that I had a graphic designer create a TrueType Font of my own handwriting.)

So, once a week, run the mailing list and print out the letters, and stuff them in the mail. Get a good color laser printer that can feed envelopes (HP or Xerox is good.) Get the envelopes that you don’t need to lick, just pull and peel. Stamps only. You don’t want anything that says “this letter is from a company.” These folks are avoiding any letter from a lawyer, bank, real estate agent or an investor. Most haven’t come to terms with the fact that they are losing their home. Denial.

The whole idea of the yellow letter is to get people who need to sell their house calling you. If you do it right, that is exactly what should happen. Once they are calling, it’s up to you and your training to get the deal and get the deed. So, in closing, the yellow letter is just a tool. It gets people who are in a very motivated position to sell their house on the phone.

9

Hey,
Just a note: the “yellow letter” campaign is a tried and true successful method, among many, of marketing. It has been used in many different niches. It, as well as any other, will need to be tweaked and re-tweaked to fit you and your market. And, as indicated, it is a numbers game. Additionally, as stated, it is the natural unofficial look, feel and sound of the letter that is its beauty and the basis of its success.
Peace,
Richard

10

I found this site if you want to convert your handwriting to a font to install on your computer.

http://www.fontifier.com

It works real well and is only $9 to get it done.

11

Keep in mind that this yellow letter has been around, it has been used by thousands of people.
If you do what everyone else does, expect the same lousy results as everyone gets…

12

Right on, Sniper!

If you look like everyone else, you’ll get the same results as everyone else. Instead of trying to use someone else’s letters, why not write your own and insert your own buying style and personality?

Sure, you may get the call, but if your seller doesn’t know how you plan on buying the house, that you plan on buying at a discount (they have no way of knowing you’re an investor and don’t assume that they do) then your voice mail or inbox will fill up with tirekickers and unmotivated seller and it’ll take more time to weed through them all. Its also possible that the seller gets the exact same yellow letter from 3 different people. That doesn’t look very original either.

By writing your own letters, you stand out from everyone else, can tailor it to exactly the situation that the seller is in (pre-foreclosure, expired listing, divorce, etc) and really target the needs of the seller.

I use www.supersmartwebprofits.com for my voicemail system. They’re very comparible to Voice Connect in price and offer WAY better customer service.

Big Cheese

13

I know a guy who spent $60,000 on these boot camps from various GURU’s. He didn’t do 1 deal from all the money he spent.

I have done deals as well!

Good Luck everyone!

Ciao

14

Hey,
To each his own - whatever works. What is important is the deal gets done whichever way, whatever impetus, whatever knowledge - the deal gets done.
Peace,
Richard

15

The trick is to get the homeowner to open YOUR letter amongst the dozens of other investor letters they’re getting every week. Or day for that matter.
You need to stand out. And the “Dear Homeowner” greeting is sure to get tossed with all the others. Need to make it more personal. Sure it takes more time to personally address the greeting of every letter you send out with the homeowners name.
An acquaintance of mine buys foreclosed properties. I was recently in his office and he showed me all the letters that one homeowner gave him they had received before he bought their house. I personally looked them over. ALL of them were generic. They ALL had that same typical bootcamp greeting and “blah, blah what I can do for you blah blah…” And ALL of them were photocopied on white paper.
You think it would be to difficult to stand out from the rest of the lame ducks in this case? How difficult would it be to think outside the box?
Wanna know how he got the homeowner to open his letter and how he got the deal and all the others didn’t?
It’s genius but creative. He just does what the others don’t do. It costs him maybe a .10-.30 more per letter but it works wonders.
And as far as certain fonts, you can go to UrbanFonts.com and theres 100’s of different fonts and from my experience evoice.com is a bargain at $4.95 mo for a vm system to screen your callers.
Thats my 2 cents…keep the change.

16

gccre,

So what was the creative idea that your friend did for just an additional .1 cents? ???

I hope you could share it to us.

17

Pray tell, 172600dollars, just how did you create that database? :wink:

I am an NYC Commercial / Residential Appraiser. If you need info/help with anything, I’d be happy to help you.

18

Thanks for spamming this board. Its weird as you being the owner of the company what is it that you use your own yellow letter business for?

19

I’ve been buying houses since 1999. I;ve tried every type of marketing out there available to real estate investors, including bandit Signs, postcards (with 6 or 7 follow ups), Door to door flyers, Mail merge letters, you name it. I have found that nothing works better than the yellow letter. In fact, its the only form of marketing that I use right now.
We have a team of 5 new investors here in Jacksonville (right in Ron LeGrand’s home town) that we train, and they all use the yellow letter. Each one of them consistently buy 2 to 3 houses every month by using the yellow letter.

I started a business last year in which we provide the service of getting the yellow letters written and envelopes hand addressed, stamped and mailed out. We take care of campaigns for real estate investors all across the US. Hopefully I won’t get into trouble for mentioning it on this board, but you can visit the website and read everything there is to know about the yellow letter, how it works, what to expect, etc. There’s a great wealth of information on the site that you can use just for knowledge.

There is also a blog that’s been started that has real deals that are being done using the yellow letter that is brand new. New deals will be posted there from real people who use the yellow letter. Check that out, too.
If you are serious about buying houses and not just playing around, the yellow letter is the way to go.
It’s a great vehicle for new investors since it almost forces you to do deals.

Good Luck, and if i can answer anything else for you, let me know. :biggrin

20

See? comments like that makes newbies rush to use yellow letters thinking they found the secret to marketing.

The yellow letter is just one form of marketing, it gets opened because it looks personal and people will read it to find out whats in it. But like any marketing method, if you do not send it to the right audiance, the message is not convincing enough, or if you are not consistent enough, then you are wasting your money and time.

You can get lots of calls if you hand write “I would like to buy your house, all you have to do is call me” for example because it looks so personal, but there is no guarantee of the quality of the call.

Most people who market send out their letters once or twice and quit, or mail 100 letters thinking they will get few deals from that then get frustrated and think marketing does not work.