Can anyone talk about their success with lis pendens and knocking on doors?
Any success stories?
Any crazy stories?
Has the home owner ever chased you away with a shovel? ! :o
No success yet but I am starting to do this. Its a bit nerve racking but I’m the first one to the house, I beat all the letters to the house, and I can provide a face that someone can actually help. I haven’t had too many bad responses. Nothing over the top.
Nate-Wi
Your on the wrong board to hear success stories. Go to reiplace and I can tell who has had success with this tactic. I like it cause it gets me out in the neighboorhoods and I get first crack at the seller. Your waste of time is what happened for you. I’ve picked up a short sale in the few doors I’ve knocked at. Good luck to ya,
Nate-WI
NJ: I just started knocking on doors here & there. I have not had anyone be mean to me or anything like that. The worst response I got was “it’s already been taken care of.” My attitude is to just go out there & try it. You judge the results for yourself. My advice is to not let anyone dissuade you from trying different forms of marketing (and knocking on doors is one of them). Just b/c it may not have worked for them doesn’t mean it won’t work for you.
Besides…equity hunter is a blowhard and like he says about himself…“Done it, been there, forget it.” Don’t listen to a poster who doesn’t give advice and gives nothing back to the board. Your a waste of time “EH” Late.
My suggestion is to go out and give it your absolute best shot. Don’t let the nay sayers tell you it doesn’t work. For those that tell you it’s a waste of time but don’t follow up with a better idea are probably still hunting for equity.
I have had marginal luck in Real Estate by sending post cards, a bit better with sending personally signed letters but there is NOTHING that beats showing up with a positive attitude, answers to questions and a bit of sympathy for a HO in distress.
It’s still all about the handshake!!
My advice for people looking to invest in foreclosures is to think about it first. If you got yourself into a jam for one reason or another and someone came knocking on your door trying to buy your house, what would you do? Invite them in for coffee or give them an excuse to get them to leave? I know what I would do, so I now approach people the way I’d like to be approached.
I absolutely do not offer to buy their house initially. I do not try to sell them loss mitigation services. I do not try and sell them a mortgage. I do not suggest that bankruptcy is an option. I do not want to list their house. I do not get into any of that. I just offer to help.
I tell them I have numerous ways to help them regardless of their situation. I let them know that I have a lot of options for them but I just need some basic information to get started and see what is best for their situation. It is totally free, I do not charge anything at all for my services.
If you are door knocking, I suggest that you bring along your deal paperwork just in case, but start with a basic information form. When they answer the door, tell them who you are and why you are there. Ask them leading relationship building questions and ask them if they have a few minutes to discuss their situation. Do not just say “OK” and let them go when they say “it has been taken care of” because 9 times out of 10 it hasn’t. Tell them that is great and ask them what they did to handle it.
If they do not wish to talk on initial contact, or if they are not home, I leave them an envelope or folder that contains some or all of the following along with the mention that I will be following up with them a a few days to touch base and see how they are doing:
- Detailed information on the foreclosure process for my area including time frames and what to expect at each stage of the process.
- A report on the various options available to them including all the options available for foreclosure prevention and for selling, etc.
- A report on Scams and how to avoid being taken advantage of.
- A personal letter from me about what I do and what I have to offer them.
- A company brochure and business card.
- Newspaper clipping of the downturn in the markets and the rise in foreclosures.
- Articles (ads) on me and my company.
If they are not home, I leave the materials on their doorstep in either a FedEx envelope or a USPS Priority Mail envelope. These are free and they always get opened. I then follow up within a day or two to be sure they got it and reviewed the materials.
Then I go from there trying to get the basic info from them. Once I get that, the rest is easy because their wall is now down. They have opened up to me. I make sure I contact them several times (at least five) during this phase of the process to ask them questions or give them an update or whatever. I want to touch base with them several times so they get comfortable with me. I can then begin putting them into whatever of my offerings fits their situation, all of which earn me money.
I hope this helps.
Steve
Steve:
Yours was one of the most informative posts on this newsgroup. Thanks.
Anything I can do to help a fellow investor. And thank you for the very kind words.
I love the “FedEx envelope or a USPS Priority Mail envelope” idea.
Thanks for taking time to share.
My best success from door knocking, is leaving a small note asking the homeowner to call me. Because i want to buy their house.
the merits of KISS
What do you mean by contact them 2 months after the sale? Contact who? The bank owns the house at that point right? I am really confused by that post.
~joshua
jsstinson: The only thing that is worth noting from EH’s post is that everyone & their dog goes after preforeclosures with equity. Look at this forum & you’ll see that SS do work and door knocking is one of various ways of contacting the target market - owners headed to foreclosure.
Great post brookview. Excellent information, love the fedex envelope idea. They DO always get opened! And I of course love the free part 
About door knocking. It’s not just like going door to door selling candybars. You should KNOW if they have equity or not and what your strategy is for that particular homeowner BEFORE you even knock on their door. If you don’t believe in short sales, then only knock on the doors where there is equity.
EH is right. Door knocking takes time and people with equity do get swarmed. That does not necessarily mean it is a bad strategy to go after them. And door knocking is one way to do it. Some people even enjoy door knocking.
I really don’t do it any more but when I was starting out, why not? I had nothing better to do and not a lot of money, so I went to the neighborhoods and talked to people. I got my lists and went to town. While I was there I knocked on every house that looked like crap too. It is extremely beneficial to someone starting out to get used to talking with homeowners, even if they aren’t interested.
I think the best way to door knock now is to hire someone else (like local college students) to do it for you. Pay them on a menu type arrangement depending on what becomes of the deal. For example, $5 per knocked door that they leave info, $50 if they speak with the homeowner and get me an appt to meet with them, $100 if it turns into a foreclosure prevention type arrangement, $500 on a purchase, etc. You can pay whatever you want.
I would also like to point out once again that my focus is first on helping them try to keep their house, not just buy their house. Most people do not want to sell when they are in pre-foreclosure. However, quite often they will have to sell regardless of what they want so you absolutely must stay in touch with them. EH makes a good point about following up after the sale date, but I don’t wait until then. I work on building the relationship along the way and continuously offer to help them. Then when they are ready to sell, they call me becasue I was there for them all along.
I have never done a short sale, I refer them out to people that want them and get a fee if it closes. I don’t want to spend all that time and effort on them. They can be profitable though, I do know that much.
Sounds like Brookview is talking about a different business model than short sales.
I like to target people that have very little equity in thier house for potential short sales (and door knocking is one way to contact them). These people usually have very few options and there are more of them vs. the ones with equity.
As far as door knocking, you can hire door knockers and also pay them after you close. For example, you can pay them $250 if you end up doing a deal with the person whose door they knocked. And/or you could pay them $500 if they get a signed Authorization to Release form.
The OP didn’t ask about short sales, he asked about lis pendens and door knocking. I know shorting a deal is one way to make it work, I just don’t do them.