by Richard Roop

You can deliver a mailing piece up to 3.3 ounces for between 11.6 and 12.9 cents each. You probably receive “junk mail” delivered at this rate. I get postcards, self-mailers, brochures, flyers, coupon books and local store catalogs on a regular basis delivered using the US postal service’s Enhanced Carrier Route (ECR) rates.

As a real estate investor, you can get more sellers calling you and sell your houses fast using the lowest postage rates available. It works when you want to concentrate a mailing to all homes in a certain neighborhood or area.

We already mailed an oversized postcard to sell 6 of our houses and next week will deliver my famous “advertorial” to homeowners convincing them to call if they want to sell their house quickly and easily.

After showing other investors how to use this low cost, direct mail approach, I have figured out the best way for you to research it and use it yourself. Look in your phonebook under “mailing services.” You’ll also find print shops and letter shops that can help. Tell them you want to saturate several neighborhoods with a postcard. You want to use their “standard Mail” permit or you can get your own. The cost for your own is $125 to setup and $125 a year. But the mailing house may prefer or require you use theirs. That’s good.

Tell the vendor you want to mail to all residents. This is also known as a SATURATION mailing. In some areas, instead of an address label, you can have POSTAL CUSTOMER or BOXHOLDER or RESIDENT preprinted on your postcard. In other areas you’ll need to buy a RESIDENT LIST which includes all the addresses in a certain zip code or carrier route, but not names. We checked several sources for lists and were quoted 1 cent to 3 cents each. Do pay more than 1 cent each. If you can’t get it locally then you can get it from a national company. In fact, it’s possible to do the entire job (print, address and mail) with a national company.

If addresses are required, one source you can look into is www.melissadata.com. In fact, if you go to their site, you can get a count of the number of addresses and carrier routes for any zip code you enter. Their cost is about 1 cent each for online download, CD-ROM or labels.

The key postal term to mention is Enhanced Carrier Route Walk Sequence Saturation (ECRWSS). When prepared properly, the mail carrier will deliver one mail piece to each address on the route. That is a minimum requirement, all addresses on a route.

My next mailing will be to an entire zip code has 17 carrier routes, and about 8,000 addresses. If I wanted to I could further target my project to selected carrier routes only.

The cost on my last mailing was 11.6 cent postage each. To get that rate we delivered (to each respective post office) presorted stacks of cards, one for each carrier route with the number of cards needed for each route.

If you do not deliver the cards to each individual post office, then the rate is 12.1 or 12.6 cents. I have found that the easiest way to do it is to let the mailing houses do it all. Tell them what you want and let them figure it out. Get several bids.

I suggest you put your marketing message on a double-sided 4.25″ x 8.5″ (half sheet) postcard. That way your printing cost will only be 3 or 4 cents each. Use yellow or bright yellow card stock. Your “message” should be filled with reasons why they should respond…what’s in it for them.

My first mailing was to a rural area so no labels were required. We just put POSTAL CUSTOMER below the permit imprint. That saved us from buying a list and addressing the cards. Our next mailing to a city area which requires addressing. A mailing to rural routes or postal box holders only should not require labels. Your local mailing house or letter shop should have experience with these types of mailings and can help you plan your campaign and design your postcard (i.e. the position of the permit and address info).

For more info you can search http://pe.usps.gov/ for “enhanced carrier route walk sequence saturation.”

by Richard Roop

I recently ordered my 2002 calendar greeting cards. Each year I mail them around Christmas time to most everyone on my contact list with a brief personal note and my $100 bill business card. What’s great is people put them up and see them all year. Here’s what I had imprinted on the bottom of them:

Bottom Line RESULT$, Inc. Sell Your House in 9 Days at a Fair Price! No fee.
No commission. Quick, easy and professional. FREE recorded info 24/7 at
1-888-499-1051 Box 5151 Bus: 719-687-4472 • Fax: 719-687-4471 • blresults@aol.com

I also recently ordered some high quality brass barrel pens from www.amsterdamprinting.com. Most people just imprint their name and phone number (boring!). They limited me to 5 lines of 45 characters each and I used just about every character:

SELL YOUR HOUSE IN 9 DAYS AT A FAIR PRICE! Local company needs
to buy 7 houses monthly. No fee/commission. Quick/easy/professional.
For FREE recorded info, call 1-888-499-1051 Box 5151, then call Martha at (719) 687-6885

I now give a pen to all new acquaintances including all prospective buyers and sellers. I also leave a handful at the title company, bank, or coffee shop each time I visit. They have a high perceived value (unlike cheap plastic pens) and tend to float around. They are valued at $3.79 and cost $1.79 in bulk. They are a great “lumpy mail” item to send with a sales letter to a qualified list of prospective sellers.

Amsterdam Printing has a matching brass barrel key tag that I will soon order and give to my new occupants. Also looking into custom “welcome mats” as a house warming gift. The cost can be justified with a well organized referral and follow up program. We are working on ours and will share it with you in a future issue.

You’ll notice that my new advertising refers buyers and sellers to call Martha. Martha is an independent contractor. She works from her own home office. I forward one of my phone numbers to her office. After a buyer or seller goes through my voice mail system, they are invited to call Martha. She will complete a property information sheet on sellers and fax to my office for me to follow up. She will complete a buyer’s information sheet on buyers and fax to our office for my sale manager Eric to follow up. She also she’s an initial mail out to sellers. She adds both buyer and seller to a mailing list and emails a copy to us each week.

We were lucky to stumble across Martha. You can seek out your own “Martha” once you have the volume to justify it. A similar but different “answering and messaging” service designed for managing your buyers, check out www.BuyerMD.com.

by Richard Roop

There are no magic bullets in marketing, but I have developed a system which comes pretty darn close. I reported in the last issue of this eLetter about my new postcard campaign. Here’s an update:

I mailed 10,000 oversized postcards to one zip code. I saturated every home with my message. The total cost was less than $3,000. We received about 35 calls, only .35% response. But I bought 5 houses out of 35 leads on the first mailing! The response rate should remain the same or improve as I remail to the same neighborhoods, allowing them to see my message multiple times, giving my self increased credibility. Plus some the postcards will be saved, and I’ll get more calls from this initial mailing down the road.

I bought one out of 7 houses for sell. I usually buy one out of 10 to 15. The increase in closing ratio, I believe, was a result of targeting the right neighborhoods and getting my entire sales message (my famous “advertorial”) in their hand… and my new headline. These sellers were much more prescreened than if that called on a sign, classified ad or a regular smaller size postcard.

** $145,400 IN CASH AND EQUITY IN ONLY 6 WEEKS FOR $3,000 **

Here are the actual results:

House #1: This house valued at $134,900 fixed up. It needs carpet, paint and some trim items. Seller owed $89,000 plus $6,000 in back payments. I purchased for amount owed (subject to) plus $500, or $95,500. We have it under contract with a tenant/buyer for $132,000 “as is”. We got our buyer in with the first month’s rent, $3,500 non-refundable purchase plus some repairs to be done prior to occupancy. We have a positive cash flow. Equity gained: $35,500

House #2: Seller owed $106,000 plus several back payments. I bought for what the seller owed (subject to), about $109,000 with $3,000 down. The seller used the money down to get the loan current. House needed carpet, paint, sod in front yard, roof (unexpected.oops!) and some misc. repairs. The house did not sell quickly “as is” so we are fixing it up. It is offered for sale for $144,500 fixed up. The repair costs are $12,000. Because of roof, this is a tight deal on a fixer upper. Equity gained: $23,900

House #3: Seller owed $94,000 on a first, $10,000 on a second and $6,000 in arrears. We purchase for the $110,000 owed subject to. After repaired value is $159,500. It needs $15,000 in repairs. Currently being offered at the after fixed up price, “accepting offers as is”. We made up the back payments and paid off second with cash generated from buying house #5 below. Has not sold as is yet so we are about to rehab. Equity gained: $34,500

House #4: This house is in great shape and valued at $157,500 with terms. We took over a nice $110,000 first mortgage subject to, put $2,000 down and the owner carried back $20,000 with no payments or interest, due in 5 years. We held a “round robin” open house for one hour and found a tenant buyer with $5,000 down plus the first month’s rent. We had it cleaned and the carpet stretched. We also spent $500 fixing up the front yard. Because of the $20,000 (deferred down payment,” we have a nice positive cash flow. Equity gained: $25,000

House #5: Valued at $165,000-$170,000. It is on the market for $179,500 with terms. My office may have sold it yesterday for $10,000 down to a tenant/buyer. House is in great shape, nice neighborhood. Owner bought for daughter and it had been vacant for 4 months without being marketed. He owed $18,000 on a first mortgage. I offered him $63,000 cash and $90,000 in 5 second mortgages secured by 5 different properties including his house, 3 of the houses above, and one of my “keeper” rental properties. Terms on his equity is 6% accumulated interest, no payments, 5 year call and the right to substitute collateral. He is a retired military officer and did not need income but wanted interest on his equity. I got a new hard money loan for $123,000 at 11% and walked away from the closing table with $60,000 cash(!) less closing costs. Equity gained: $26,500

Total equity gained on 5 houses: $145,400
Cost of mailing: $3,000
(Better than the stock market?)

The cost per deal for marketing is $600 per house, higher than my average $350. But I spoke to less sellers, saw less houses and can EASILY repeat as often as I want, anywhere in the country!

by John Cash Locke

I used ‘U-Haul’ money to purchase a really great house ‘Subject To’. It was 4bd, 3ba, 3 car garage, 2 fireplaces, tile roof, 1/3 acre lot house and only one year new. I guess the buzzword is it was a ‘Pretty House’. However as with any house I only give the seller a small sum for their equity, then it is ‘Gorgeous’ to me forget about ‘Pretty’.

The time period was December a few years ago. Those that remember it was very slow for home sales. It was the 15th of the month close to Christmas and I had only bought and sold 4 or 5 properties. The home was advertised for $15K down in the local paper. No calls were coming in; the Grinch was staring me right in the face and laughing. It looked like Santa wasn’t coming this year. I called a friend of mine in the used car business and asked him if he had any “sexy” used cars for a good price. He said he had an ‘84′ Corvette in super condition. This was a bad year for Corvettes so it kept the price down, but fit right in to my plans. It was a decent car but not in super condition. You know how those used car salesman are even if they are friends. I purchased the ‘vette’ for $3,400.00.

My New Ad Read:

$20K down – No Qualifying
4bd, 3ba, 2800sq.ft., 3 car gar.
1 year new, close to shopping,etc.
FREE CORVETTE W/Purchase
Call owner 555-1212

You noticed I added $5K to the down payment to cover the cost of the car plus a little extra for Christmas shopping. When the ad broke in the newspaper the phone did not stop ringing, one call after the other. I sold the home the same day the ad came out and probably could have sold a dozen more, if I had them.

Every house we buy has a personality of its own, much like you and I. This home looked like it was built for a Corvette owner. If the buyer did not own one he would when he bought the home. There are basic amenities plus copy I place in my ads. However, I use marketing techniques using the personality of the house to match the personality of my potential buyer.

You can get top dollar for the home you have advertised if you use the proper ad copy. Be creative in your marketing efforts. I am not saying to go out and buy a car for every home you sell. But, I am a firm believer that the home sells itself. Just envision who would buy the home, then be creative in your ad so that it fits the person or family reading the ad.

by Gerhard Cronje

I have always been frustrated about the fact that I was spending thousands of dollars in marketing and getting poor leads. The “gurus” always make it sound so simple.

Many of the strategies they teach do work and can work over a period of time if you stick to it and spend a lot of money. Fact is that if we keep doing what the masses out there are doing, we are going to get the same results as they are.

Here is a powerful strategy that you can implement today to get your motivated seller marketing machine turbo-charged.

Focus On Marketing To Attorneys

When home owners have to divorce, file bankruptcy, fight a pending foreclosure, settle probate, file for disability and or beat criminal charges who do they turn to for professional help ?

If you answered attorneys, you are right.

These guys are always in the middle of the action and if you want highly profitable deals you need to target them.

Within the first week of running my direct response ad in our local Attorney Bar Association newsletter I had an estate attorney call me with a “House Problem”.

To make a long story short he was dealing with an estate that had been dragging on for four months and he could not sell the house because it was trashed - He wanted out and wanted me to buy it. He was willing to let the house go for 50% of its true value.

Fair Market Value: $175,000
Sale price: $95,000
Rehab and holding cost: $40,000
That meant a $30,000 net profit.

Well that’s my tip for today. Incorporate attorneys in your marketing strategy. They deal with our target market (motivated sellers) every single day.

by Peter Conti

You can make a profit from the deals you find, even when the deals aren’t a fit for your real estate business. Here are five tips to make sure you get paid for your time.

1. Sign Up the Deal!

This is the most obvious way to profit from every appointment you make.

2. Turn Your “Junk” Into Gold

Take the people you meet who just are not a fit for you and refer them to people in your network who can profit by the referral. This builds value into your referral network. For example: You meet with a seller who really would do better to refinance the house. You simply say, “I can see it’s not a fit for me to buy this house. Your best option really is for you to refinance the property. Here’s the number of a great mortgage broker I know [give him the number], and if I remember, I’ll ask her to give you a call next week to see if she can help out.” Then pass the seller’s name and phone number on to your mortgage broker. Over time this will encourage your mortgage broker contact to pass leads to you, such as buyers whose loan fell through. There is a motivated seller now!

3. Get Information on Local Market Conditions

Use the meeting to get information for the resale market and for the rental market. Find out:

What are rental and resale prices like?

How long are properties staying on the market?

What types of properties are most in demand and what types are least in demand?

What is the perceived market conditions according to the sellers?

4. Learn From the Appointment

This is the ultimate way to leverage yourself. What went well with the appointment? What will you do differently next time as a result of what you learned on this appointment? Make sure you take five minutes and debrief yourself in writing!

5. Future Deals

Follow-up, follow-up, and follow-up with all of these sellers.

by Scott Rister

Did you just hear about the investor in your local RE club that closed on a deal netting them $15,000 and they didn’t even have to lay a hand on the property? Or what about the person that just bought that rental house on the same block for 30-50% less that what you paid for yours? Are you at the point of scratching your head and thinking they’re just lucky? Or probably that’s all they do and just don’t have a life outside of real estate….right?

Somewhere in between total luck and absolute sell-out hours chasing deals is where you should be in finding truly motivated sellers, or rather having them finding you. It’s a weird coincidence that the smarter I work, the luckier I get finding great deals. Did you catch that? It’s not always about how many hours you put into real estate and how hard you work at your marketing program that produces the best results which is finding great deals that puts money in your pocket and that’s what real estate investing is all about.

Let me share with you some simple principles in marketing for the independent real estate investor. You may already be in tune with some of these, but let’s all take a pulse-check here and make sure we’re on the right track.

1) What Are You Hunting?

I’m asking what types of properties and real estate opportunities are you seeking? The more narrow your focus and marketing efforts can become to a target group, the greater success you will experience. If you are seeking wholesale opportunities, then you will not gain very much success putting out “I Buy House/Lease Option” bandit signs next to established neighborhoods. In addition, you will not gain a favorable response direct mailing to preforeclosure prospects if the primary weapon in your arsenal is cash-only deals with hard money lenders that don’t go above 70% LTV.

The marketing medium you use and the message you accompany with it that hits the right target market turns sellers into motivated sellers. There simply is no generic marketing message and medium that is a “one-size-fits-all” approach in real estate.

2) Just How Much Money Can You Spend?

Now, we’re talking about something that hits home real fast when it’s about coming out of pocket with hard-earned money in the “hope” that it will come back to you in the form of truly motivated sellers. If you’re first starting out in real estate investing then it’s imperative that you have a short-term budget to work within so that you’re not forgetting about paying for all the other necessities in life: food, shelter clothing!

You simply DO NOT have to have a large marketing budget to be effective to grow your RE business. One §.34 postcard netted me §8,400, so it’s all about hitting your target market as explained in #1. However, be realistic about what monetary constraints you have and how to incrementally build your marketing program as you experience more and more success.

3) Track Your Results!

Oh, we miss the boat on this one so much. When you are incorporating bandit signs, direct mail, flyer campaigns, etc… it can start to get confusing where and if your success rate justifies the marketing mediums you are using. Tracking your responses and closures of deals is necessary so that you can identify areas that need to be tweaked or worked on. Most importantly though when you find out that great mailing list is really working or the flyers in a particular neighborhood is getting tremendous feedback….then go in for the kill! I mean when you are measuring success and can track it effectively it allows you in full financial confidence to justify increase in marketing expenditures for areas that are producing the results desired.

My hope is for you to realize that marketing to the real estate investor is the lifeblood of his/her business. Great deals rarely come knock on your door to find you. They find you when you have a marketing system implemented that is like a funnel prescreening sellers for motivation and directs them to then contact you immediately.

by Dan Auito

A thriving real estate investor or retailer solves a lot of other people’s problems; that’s how you become successful. The more knowledge, ability, experience, contacts, and resources you have, the more solutions you can begin to offer people in solving their problems. In addition to this, you will be ahead of the pack if you can get people calling or coming to you with their specific problem first. That means you have to advertise the fact that you are in a position to help while being fair, trustworthy, and accurate in making quick decisions before the competition tries to persuade these people first.

For the above reason alone — competition — you will need to understand marketing. That means deciding on what you are going to specialize in, developing a method to define your target audience, and then attracting them with a well-written message using the different types of media to get the word out. That last paragraph brings up a good point: What exactly do you want to specialize in? Following are some categories from which to choose:

* Condos, vacation property

* Single-family homes

* Apartments for one to four families (residential duplex, triplex, fourplex)

* Commercial— hotels/motels, strip malls, office complexes, mobile home parks, storage units, parking lots, garages, restaurants, stores, apartments for five or more families, and so forth

* Industrial—factories, refineries, manufacturing plants, and so forth

* Farms—commercial, industrial, or agricultural, depending on zoning

* Raw land—lots, vacation, recreational, sub-dividable residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and special purpose

* Special purpose—churches, schools, hospitals, power plants, theaters, sports arenas, golf courses, marinas, and so forth

# Here are some examples of how you might go about finding some good deals:Look at bulletin boards, local papers and small independent publications. This goes for every publication you get. Make sure you get one of the first copies off the press. Go to the facility that houses the presses and get your copy before the ink has a chance to dry. Let no one beat you to the punch.
Better yet, advertise yourself and get people who are thinking about selling to call you before they actually tell the world through an ad.

# Look at the legal section of the newspapers. Contact heirs and attorneys, and sales in the garage or estate sale sections. Also, 20 percent of people who have garage sales are planning on moving soon. Ask about their house or their neighbor’s homes. Always keep your antenna up! Your odds of success increase when you choose large population centers and remain in the market constantly on the lookout for your type of deal.

# Look for vacant houses that are run down, fire damaged, or abandoned, with city notices evident. Talk to the neighbors of these homes. They usually know who owns it and what is going on. They have an interest in seeing it restored to beauty. It sure is a shame you can’t look in the mailbox to see who is receiving mail at the property in question—wouldn’t that be easy? Walk up to a property and look in a window to confirm that it is indeed vacant—but don’t endanger yourself by getting bit or shot! Use common sense. Contact out-of-state owners through property records or by letter and/or phone. Leave your cards on the door.

# OREO stands for Other Real Estate Owned. Make friends with your local lenders and let them know you are the one to call when they have a foreclosure looming or in progress. Hint: If you prequalify with lenders beforehand, they may call you sooner.

# Watch the local paper for foreclosure auctions, tax sales, and HUD and VA listed properties. Note: Auctions held in bad weather where the property absolutely must be sold are your best chance to limit competition and get property at rock-bottom prices. Because there is no low limit on what can be accepted (no reserve) you may win big.

# Real estate agents are going to try to sell you something! When you approach them be very specific with them and tell them to call only if they have an absolute steal. Ask agents to give you those expired listings since they couldn’t sell them. Suggest a 2 percent commission if they will assist with closing the paperwork after you make the deal with the seller on your own.

# Don’t be so selective. If the property is an absolute steal, lock it up and sell it to somebody who does like to work with that type of real estate. Get the option and hand it off to another buyer. Look for distressed sellers in addition to distressed property.

# Post fliers everywhere—colleges, Laundromats, shopping centers, bowling alleys, public bulletin boards, churches, local businesses, wherever large numbers of people congregate. Give them a chance to give you a lead on a hot deal. (For example, print up cards that say “I pay $500 to you at closing if I buy a house that you told me about! Do you know anyone who is selling property? Please call [your name] at 555-1212.”) Print quality business cards.

# Join organizations of all types. The sky is the limit. There are so many—just pick the ones that you would be interested in truly being a member in and let it be known you pay bounties for consummated (closed) deals.

# When you use headhunters, leave out no one. Property managers, moving companies, relocation services, neighbors, landlords, tenants, the mailman, the paper boy, gardeners, landscapers, service technicians, pest control people, friends, acquaintances, relatives, and other investors. You name it!

# Everyone should know they can make $500 if you end up buying a property they tell you about. Enlist your army! Give each of your soldier’s stacks of your cards for exponential growth.

# A special note: Water, gas, and electric company personnel who shut off utility meters can be very good bird dogs when it comes to finding property that is in trouble or vacant. Make sure they have your cards.

# Have at least 10,000 business cards printed with your offer of the $500 bounty and hand them out in stacks to everyone you can.
As you grow, you might consider TV, radio, phone books, billboards, street benches, bumper stickers, and bigger commissions. Use your imagination.

# Put up signs telling people you buy real estate.

# Make multiple lowball offers on overpriced properties and walk away. Don’t deposit earnest money but they may stew on your offer and call you a month later accepting your deal. Leave the offer with them.

# Older people should not be left out. They are very valuable informants. They know everything and need people to talk to! Listen to them. Go to free seminars on real estate. Do this not only to learn about real estate but also to capture names and circulate among real estate–minded people. Once you have their names, call your own club meeting and network to prosperity. Find your mentor here.

# Go to where people are buying those “by owner” signs. Ask them what they are selling. Follow them home and get the first look! Be first or lose the deal.

# Try offering 15 percent less than what you intend on paying. You never know; they may accept it. If they don’t, you can still negotiate up to 15 percent more and get it for what you originally were willing to pay. If it’s any higher, walk away but leave the offer on the table (the offer stands).

# Make your offer easy for the seller to understand. Get the option to buy but use a contingency to protect yourself. Iron out the details later but lock it up now!

# Buy from sellers who tend not to care: seized, foreclosed, tax sales, corporations, nonprofits, disinterested heirs, probate attorneys, and private auctions.

# Try just helping someone to sell his or her property even if you don’t want it. Be a friend and offer to help for nothing in return. You will be amazed at what happens when you sincerely try to help with no thought in mind of making money. This is a magic bullet in disguise.
Those are some of the basics of advertising and finding the opportunities to buy real estate below market. The old saying goes: You make your profit when you buy, not when you sell. (20 percent off retail, minimum).

by Gayle Buske

Let’s just say it – the real estate market is down and the mortgage industry is, well, a smidge messy right now. It’s no secret. The question is how to survive during a poorly performing market. What do most companies cut first when things start to slide? If you answered “marketing” or “staff” you nailed it.

Why is that though? It’s human nature to cut the “extras” when business is rough. Marketing is usually out the window first because the bills are typically huge. Followed shortly by staff members that may be dead weight or not as good as they should be. And quite often, especially for small businesses, the owners decide there’s a lot more they can pick up and work on; things that the assistant used to do. There are a couple of great lessons here. There’s downsizing and there’s taking yourself out of the market.

Let’s first explore the idea of cutting off your marketing efforts in this down market. If you chuck your marketing, doesn’t that just cut off your nose to spite your face? A down market is precisely when you need marketing. If not for your marketing efforts, how will those few buyers in the market know about you when they’re ready? Maybe it’s time to look at some old fashioned guerrilla marketing tactics and free marketing. Yes, I said free. Of course we all need to spend some marketing dollars from time to time but what happened to all of the great free opportunities out there? Let’s explore some of them.

Article submissions

One of the greatest things about the ‘net is that you can almost instantly become the expert in your market/community/area by writing and submitting articles. A quick search on the ‘net will unearth dozens upon dozens of places to post your articles. Of course, that’s what I’m doing right here – writing an article which my virtual assistant will post to as many free article submission sites as she can find. What does this do? It positions me as an expert. It sends links back to our company web site (thus increasing search engine rankings). It tells people we exist. It drives traffic (and hopefully customers) to our web site. It keeps our marketing alive and fresh. AND – it doesn’t cost any more than my time to write the article and my virtual assistant’s time to post. Cheap!

Blogging

Wow, what a beautiful thing blogging is. Similarly to article submissions, blogging gives you a voice, makes you an expert, sends links back to your web site, and allows you to engage in conversations with potential customers. Another quick search on the ‘net will unveil a hoard of free blogging sites.

Partnerships

In a down market, aligning yourself with complementary companies that can funnel business your way becomes paramount. Do me a favor; sit down and think of the products and services that compliment your business. Don’t look for specific companies just yet. Look for the kinds of products and services. Maybe they’re roofers (who may know that someone really needs to sell), maybe plumbers (who may also know who needs to sell or someone looking to buy), lenders, banks, and so on. Once you have this list together, find all of the companies who fit each category. In other words, find all of the plumbers in the area, all of the roofers, etc. Once you’ve got that list together, call them up and see how you can work together. Can they send referrals to you if you send referrals to them? Which of the plumbers can send you the most referrals? Then start setting up partnerships with these folks.

Co-Advertising

Are there complementary companies (such as the ones you found while seeking partnerships) whom you can work with to create and implement advertising pieces? Advertise both of your services in the same ad and cut advertising costs?

Teleseminars

Check your contacts both locally and nationally – if you can be creative enough about your presentation topic, you can come up with dozens of things to discuss that others would like to hear about. Solicit your contacts for speaking engagements on teleseminars and plug your wares while you’re there. If you can’t get onto someone else’s teleseminar, do your own. They’re very inexpensive to produce (check out www.freeconferencecall.com) and you can invite your market area to the teleseminar to share some great bit of information. You’ll be the first person they turn to when they’re ready to buy. Try a teleseminar on “improving the curb appeal of your home to get it sold more quickly” and I’ll bet you’ll have local sellers flocking to listen to you talk. Try “getting the biggest bang for your buck in a buyer’s market” and the buyers will be knocking down your doors. Be sure to grab their contact information so you can use them as leads!

Radio And TV

Even local real estate companies and agents can position themselves as experts in their field with the local media. Send them your press releases, your articles, your information. Keep working to land a spot or two on the local news and you gain immediate credibility and recognition in your market.

Podcasts

Podcasts can work similarly to teleseminars in that you can solicit to be a guest on others’ podcasts. However, you can also put up your own podcasts. Again, cheap, easy, and great lead generators. Check out www.talkshoe.com, which is a great, free podcasting site. Share similar information and think about topics similar to those we discussed for teleseminars.

These are just a few ideas for free (or almost) marketing that you can do even during a good market. But especially in times like these, you can focus on free and cheap marketing tactics without spiting your face. Be creative and I’ll bet you can think of dozens of others.

Firing Your Staff

They’re always the next to go after marketing. Sure, getting rid of dead, useless weight is always a good idea – even when you’re prospering. But during lean times you need to be sure that you’re getting what you pay for from the help. What disturbs me, however, are comments I’ve heard recently like “hired help is a luxury we cannot afford right now” and “well, I’ll just do a little less selling and take over the administrative functions again” and then there’s “I was an assistant once, I can surely do it again and save a few bucks.” Wrong, wrong, all wrong! I’ll tell you why.

The best place for you during lean times is out in front of clients and making money – not setting up drip campaigns in the mailing software and directing phone calls. And how can you set up all of those referral partnerships if you’re preparing post cards for mailings?

So do get rid of those who aren’t helping your business – that’s good advice even in the best of times. But keep those who are producing for you and who are making your job (selling and getting in front of partners) possible.

What about hiring a virtual assistant? Bricks and mortar produces huge wastes just by its nature: you pay for time you don’t use, you spend more on gasoline, as does your assistant, you pay rent (or a mortgage), you heat the place, and you electrify it, and so on. Have you considered going virtual? Believe me, it can be done. We were once a bricks and mortar business in a previous enterprise. But after going virtual, we’d never go back. Think about it: you only pay for what you use, you don’t pay rent, you don’t have to heat the office, you don’t have to provide desks and computers. You save tons!

Check it out – you can downsize without downsizing how much your company accomplishes. If you need to downsize, do it smartly – keep the staff that’s working well and replace the others with virtual assistants.

As this down market cycles through and works itself out, please, don’t let your marketing fall to the wayside and don’t downsize what your company accomplishes! Just go about it a little differently.

by Scott Rister

Scenario:
You get that first magical list that you anticipate as being the answer to finding truly motivated sellers. It doesn’t even dawn on you the hours you spend typing up the letters because you’re so focused on all the great deals to be made. It seems like the letters are just burning a hole in your hand by the time you get the stamps on them and to the post office. Next week rolls around and your hopes were just about dashed by the time got that first call from a seller who received one of your letters. Now we’re talking! It becomes obvious shortly into the conversation they’re just “fishing” around and trying to find just how much you would pay for their property and no they are not in any hurry to sell. What happened? Why didn’t you get more calls from truly motivated sellers? Everything you heard about direct mail in real estate was that this is the way to go in having a system set up for motivated sellers to find you.

The “Real World”

After you’ve read the above scenario know just two things right now:
Many new investors using direct mail without guidance sometimes experience these types of results and get discouraged from using direct mail again. These individuals will tell you, “oh, I tried mailing out letters and postcards once but I didn’t get many (or any) deals”.

Direct Mail Finds Truly Motivated Sellers!!

Now, this latter statement is what I hope by the time you finish reading my points will convince you that a well thought out direct mail plan is extremely effective but takes some thought on your part. You need to be more sophisticated than just throwing darts in the dark hoping you hit something. Sure, the majority of your letters/postcards won’t be responded but did you know that a success rate of substantially less than 1½ can still make direct mail very profitable for you in real estate. Read on my friend!

What Makes A Great Direct Mail Campaign?

Now let’s get into what you really need to know in starting your direct mail campaign. Get a organized game-plan together on how you are going to make sure that you get as many motivated sellers calling you as you can handle!

Define Your Target Market

You need to know what you’re hunting so to speak. Just an “I Buy Houses” message to your market doesn’t come close to what you need to do in direct mail. There are many, many ways to make money in real estate and finding the truly motivated sellers with direct mail means your message should be reflective of the target market you are seeking. For example if you are targeting pretty house properties that are in pre-foreclosure then included in your message the seller doesn’t need to know you take over properties with tenant terrors or that buy junker houses. They need to be informed that you can possibly take over their payments and know how to find tenant buyers that will help resolve their situation so they can move on with their lives. Define your target market because the message you send needs to reflect accordingly.

Generate Your Mailing Lists From Quality Sources

I’ve seen many types of mailing lists that weren’t worth the paper they were printed on. If you’re keying into pre-foreclosure properties then make sure the source providing the information is reputable and you can test out on a month or two basis before being tied into a one year contract or paid up front fee. Later when you find out the information is out-dated and inaccurate then you’re stuck.

Another example is you may be into finding absentee owners. These are a great source of deals if done correctly and basically these are owners of a property where the tax bill is being sent to an address different than the subject property. Ninety nine times out of a hundred that is a prime target for a tired landlord or junker deals to be made. However, it can be quite frustrating when you find out the information you purchased hasn’t been updated for over a year on the property tax records. Ouch! Come to find out after doing a little investigating almost half the properties you would have been sending letters/postcards to changed ownership. You paid for but didn’t receive quality information. Make sure before you buy mailing list or property tax information that you have a chance to do a test basis on some of the material. Most all reputable companies selling quality information will have no problem sending you a small bit of test data to look over.

Don’t Stop At One Mailing

This is a key principle that many investors seem to never grasp the concept of. If you have fulfilled the prior two steps in securing quality mailing list material and you know exactly your target market, then send them multiple mailings. I have my software system set up where for example any category that I key into will receive letters and postcards from me. The text messages will be incremental in nature building up and playing on different angles and ideals trying to prompt them to call me. Sure, I’ll get most responses from the initial mailing but many times it may take a little bit more persistency to get the seller persuaded. I’m glad I didn’t stop with one seller sending out only five letters. On the sixth letter we finally put together a deal and netted me over $8,000 quick cash. With another seller it was actually over a year of mailings before he came around but the deal got done.

Let Your Letter And System Pre-Screen The Sellers

Time is my most important commodity. I don’t have the time to talk to unmotivated inflexible sellers wanting all cash and retail value for their property. You don’t and won’t have the time to waste either with these types of sellers. Sure, some will get in under the radar but for the vast majority of the sellers that receive your message they will know a few things very quickly. You are an investor and expect to make a profit and yes you have many creative ways to buy properties. In fact you can probably even close within 48 hours if you run through your due diligence checklist. However, the message in your letters/postcards needs to state that if they need all cash and full retail value not to call you. However, if they have some considerable degree of flexibility in either the cash price or terms then to call you as soon as possible. You need to be seeking quality of sellers and not quantity of sellers fielding fruitless phone conversations.

Direct Mail Is A Investment…Not An Expense

Make no mistake it does cost money to initiate and maintain an effective direct mail campaign. When you put together the cost of postage, letters, envelopes, postcards then you’re talking substantial monies dedicated to this marketing medium. In a prudent investor’s budgetary considerations these are costs that most like to consider. When you’re experiencing success and know how to effectively secure quality mailing lists or generate them yourself then you soon change your mindset that you simply can not spend enough on postage. Let me try to explain from the sense that just because you don’t like to spend gas for your car should mean that you don’t ever put gas in it. If you don’t realize that fact then you aren’t going to be going anywhere fast and you can make the same comparisons if you don’t consider direct mail costs as an investment in your real estate business.

Summing It All Up

Direct mail is one of the best ways to find motivated sellers or rather have them find you but take some time and forethought from thought to finish on what you’re trying to accomplish. Your goal is to find truly profitable deals and the means you go about doing this are contingent upon your target market, quality of the mailing contact, multiple messages to same contact, pre-screening ability, and finally your commitment to direct mail and an investment in your real estate business. Be organized and focused in your direct mail campaign and soon you too will be finding all the motivated sellers you can handle!