colehaynes

Hey everyone, I haven't been interacting here in the forum very much lately because I have been working on some internet stuff. Several months ago when I was marketing my rent to own properties, I realized that there was no National rent to own listing website, except for all of those scam sites that charge monthly fees to search listings. So I started building one myself. The website still isn't NEARLY where I want it to be with functionality and design, but I was hoping for some feedback from those who are actively marketing these types of deals. The website is www.rentuntilyouown.com and posting listings to the site is free. In the next 2-3 weeks we will have our syndication network setup so that when someone posts a property listing, we will automatically syndicate(re-post) the listing to over 20 major classified sites(Oodle, Vast, Zillow, etc.). I am finding that every other site that syndicates listings will charge a monthly fee, but this will also be totally free to users. If any one has any advice on how I could improve upon the site, especially how to make the site more useful to rent to own sellers, I would love to hear from you! Thanks everyone!

Hahaha "behind the bus barn" ... what is a bus barn?

Congrats! The first deal is always the hardest!!

I'm not sure of any sites, unless you are a Realtor. But I have had luck hiring someone from Odesk to do the work for me for very little. Good luck

Lynn is right, I hear they are good quality leads, but you have to be licensed to be a member.

Interesting advice from Michael Q. I have done a decent number of mailing campaigns with letters but have yet to try a postcard. I think I will start looking into putting one together shortly. Do you all who use postcards notice a significant difference in response rate between your postcards and letters/yellow letters? I am guessing using the postcard is just one of the many different approaches in your drip campaigns..

MC, Do you have any predictions for the Florida market over the next year or two? I've stopped predicting and caring, for the most part. LoL

Daro, I'm having trouble setting up the Socialoomph site to automatically respond to people who follow me and auto follow my followers. Honestly i'm still trying to understand the point of Twitter, but I would like to set it up to run automatically like you said, if possible. Actually, I was like the 2 millionth person to start following Charlie Sheen and his posts are pretty entertaining! From what I'm seeing the Socialoomph site only works on autopilot if I have a paid account. What am I missing? @Everyone - I would have emailed Daro privately, but I figured someone may be able to use the info. Thanks!

SProfits, I work with mobile homes in Central Florida. I also offer them using the Rent to own strategy. Like MC said, they are a depreciating asset, like a car. Actually in Florida they are titled through the DMV just like a car! I would NEVER touch a mobile home that sits on a rented lot! Ever! But, there is a HUGE market in the Counties that surround me for mobile homes on their OWN private land. They are referred to as "land home packages" by people in the mobile home business. It is very possible currently to buy a 3/2 double wide "land home" package on an acre of land for less than the value of the land. I only value a mobile home deal for the cash flow and don't consider any appreciation. A few years ago they weren't very difficult to flip to a retail buyer using an FHA loan. But as the market started falling apart almost all of the banks financing them went under(could be a sign...haha). Good luck!

Hey guys, These are both sides of the issue I am considering too. I am trying to determine how detailed I want my VA to get with the sellers on the phone. Overly detailed and they will end up pitching the deal for me and not enough questions during each call would be a waste of time and money. I am still playing with the phone script. I can post it here when I'm finished. Chris, I bought that book "High Probability Selling" after you recommended it to someone else on the board. It was good! I plan on having the VA take that approach with as many sellers as possible during their shift and then I can call those back who don't disqualify themselves.

Has anyone had success hiring someone locally or virtual to make calls to craigslist ads? I had someone hired through Odesk doing this for me for around $3.50 an hour about 6 months ago. I stopped working with them b/c of some issues developed with the quality of their phone connection but I have noticed a slowdown in new deals without them. Has anyone else used someone to assist them with signing up deals? What tasks did you give them to do? I am looking to hire someone again but I am having trouble deciding on what I should have them do. Like what questions to ask and what I am looking for the assistant to accomplish with each phone call.

Verb, I have only had one buyer use a VA loan instead of FHA and it was about 5 years ago. The VA loan didn't require a 3.5% down payment, the buyer didn't have to put anything toward the down payment and all of the closing costs could be paid by the seller. The one thing I do remember about the VA deal was there were a lot of additional hurdles and hoops for the buyer and the property to go through before they would sign off on the loan. This could have been just that specific lender or buyer. That's all I can remember from that deal. But, none of that should effect you if you are doing a CA deal.

Chris, I appreciate your thoughts! I have always been more mathematical and writing is my weaker area, lol. I definitely agree that the brochure doesn't really point out all of the benefits to the seller, actually I didn't see that before you pointed it out. The "We Buy Houses" letter I used was originally put together by a mentor I worked with in the past and I modified it to fit more of what I am doing now. What type of yellow letter do you use? If you, Lynn, or anyone else doing direct mail wants to see the "we buy houses" letter just PM and I will email it over to you. Chris, I haven't seen many of your posts about your direct mail marketing but it looks like you have/had a lot of mail campaigns going on. Do you write most of the letters yourself?

Hey Lynn, The response I got from the brochures wasn't very good. I think I wrote a post shortly after this one with concerns about the mailing and the company I used. I almost thought there was a problem with the company I was using but I am sure the low response was based on the brochure I made and the quality of the list. I will try to attach the brochure if any one wants to look at it for ideas when making their own. I wouldn't use this one for more than ideas based on my low results, lol. I sent out a "We Buy Houses" type letter about a year prior to this brochure campaign and it worked VERY well. I went back to using that letter and calls have been flowing in pretty well. Rather than one HUGE mailing I am only doing about 500 letters a month along with my other marketing(emailing, texting, website). Direct mail is costly compared to other forms of marketing we usually discuss here. But I really like the leads from direct mail because the seller usually needs REAL help. I get a fair number of deals from Craigslist emailing and the leads are great because they are free. But these sellers already know how to do Craigslist marketing so a nice buyers list is helpful. What about you Lynn, I think I sent you a copy of my final brochure or a rough draft of one, did you get any out? Any one else using direct marketing with success besides John?

John, That would be great! I do the very slow way. I search the MLS at Realtor.com for properties with a listed address and then check forwarding address on Public Records. I hired it out the last time and it saved a lot of time. But I would love to see how you are doing it, I am sure it is a much better way lol.