Direct mail to landlords

[CS1977 0]

I am thinking of starting a postcard campaign to owners whose address is different than the one in the tax records. I will be primarily touting lease options as a way to alleviate landlording headaches.

 

I wonder if anyone has had any luck with this or if my marketing dollars are best spent elsewhere? Thanks.

[Doug Pretorius (ON) 9]

The only way to find out is to try because it depends entirely on your market.

 

For example, targeting landlords works great for Bev because most landlords in her market are actually sellers in disguise, just biding their time until they can make their money on the resale.

 

Whereas in my area most are professional landlords, they rent because they want to rent, and they have no interest in selling whatsoever. They don't consider landlording to be a problem that needs the RTO solution. Another thing about this market is that most rentals are crappy old houses in undesirable areas, not exactly prime RTO prospects.

 

Your market may be anywhere between these two extremes and the only way to find out is to offer your program to as many landlords as possible.

[CS1977 0]

Thanks Doug, all good points. I am going to give it a go. 4 questions for you or others:

 

1) How many to send out at one time? 500? 1000? As much as I can afford?

2) How many times in a row should I hit them and how far apart?

3) Letters or postcards? (do letters even make sense here?)

4) I know the mail piece will be listing all the LP benefits, but what attention-grabber headline would pack the most punch?

 

 

Thanks, can't wait to hear back from ya!

[Doug Pretorius (ON) 9]

1. You can probably expect about a 1% response so you could work backwards from that and decide how many calls you think you can handle. When I did my first direct mail campaign to the MLS, I got nearly 50 calls in 2 weeks and it was more than I could properly follow-up on. So just keep that in mind when you're figuring out how many leads you can realistically pursue at the same time.

 

2. I read about a highly tuned direct mail farming campaign developed for agents: You mail the same message every week for 6 weeks in a row, then you mail quarterly changing messages every 3 weeks for as long as you're in business.

The research that was done indicated that 21 days is the optimal separation between mailings to stay fresh in people's minds. They also said that after the initial 6 week blast the people on the list where surveyed and 90% recognized the sender and believed they had been mailing in the area for years!

 

3. I'd use postcards.

 

4. "Attention Landlords: I can save you thousands in lost rent and evictions."

[MichaelC 160]

The only way to find out is to try because it depends entirely on your market.

Doug is right on. I always say what works for someone in their market, may or may not give another similar results in their market. Experience will be your guide, Christine.

And in addition to what Doug said, look up some of the posts from fellow member TPSG, LLC. He's posted quite a bit about the scientific approach to marketing, and he can probably give you some advice on this.

[Craig 0]

Just another note Pete (Pilot) has a excellent letter which he sends to homeowners which are listed with agents. His market is a little differant than up north but sending that after a simple postcard message should be a good follow up.

 

I he approves I can send you a copy.

 

Craig

[CS1977 0]

Pilot, can I see a copy? Prettttty please?

 

 

 

Just another note Pete (Pilot) has a excellent letter which he sends to homeowners which are listed with agents. His market is a little differant than up north but sending that after a simple postcard message should be a good follow up.

 

I he approves I can send you a copy.

 

Craig

[Jason (AL) 1]

I'm confused...

 

 

Pete? (puls1234)

 

or

 

Pilot? (John)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks.

[CS1977 0]

So...Craig or Pilot or Pete LOL

 

the letter in question.......may I see please?

 

Thanks bunches

 

 

I'm confused...

 

 

Pete? (puls1234)

 

or

 

Pilot? (John)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks.

[Jason (AL) 1]

Hey C,

 

I jacked this article by Joe Kaiser for ya.

Maybe it'll help you out somehow or give you an idea to

get you going targeting landlords.

Enjoy.

 

 

 

One Little Postcard, Seven Deals

 

by Joe Kaiser

 

 

For the last couple of months, I've sent the following postcard to every "house for rent" ad in my local paper. I don't call on the ad, I just use a CD reverse directory to get the addresses from the phone numbers.

 

 

 

Vacant? - NO MORE! Put your rental properties on "auto pilot" with our "Perfect Tenant" program. We'll lease option your rentals on a long term basis and take care of ALL the hard stuff. You just tell us where to mail the monthly rent checks.

 

For a "no obligation" proposal, call Joe at (xxx) xxx-xxxx and never be faced with problem tenants, late payments, maintenance calls, vacancies, evictions, and all that other management nonsense.

 

This is a cheap, fast, and non-confrontational way to acquire properties, especially if you are just starting out and don't like calling on ads.

[Craig 0]

I am thinking of starting a postcard campaign to owners whose address is different than the one in the tax records. I will be primarily touting lease options as a way to alleviate landlording headaches.

 

I wonder if anyone has had any luck with this or if my marketing dollars are best spent elsewhere? Thanks.

 

I target landlords too. Craigslist +++. What I do find is most of them want to make sure the dollars cover all cost. They are concerned the property must be maintained equal to what they had. That eats up lots of the profit in the contract quick.

 

So I end up with the option to purchase instead. I then take that option price and market to a different area where the housing prices are higher. It turns out they get a great investment for a lower dollar investment than if they invested in their city. This thinking gets lots of action from CRAIGSLIST (Got to I LOVE the name).

 

My thinking on direct mail marketing is its very expensive for the percentage of return at my stage of this game. If you look at the figures the return is very small in direct mail. In this biz you got to think out of box. DO SOMETHING DIFFERANT than the rest of investors. Direct mail is the most used method of marketing in real estate. If that is true then its got to work. I just haven't gotten to that level yet.

 

CRAIG