MLS letters

[keiththedealmaker 0]

Hey guys!

 

 

 

Keith here. I've been pretty successful with different techniques. We've had much success with signs, yellow letters, and cold calling to generate us business. I also do cooperative assignments, but I was taught this method under a different name, from what I've read, they are very very similar. So anyway, recently I've been thinking about how I can get MORE business! And I thought about sending yellow handwritten letters to MLS listed properties. With this method, I was thinking I could actually target properties that are in my "bread and butter'' in the areas I want, and the specifications that I want and send a letter.

 

Is my thinking correct here? Since I'm not a licensed agent, and I don't want to work side by side with a realtor, if I were to get seller interested in my services, how would I go about it? Would I let the seller know that I'd have to wait until the listing expires, or can I actually tell them, "if you decide to proceed, you would have to cancel your listing as we can't work with listed properties, but you would have to make the decision to cancel your listing on your own!"

 

Any opinions? Thoughts?

 

 

 

Keith

[MichaelC 160]

Hello, Keith, and welcome to The Naked Investor!

Whenever I find a listed property and the homeowner is interested in doing a lease purchase, I always tell them they need to cancel their listiing agreement before we can go any further. It's never been a problem. They either do so, or they wait until the listing expires and then they give me a call.

[keiththedealmaker 0]

Hello, Keith, and welcome to The Naked Investor!

Whenever I find a listed property and the homeowner is interested in doing a lease purchase, I always tell them they need to cancel their listiing agreement before we can go any further. It's never been a problem. They either do so, or they wait until the listing expires and then they give me a call.

 

 

 

 

Ok, great! Do you think it's unethical in anyway to tell them to cancel?

 

Would it be better to just mail to expired listings? Or MLS would be better? Opinions?

[MichaelC 160]

Do you think it's unethical in anyway to tell them to cancel?

No, I don't. It's the homeowner's choice. If they are happy with their Agent they aren't going to cancel because you suggested they do so. On the other hand, if the sale of their house isn't going as they had hoped for, you are offering an alternate solution and they have a decision to make.

 

Would it be better to just mail to expired listings?

No reason you can't do both and track which generates better results.

[lhenley 8]

Keith,

 

I have a Realtor friend furnishing me with the MLS expired list each week. I mail a post card to them, basically MC's Intro letter, edited down to fit. I have not mailed to listed property owners, because I'm not sure what wording to use. Maybe, the the intro letter in it's entirety.

 

Anyone have any suggestions? There was a thread here not long ago about someone who mails only to listed property owners. Can they or someone else pipe in with what wording to use?

 

Lynn (FL)

[MichaelC 160]

I sometimes mail my Intro Letter to a property I see with a Realtor's sign on the lawn. It consistently pulls calls. Some are curious and it may lead to a deal down the road if their house doesn't sell. Other times the homeowner is fed up and is motivated to do business. And still other times I will get a call from an irate Agent telling me I had better never contact her client again. I calmly explain I wasn't targeting her client, but that I had just sent out a mass mailing and her client happened to receive my letter. Everyone usually goes to bed happy.

[lhenley 8]

Michael,

 

Do you send the Intro Letter as is, or do you add a disclaimer about the property being listed?

 

Lynn (FL)

[MichaelC 160]

I send it as is. But if you want to add a disclaimer, you can do so.

[Don47 0]

Michael:

I want to take issue with the agent that called you about the homeowner contact you made. I do not believe that agents should have a corner on the market. Agents provide a service for sellers, but so do we. As you said if the seller is happy with the agent's service he will decline our offer to provide our service. But on the other hand, the seller may want to try something else. The question is, "what is best for the seller"? The agent will try to protect their interest, ie. time and money spent on the listing. They should not try to create a monopoly in the market, however, by excluding other options for the sellers to consider. Would a salesman who has secured business from a company tell another salesman from his competition who has called on the same company in an attempt to secure business himself to "Never contact my client again?" I don't think so. People in business realize that there is competition in the market place. It is up to each indivadual to know his market and provide the best posible service, realizing that others are marketing for the same customers. Sellers will certainly benefit from the competition created. From our end, 'may the best service win!' Thanks.

 

Don47

[MichaelC 160]

Hello, Don, and welcome to The Naked Investor.

Not much to take issue with me over. For the most part, I agree with what you wrote. If we can provide a better service for the homeowner and fill a need, why shouldn't they look at what we're offering?

[randian 0]

Would a salesman who has secured business from a company tell another salesman from his competition who has called on the same company in an attempt to secure business himself to "Never contact my client again?"

They would if they had convinced every state legislature to give them a monopoly on such business. I don't know how the National Association of Realtors convinced the various state legislatures that a licensed monopoly was good for consumers, but they did. Unlicensed realty is a felony in most states, and while I believe we're on the right side of the law, it would be unwise to antagonize an agent because the cost and stress of an investigation isn't worth it.

 

Realtors as a group care more about their commission than about doing right by their client. Ever read a listing agreement? About 90% of it is about protecting their commission. Only a small minority of its verbiage is about what the agent is supposed to do for their client, and a majority of that in substance releases the agent from any real duty to perform.

[MichaelC 160]

Here's an article that refers to the real estate industry as a "cartel". Interesting, to say the least: real estate cartels.

[Don47 0]

Feb 28

 

I agree with your assessment of the agents thought process. I guess I am speaking from an idealistic view. Dollar signs have a tendency at times to blur a sense of doing what is right. In most cases, agents work hard for their commission and they deserve it, especially in this current market. If a seller contacts me about doing a L/P and his house is lisited, I tell him that I cannot interfere with the listing. I let him know that he could contact his listing agent about doing a L/P, that I would be glad to sit down with them to discuss it. I don't want to cut the agent out of the deal totally. We usually can work something out. Besides, one does not want to creat waves in his market. If his listing has expired, then I will be free to pursue the L/P with the seller.