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bbrunelleb

Marketing

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Hi All,

First, I would like to know if it would be ethical to send postcards to homes that are already listed? Heres my dilemma... I have all of the MLS listings for central florida and would like to mail out postcards to all of them. I dont want to interfere with the realtor while the house is listed but I thought that the homeowners would consider a CA when there listing has expired. Perhaps some of them might realize what a great deal a CA is and try to end the listing sooner.

This is what I plan on putting on the postcard:

 

Have you considered selling your house on a Lease/Purchase?

 

If your house is worth 100K..you will NET 100k!

 

No Commissions (Im not a realtor)

No Closing Costs (Buyer pays all costs)

 

The bottom line is..My service doesn't cost you 1 dime!

Its the quickest, easiest, and most profitable way to sell your house.

 

Thats about it. I'll appreciate your opinions.

Bill

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Bill, John Jackson gets most of his CAs by mailing listed houses.

I did my first postcard mailing to listed houses in March and had an 11% response over a 4 week period (95% were in the first 10 days).

 

On Monday I'll be doing my second mailing to every listing between $0-$300k within a 5 minute drive of my house, I expect 10-15 calls but I'm testing out a different message so we'll see.

 

There's a very easy way to get around any feelings of it being unethical. You can direct the seller to pay their agent a leasing commission (usually 1 month's rent). That way you don't have to wait for the listing to expire either.

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Hi Doug

 

You must have lots of good experience with post cards an 11% response I understand is excellent ;) . How many on average do you send out on every mailing ?Did you address it personally to the houses or did you use a general term to address the owners? Have you had good experience with your neighborhood target marketing efforts?

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Gordon, postcards worked out a lot better for me than letters that's for sure! I only had a 2.7% response to letters.

 

Last time I sent 364 postcards, 13 have come back undeliverable (believe it or not I just got another one this morning!) and I got 39 calls. That was just too much since 35 of them came in the first 2 weeks after sending the cards out.

 

So this time I'm sending 150 so that if I get the same response rate I'll have to deal with only about 15 calls.

 

I addressed the cards genericly to "Home Owner".

 

This will be the first time I've restricted marketing to just my immediate area, so I can't answer you about neighborhood marketing. I'll let you know how this one goes.

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Bill, I've leave your question to those pointy headed academic types who care to ponder higher issues such as ethics.

As for me, I just know that I have been doing just this for years. And I have found this to be a very consistent way to receive responses and get deals. I say go for it. If a homeowner isn't interested, you won't hear from them. But if they are, very early in my conversation I inquire as to their listing agreement, and advise them they must cancel it if we are to go any further.

On a few occasions I have had a Realtor call and reprimand me for soliciting their client. I tell them that I blanketed the entire neighborhood, and their client was accidentally included in the mass mailing. I apologize, tell them it won't happen again, and all is forgotten. It has never gone past that point.

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Thanks to all youze guys. I will go forward with this mailing then and let you all know how it turns out. Thanks again....Bill

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I'm back in the Naked Investor forum! More on the big move later.

 

I too am preparing to mail MLS listings but have never once contemplated whether this is "ethical" or not. I am not a licensed agent, I don't belong to their "club" and I have never agreed to play by their rules.

 

On a few occasions I have had a Realtor call and reprimand me for soliciting their client.

 

I simply don't understand that logic. Home Depot builds stores across the street from Sears. Subway buys billboard space in front of Burger King. Realtors and investors are soliciting my so-called clients all day long.

 

"Hey, that's my girl!" If she were your girl she wouldn't be over here with me, would she? ;)

 

Dan

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"Hey, that's my girl!" If she were your girl she wouldn't be over here with me, would she?  :blink:
;) Funny post, Dan. But, oh, so true. I agree with your take on the ethics question that has been raised in this thread.

Good to see you back, also! :lol:

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Dan

 

That is a sweet way to put it ;) Realtors aren't exactly in the business of ethics themselves the last house I sold with them big mistake he overestimated the price to get the listing and then continued to nibble at the price until we were desperate enough to sell our home for lower than market value to an investor which turned around and sold our former home on an installment contract. The jerk planned it out from the beginning since I saw on the investors site that he bought all of the same realtors listings in the same neighborhood. That will be the last time I ever sell by a realtor.

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Bill, John Jackson gets most of his CAs by mailing listed houses.

I did my first postcard mailing to listed houses in March and had an 11% response over a 4 week period (95% were in the first 10 days).

 

On Monday I'll be doing my second mailing to every listing between $0-$300k within a 5 minute drive of my house, I expect 10-15 calls but I'm testing out a different message so we'll see.

 

There's a very easy way to get around any feelings of it being unethical. You can direct the seller to pay their agent a leasing commission (usually 1 month's rent). That way you don't have to wait for the listing to expire either.

 

 

I am very impressed with that response rate. Will you share what your postcards say? And do you use USPS site or is it easier to print your own? And finally are you in a hot market where these places are going quickly?

 

Thanks

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Rich, I'm in Canada so I don't have the luxury of the USPS site to do my cards for me otherwise you can bet that's exactly what I would be doing.

 

The market has been appreciating at 10-15% annually for the last 5 years. Not quite Californian standards, but pretty hot nonetheless.

 

You may be more interested in my latest card (the one I mailed yesterday) because I've had 4 calls already--2.7% response. It says:

 

Dear Friend,

 

I was unable to reach you by phone.

 

Please give me a call as I’m helping some families who are looking to buy a home in the area, and they are willing to pay you next year’s price in exchange for a one year lease.

My phone number is (519) 725-1800

 

Doug Pretorius

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Bill, John Jackson gets most of his CAs by mailing listed houses.

I did my first postcard mailing to listed houses in March and had an 11% response over a 4 week period (95% were in the first 10 days).

 

On Monday I'll be doing my second mailing to every listing between $0-$300k within a 5 minute drive of my house, I expect 10-15 calls but I'm testing out a different message so we'll see.

 

There's a very easy way to get around any feelings of it being unethical. You can direct the seller to pay their agent a leasing commission (usually 1 month's rent). That way you don't have to wait for the listing to expire either.

 

 

How many postcards did you send? And how many deals actually came from them? Oh, and is it primarily CA's that you are focusing on?

 

Thanks again for all the great info.

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Rich, in March I sent 364 cards and got NO deals. I was focused on payment takeovers which was probably a mistake in this market.

 

This time I sent 150 cards and yes I'm focused on CA's but I will play it by ear and if the seller is willing to take terms that make a SLO viable I'll do that.

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Dear Friend,

 

I was unable to reach you by phone.

 

Please give me a call as I’m helping some families who are looking to buy a home in the area, and they are willing to pay you next year’s price in exchange for a one year lease.

My phone number is (519) 725-1800

 

Doug Pretorius

 

Doug,

 

That is pure POETRY !! :D

 

Thanks for sharing that one. Let us know the response, OK?

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Rich, it's only been a week so I may get more calls but the last one came on Saturday. The response is just under 7% and I have one possible CA from it.

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