These are the results of the Twenty Third week of opening up my house flipping business for you guys to see how my wife and I are building back up to 30 deals a year. If you missed the first post explaining what I am doing, please visit this page: See How We Are Flipping Houses.
Motivated Seller Leads This Week: 25
These are the things I did this week:
Bandit Signs Put Out
I had 50 bandit signs put out over the weekend in some new areas. There are 150 more that will go out about every other week. If you don’t know what bandit signs are, you can find out and see mine on the First Week Post.
Two Deals Put Under Contract!
Picked up a deal on a house that needs a mid level amount of repairs. I will be posting the before pictures and scope of work after we close (about 2 weeks). Read about it below in the leads section.
The other deal is a tract of land with an oil well. The well was capped in the 90’s and I have some investigating to do. Should be interesting and I will keep you posted.
Wife and I Made A Big Decision Within A Couple Hours
If you do not know about the rules regarding selling your home and capital gains, you really should keep reading and do some thinking. The rule is that if you live in a house (as your primary residence) any 2 of the 5 years prior to the sale, the first $250k ($500k if married) in profits is free from capital gains tax. Basically, you won’t have to pay federal taxes on the profit made from the sale. If you use the property as something other than your primary residence for the other years of ownership, the percentage of exclusion might change. Read more on that here (warning: not a light read): IRS Pub 523.
Now, on to our big decision.
My wife was over at the Expensive House doing the staging on Tuesday. When she came home that afternoon, she told me she had something to ask me. She went on to ask how I felt about considering a move to that house. Immediately, my gut was telling me it was a great idea. Then, my brain had to get overly active and start considering all the pros and cons.
We took one of our daughters to dance class and decided to go over the house from there and talk about it. After about 4 hours from the time she got home and asked me, we had decided to go ahead and do it. We are moving into the house and will be putting ours up for sale. Now, because of the rule I told you about a second ago, we will not have to pay capital gains on the profit from the sale of our house because we have just now lived in it for over two years. Lucky timing. This will be our third time doing this over the last 8 or so years.
Now I am really glad we replaced those brass fixtures and removed the wallpaper! 🙂 We just really love the open layout and the view of the water from most of the house. Very peaceful and relaxing. Also, the kids will be able to go to where I went to school (supposed to be one of the top districts in Texas).
So, sorry that you will not be able to see how that deal works out. If enough of you writes and tells me that you’d rather see us sell it as an investment, I will ask my wife to change her mind. Just kidding! Never!
We’ve already picked out some new tile for the master bath and fireplace in the living room. We will redo those before we move in.
Frustration House Being Staged
The Frustration House is being staged and I will have some pictures for you next week. The tile turned out really nice and I am glad we spent the money to do it.
Looks Like We Are Headed To Mediation
The frustrating incident regarding the sale of one of our existing houses has continued and it looks like we are heading to mediation. I’m not letting it stress me out because I know we are in the right. That is all that matters.
I don’t always go into mediation, but when I do, I prefer to stay positive. Stay positive my friends. – The Most Interesting House Flipper In The World
Experiments Page Taking Shaping
Arghhh! Just can’t seem to get this page up. This week brought with it a flood of leads and I have been busy sorting through them and seeing some of the houses.
Ok….so we were busy figuring out what we were going to do with the new house. Can you blame us?
I have written the two different probate letters and our mailing person is working on printing and stuffing the letters in envelopes. There will be 75 addresses that each probate letter will be mailed to. I will keep track of the responses for each and let you know which one pulled better. The experiment will continue on to see how a sequence pulls and so on and so forth. When the page is up, I will have the letters available for you to see as well. Soon.
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Marketing
Total Motivated Seller Leads This Week: 25 🙂
| Lead Source | Leads This Week | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Bandit Signs | 5 | 50 went out over the weekend. |
| Yellow Pages | 2 | For a picture of my ad, visit the ‘The First Week’ post. |
| Buying Website | 6 | For a link to my site, visit the ‘The First Week’ post. |
| Drive For Dollars | 1 | About 100 went out to existing list. |
| Wholesale Deals | 1 | Hmmm. No good. |
| Absentee Owner Mailing | 10 | From almost 1000 postcards. |
And A New Feature – Total Leads To Date [326]
This is the total number of leads for each source since I started posting about the leads (late March 2011).
| Lead Source | Total Leads To Date |
|---|---|
| Buying Website: | 167 |
| Bandit Signs: | 56 |
| Yellow Pages Ad: | 38 |
| Driving For Dollars: | 17 |
| REO Realtors: | 7 |
| Probate Letters: | 6 |
| Referrals: | 6 |
| Absentee Owners: | 16 |
| Wholesalers: | 7 |
| Realtors: | 3 |
| MLS Search: | 2 |
| For Sale By Owner: | 1 |
Leads Analyzed
Homeowner wants to sell a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1300 sf house in a so-so neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $60,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | $23,000 |
| After Repaired Value: | $90,000 |
| Max Offer: | $35,000 ($58,000 – $23,000) |
Caller’s father-in-law moved out of this house and is looking to sell it. The house has foundation problems, needs a new kitchen, two new bathrooms, new flooring, paint….basically everything other than a roof and AC. I saw the house and offered him $30,000.
He was not thrilled about the offer and mentioned that they needed $50,000 and that that would still put them $10k in the hole. I questioned him about that because he had told me they did not owe anything on the house. He informed me that the wife had spent approximately $60k over the years, or something like that. So this is how they are treating it.
I will follow up with them because they do live out of town and their motivation may increase soon.
Homeowner wants to sell a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1500 sf house in a good neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $75,000 (says least will take is $70k) |
| Amount Owed: | $65,000 |
| Repairs: | $15,000 |
| After Repaired Value: | $120,000 |
| Max Offer: | $80,000 – repairs |
Seller’s daughter had been living in the house but is now going through a divorce and the house is vacant. The house needs repairs and they don’t want to mess with it. Smart move.
Went and saw the house. Not too bad. I had to offer what he owes on the house and he did not hesitate to take it. I really enjoy these opportunities. They are just so relieved that you are going to buy the house so that they don’t have to mess with it. There really was no negotiating. I could only offer what he owed and he was happy to be done with it. We signed the contract right then and there on the trunk of my car.
The reason why I am going to call it the ‘Honk The Horn’ house is because his grandson was with him and he wanted to pretend to drive his car. While we were signing the contract, the grandson was constantly honking the horn. It was really pretty funny.
This one is under contract and set to close within about 2 weeks.
Homeowner wants to sell a 4 bedroom, 1 bath, 1400 sf house in a not-so-good neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | Make Offer |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | cosmetic (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $50,000 |
| Max Offer: | $25,000 – repairs |
Mother is in her 80’s and needs to sell the house. Says the house does not need many repairs but it sure looked like it did on Google maps. This is in a pocket of a neighborhood that is not so good. Seems like a deal can be had, so I passed this one to a friend.
Homeowner wants to sell a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1600 sf house in a so-so neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $80,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | cosmetic (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $75,000 |
| Max Offer: | $48,000 – repairs |
Seller’s husband passed away last year and she has this house that has been sitting vacant. The problem with the area is that there are houses built in the 60’s (as was this one) and there are houses that were built over the last 5 years. All of these houses are competing for buyers and the ones from the 60’s are not selling well.
I decided to give her a ball park offer saying that I would probably be in the 40’s to see if she would be interested. I did this over the phone because of how much she was asking. This can save you some time. You might miss a deal here and there though, because sometimes they will ask a lot. Then when you meet them and make an offer, they start dropping their price.
She is going to get back with me about whether they would consider that. If I don’t hear from her, I will follow up in a couple of days. That is one of the nice things about postcards and bandit signs. You don’t have to worry so much about competition.
Homeowner wants to sell a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 800 sf house in a not-so-good neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $150,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | cosmetic (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $50,000 |
| Max Offer: | $25,000 – repairs |
I don’t think he really wants to sell. What do you think?
Homeowner wants to sell a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 700 sf house in a so-so neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $43,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $43,000 |
| Repairs: | cosmetic (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $50,000 |
| Max Offer: | $25,000 – repairs |
Would like to sell but he owes too much. Next.
Homeowner wants to sell a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 900 sf house in a not-so-good neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $50,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | cosmetic (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $50,000 |
| Max Offer: | $25,000 – repairs |
Called me from a post card. He had told me that he wouldn’t take less than $50k but I wanted to see how he felt about a ballpark figure to see if he had any motivation. Big mistake in this situation. He was not at all happy that I threw a number in the 20’s at him. It was a short but sweet rant that I had to endure. (Doesn’t mean I won’t keep doing it. :)) Next.
Homeowner wants to sell a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 900 sf house in a so-so neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $100,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | cosmetic (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $65,000 |
| Max Offer: | $40,000 – repairs |
Called me from a post card. He has it rented and is just kicking some tires. Even though he said he wanted $100k, I still offered about $40k. No go. (Told you I would do it again :)) Next.
Homeowner wants to sell a 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 1200 (?) sf house in a so-so neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $65,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | cosmetic (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $65,000 |
| Max Offer: | $40,000 – repairs |
Called me from a post card. I’m not sure how this house has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths and is only 1200sf. He is not motivated in the least and was adamant about not accepting less than $65k. Next.
Homeowner wants to sell a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1500 sf house in a so-so neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $140,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | cosmetic (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $100,000 maybe |
| Max Offer: | $65,000 – repairs |
Another postcard caller tire kicker. Next.
Seller wants to sell 10 Acres of land with mineral rights and oil. I am looking into this one as I’ve never really dealt with this before. She says that they had pumped oil there for years but shut it down when the family was getting into disputes. Not sure what to think about that. More details to follow after closing.
I will leave you with what I told my wife when I mentioned this deal. I told her that if we bought and there did turn out to be oil, I would buy an old, super tank of a white Cadillac convertible and drive it to the land anytime I went down there. Would have to get the horns for the hood as well. 🙂
When I talked to my attorneys office about a couple things, I mentioned that I might become an oil man and they asked if I meant in the oil fields or down at the Jiffy Lube!
If I do get that Caddy, I will have to put a big Jiffy Lube magnet on the side. 😉
Investor wants to assign a contract on a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1300 sf house in a decent neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $75,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | lots of updating (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $110,000 maybe |
| Max Offer: | $71,000 – repairs |
Wholesaler wants to assign a contract on a house that needs a lot of updating. His asking price was high but I decided to make a verbal offer anyway. Based on the pictures of the house, I figured the rehab would be about 15k (mostly updating) and this is conservative to cover something I might not have seen. Warning: don’t do this unless you are experienced. Based on this I told him I could offer $56k. He has a lot of re-negotiating to do in order to sell it to me. We’ll see what happens.
Homeowner wants to sell a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1600 sf house in a decent neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $85,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $68,000 |
| Repairs: | cosmetic (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $109,000 |
| Max Offer: | $71,000 – repairs |
Son got mixed up with the wrong crowd, got in trouble and “went away” for a while. He is coming home and they want him to have a fresh start. In order to do that, they have to get him out of the neighborhood. Hmmmm. The numbers are very close.
Told them I would need to buy really close to what they owe, depending on the repairs needed. It’s not what they wanted to hear. Next.
Homeowner wants to sell a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 1700 sf house in a good neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $80,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | minor foundation (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $100,000 |
| Max Offer: | $65,000 – repairs |
Owner wants to relocate and does not want to deal with hassles of selling his house the conventional way (I don’t blame him! But, I digress.) I went to see this house and make an offer.
He called me about 10 minutes before our scheduled meeting telling me that he had a change of heart. I told him I was almost there and might as well see it and make him an offer.
The house was built on a steep hill and was shifting down the hill. Nothing some piers wouldn’t fix. They were not in a hurry to sell and had decided to go ahead and have the work done themselves. I went ahead and told them that I would be in the 50’s and let them know that if they changed their minds, they could call me.
Homeowner wants to sell a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 800 sf house in a bad neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $20,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | everything (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $40,000 |
| Max Offer: | $15,000 – repairs |
Inherited house that has been vacant for a really long time in a bad neighborhood. Perfect for another investor. So I passed it on. Next.
Homeowner wants to sell a 5 bedroom, 3 bath, 2400 sf house in a good neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $90,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | cosmetics (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $135,000 |
| Max Offer: | $87,000 – repairs |
Got a postcard from us and decided to see how much we would offer. When I kept asking to give a number that he would be interested in, he finally mentioned in the 90’s. Not too far off, depending on repairs.
I worked up what I figured the numbers would be and called to try and set up an appointment. He has not yet called back. Maybe I should not have mentioned being in the 80’s in my message.
Homeowner wants to sell a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 900 sf house in a so-so neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $65,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | $20,000 |
| After Repaired Value: | $70,000 |
| Max Offer: | $20,000 ($40,000 – $20,000) |
Probate is being wrapped up for this property and the seller wants to sell as soon as they are finished. Her sister lives there and the place is a wreck. Their asking price is really high but they mentioned that that is just what a Realtor told them. I am almost 100% positive there is no way a Realtor actually went to that house. If they did and still told them they would get that much, they are being ridiculous.
Told them I could give them $18,000 for the house. She said she would run it by the family. We’ll see. I will wholesale this one if they accept. Batter up.
Homeowner wants to sell a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 900 sf house in a no-so-good neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | Make Offer |
| Amount Owed: | $4k |
| Repairs: | a lot of work (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $50,000 |
| Max Offer: | $25,000 – repairs |
Son wants to sell dad’s house that dad is currently living in. He says it’s because the house needs a lot of work and the dad needs help. Not sure if the father is 100% on board. I birddogged this one as I am just not interested in the area and question whether the father would accept selling, especially for what I would need to buy it for.
Homeowner wants to sell a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 800 sf house in a not-so-good neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $25,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | A lot (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $50,000 |
| Max Offer: | $25,000 – repairs |
Strange that this would be the very next lead. Not in an area that I would be interested in so I birddogged it.
Homeowner wants to sell a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1000 sf house in a so-so neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | Make an Offer |
| Amount Owed: | $30,000 |
| Repairs: | foundation and cosmetics (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $70,000 |
| Max Offer: | $45,000 – repairs |
Got a postcard from us and decided to see how much we would offer. He has the house rented and is in no hurry to sell. I decided to make him a ballpark offer in the 30’s. He said he was going to think about it. Follow up.
Homeowner wants to sell a 3 bedroom, 1.5 bath, 1100 sf house in a so-so neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | Make Offer |
| Amount Owed: | $25,000 |
| Repairs: | cosmetics (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $65,000 |
| Max Offer: | $40,000 – repairs |
Got a postcard from us and decided to see how much we would offer. He has paying tenants and was just curious. I made a ballpark in the 30’s and he informed me that that was ridiculous. Maybe to him it is. To me it’s realistic. Next.
Homeowner wants to sell a 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 1600 sf house in a decent neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $70,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $59,000 |
| Repairs: | cosmetics (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $70,000 |
| Max Offer: | $45,000 – repairs |
Got a postcard from us but did not want to sell the house mentioned on the postcard. They want to sell the house they are living in. She said that she doesn’t like having an all electric house and wants a smaller one to save on utility bills. The problem with this house is that there are a lot of nice new houses selling all around her. I think this house was there before all of the new ones. The picture of this house on Google maps shows the house has no character whatsoever. Box with a roof. The county has the house assessed at $100k for taxes, but I feel this is way off. Next.
Homeowner wants to sell a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1000 sf house in a decent neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | $75,000 |
| Amount Owed: | $54,000 |
| Repairs: | cosmetics and finish some updates (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $95,000 |
| Max Offer: | $62,000 – repairs |
This seller has done a lot to the house. She went on and on about everything they had done. They need to move to be closer to her sister who has recently become paralyzed. The house sounds great but we are don’t usually buy great houses. We want houses that people are not proud of. I figure I would have to buy for about what they owe and told them that. They were not interested.
Homeowner wants to sell a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1400 sf house in a decent neighborhood.
Here are the numbers:
| Asking Price: | Make An Offer |
| Amount Owed: | $0 |
| Repairs: | a lot (unconfirmed) |
| After Repaired Value: | $70,000 |
| Max Offer: | $40,000 – repairs |
Caller is a friend of the family that has been helping them get rid of the rentals as a dying wish of one of the family members. This guy is ready to be done with this. The other houses he had to wait until the tenants vacated, fixed the houses up and then had to get offers. This one has had the same tenant in it for 17 years.
I will make an offer on it because it seems pretty hassle free (as long as the caller was being honest when he said the tenants doesn’t ask for anything – which might not be a good thing either). I’ve got to go by and see it and then will probably present a written offer. Too easy for people to turn down verbal offers, especially over the phone. Get the other side to commit more time to the deal.
Homeowner wants to sell three houses in a so-so neighborhood. Only one is rented and the tenant has been there for years. The others have been vacant for a while and the city is hassling the owner to fix them. She kept mentioning how she is sick of them and doesn’t want them anymore. This is who I want to get calls from. 🙂
Need to go by and see the houses and work up some kind of offer and put it in writing. We’ll see what happens.
Summary
Tons of leads this week! The postcard mailing really started pulling and I think there will be more coming over the next week. Bandit signs helped pull in some new leads as well. It really is all about keeping your marketing going and working the leads. Deals will come.
Plans For Next Week
Please ReTweet and Like this post because it’s a nice thing to do and I truly appreciate it.
-Danny
Follow along with me on my journey though this house flipping blog.
Next: Follow Along As I Open Up My House Flipping Business
Comments (32)
Danny:
How would a rise in interest rates affect your business and the business of flipping properties as a whole? Thanks in advance for your time.
Blake
I don’t worry about that kind of thing until it happens. Even then, I probably wouldn’t. It would probably make it more difficult to sell houses. Everything happening lately has done that though and we have managed to still make it work. Just have to being able to offer great deals on the houses you sell.
Moving 3 times in 8 years!! What an adventure!! Great looking house, and with low interest rates, and the success you’re having, why not!! Way to go. Have been following your blog and appreciate all the information you freely give. Thanks!!
Thank you.
My brothers are sick of helping us move. 🙂
Danny – another great post. I have a question about lead #16. You mentioned: “Got a postcard from us and decided to see how much we would offer. When I kept asking to give a number that he would be interested in, he finally mentioned in the 90′s. Not too far off, depending on repairs.”
Do you always try to get the seller to commit to a number before you start with your offer? Thanks
You should try to get them to name a number first as this can be a good sign of their level of motivation. If they just refuse, you really don’t know how much they want or need to sell.
With the absentee owner postcards, I try very hard to get them to name a price because a lot of the people that have been calling only want to consider it if they are going to get a great price for the house. My postcard mentions that I am buying houses in the area and I think this may lead to some people calling in hopes of getting a great price.
As far as general negotiating goes, it is always better to have the other person name a price first.
Hey Danny,
I really enjoy keeping up with your blog. It seems that you usually flip, wholesale, or bird-dog properties. How do you decide if you are going to wholesale or bird-dog a particular property that has potential?
Ben,
Great question. It is really just about how much of a deal I feel it is and whether I have the time to go and see it. If they are asking $20k for a house that is on the tax rolls for $80k, I am going to try to wholesale it as there is likely a lot of room. If the house is in an area is that mostly rentals, I will typically birddog if the price is not super low.
There are a lot of times when I feel like I might be getting lazy and passing up on some profit by birddogging, but the deals are typically not homeruns. I’d rather make a quick buck than spend time hustling to try to move a property to make a little more. Nothing like making a couple grand from a couple phone calls. 🙂
Danny,
I’m on my 2nd house doing just that. I rather enjoy the process of setting up a new home. My wife on the other hand…
I think you picked a good one to move into. Hard to beat a ranch of that size in a good location. (better hire a house cleaner though lol)
Good luck with the move. You might have to upgrade from Budweiser’s for your brothers on this one.
Jason
I always say the move won’t be so bad, but we all know that it is a lot of work….and ends up being on the hottest day of the year.
We were talking today about how many things we didn’t think about when we were going to sell the house. Things that were ok but were not great when you decide that you will be moving in. I guess what I mean is that we analyzed the place much more closely and decided we wanted to do more to it. So now I’ve got another round of rehab going on over there. 🙂
Hi Danny,
What are the best ways to optimize my Buying website so I can begin to generate leads in the New Jersey area. I noticed from your post that most of your leads come from your Buying website?
Good talking to you today.
As I mentioned, there is so much involved in doing this that I cannot possibly explain it in a comment. The basics are learning good on-page SEO as well as off-page (backlinks). No I do not hit my site with thousands of backlinks, just a relatively few high quality ones.
I am working on something regarding all of this. 🙂
I have a question…do you ever get returned postcards after you’ve mailed them out, if so, what do you do with those, if anything at all? Nice posting, great inspiration!
Great question and I am considering the correct answer myself. I used to use Accurint (monthly fee to use) to skip trace the owners. That was very time consuming and I got burned out on it really fast.
I remove them the returned postcard addresses from my list and then make note of it. I have a long list of returned addresses and have not done anything with them. Maybe we should hold a contest for best idea on what to do with them.
Been thinking about outsourcing the skip tracing but don’t have any idea who to use. It would be great if others would chime in. Maybe I will ask on the next post.
Hi Danny,
Seemes like you only getting 1% responce on your postcard to absetees. Have you thought about doing yellow letters? Its more expensive but I heard the responce rate is 11%-15%
The oil field opportunity seems quite intriguing, hope that works out for you!
Eli
Hey, Eli.
I have received a lot more responses from the same mailing since the last blog post.
We’ve used the yellow letters in the past and have never seen that kind of response rate. Maybe our list wasn’t the best. I’m not sure if that is just something people are using to get investors’ attention or what. Maybe if the mailing is small and they got a few calls that equated to 10% or more.
I’d love to hear from people that have done it with that kind of success and what lists they were mailing to. (we were mailing them to drive for dollars addresses)
Danny,
I’m yet to do my firs yellow letter campaign, so I’ll let you know how it works for me. But I was listening to guys like Sean Terry and Michael Quarles and they were talking about much higher response on yellow letter. I think Sean Terry was talking in particular about the inheritance list, maybe that’s why he god such great response rate.
Great. Please keep us informed as to the response you get for them. Thanks.
Another awesome post Danny! Your consistency with providing great content is impressive…there really are no “filler” weeks.
To respond to Nick’s question above….Another reason why you never want to give the first number is because every once in a while, you’ll hit a home run when the seller comes in LOWER than what your ballpark number would have been.
Thanks, Dave.
I love it when they mention a number far below what I was thinking. 🙂
Hi Danny,
If you don’t mind sharing, about how much do you estimate you will have saved on taxes by moving into the historic house? Do you plan on selling after 2 years?
Thanks!
It’s really a matter of how much profit comes from the sale of the house and your tax bracket. We are not reducing our taxes in anyway by selling the house. We are just being able to avoid having the income from the sell of the house be taxed.
We plan on being at that house for a lot longer so that the kids won’t have to change schools again. If an incredible deals comes up though, I’m sure we will have a hard time with the decision. We had planned on staying at our current house for much longer.
Danny – Another bird dog question. How do you track whether the investor you bird dogged the deal to closed on the property and subsequently owes you a bird dog fee?
Trust. If I don’t yet trust them, I periodically call the sellers to see if they sold and/or check the deed records to see if it was sold and who bought. Even if I do trust them, I still randomly check.
“I don’t always go into mediation, but when I do, I prefer to stay positive. Stay positive my friends. – The Most Interesting House Flipper In The World”
Nice Danny, well played. That was funny.
Lol. I forgot about that.
Great posts! I have really enjoyed reading them. A few questions…do you use Google voice for bandit sign phone number then forward to your cell? What do use for mailing address return-Po box or actually home address? What type of mailing for absentee have you had best response with-letter or postcard?
Thanks.
I use my actual cell phone number.
I use a PO Box for a return address.
I’ve had great response with both postcards and letters. This isn’t based on hard facts, but I think the letters pull better than the post cards.
Hey Danny,
I’ve never done Absentee owner’s and I was wondering where I should get a list from. If I use my title company, I wouldn’t be able to go by equity% or loan to value ratio like you can on listsource.com. Is there some other type of criteria I could go by to filter for a smaller, more focused list, through a title company, or is it just smarter to go with a site like listsource.com/reisource.com?
Hey, Kyle.
I think it really depends on the title company and where they are getting the data from. Some will be able to drill down to people with more equity and some won’t. Maybe call around to several different ones and ask them.
Listsource is relatively inexpensive.
Thanks! I called around and none of the title companies in my area can do any type of equity search. Listsource.com won’t work for me either because they have very ltitle property records pre year 2000 for my counties. This is very discouraging, now I have almost no idea on what I can do to get Absentee & Owner occupied lists, as well as free and clear.
I can continue to look around for ways to get lists with equity as a filtering criteria, but I doubt I’ll have much luck. Since I can’t use equity%, I’m wondering what filtering criteria I could use at a title company to make up for this, so that I still get a relatively targeted/specialized lists? Do you find ordering Absentee owner list’s without an Equity/LTV filter to be a waste?
Kyle,
In that case, I would focus on driving for dollars. You will get a better feel and knowledge of the areas you are interested in and the leads will be better.