- I'm continuing to send out my weekly pre-foreclosure mailings
- I'm going to open houses
- I'm trying to network (although I could be doing a much better job of it)
- I've researched Probates (more about this later)
- I've got a list of absentee owners to purchase (more on this later)
- I've reworked my postcard a little bit
- I've Finished my pre-foreclosure webpage to display the lists
- I'm getting no where fast!!
Probates
Unless I take a day off (or a few hours a day) from work I can't go to the court house and get the leads I need to start sending out mailers. I could hire someone to go and do this for me but I don't have the budget for that right now. When summer hits (Memorial day weekend) I will have a half day on fridays that I will take advantage of and then go to the court house. Hopefully by the end of the summer I will have a system down and have some extra money coming in so I can outsource that. Other wise I'm lost here. anyone else have any ideas??
Absentee Owners
I'm trying to stick to a 200 a month budget for marketing and right now if I bought the absentee list from listsource it would put me over my February budget so I have to wait till march. Very frustrating, but have to stay on budget.
This is where I'm stuck! I need more ways to bring leads in, but they must be cheap. Cheap leads me to bandit signs and craigslist type ads. I haven't had much success with craigslist ads in the past but I think that was because either my message wasn't good and/or I wasn't consistent enough. I'm going to give that another try.
Has anyone had success with craigslist ads looking for seller leads? if so what ads did you use? Did you direct them to a webpage to fill out a form or did you just give them your number? There has got to be a technique that helps!
As for bandit signs, I've got my eye on a "We buy Junky Cars" bandit sign that is near my condo. I want to see how long it stays up, so far it's been up about a week. Do you bandit sign users put your cell phone number on the sign? I'm a bit leary of that as I don't want code enforcement to be able to find me that easy. Is that a logical worry??
Ahhhhh I just have to go out and do it, I hate this wading in the waters attitude I get sometimes.
Here's to getting over your fears!
http://sjcostello.blogspot.com/2009/02/ah-crap.html?showComment=1235447760000#c7462401804470308937'> February 23, 2009 at 7:56 PM
Hi Scott, I don't use my cell phone # on any signs. We have a voicemail system set up through gotvmail.com and I direct all calls to that # (it will forward calls to my cell phone and I can either choose to pick up or send them straight to voicemail or forward to my husband's cell phone).
http://sjcostello.blogspot.com/2009/02/ah-crap.html?showComment=1235491860000#c2774022123333864463'> February 24, 2009 at 8:11 AM
Scott, I actually bought magic jack for 40 bucks. It includes first year service and following years are 20.00 a year. It has voice mail which is what I wanted and other features. I didnt have to put any personal info when activating it so theres no way to track me down by the number unless I want someone to. Hope that helps. also Craigs list has worked great for me. Bascially contacting as many like minded people I can. Seems to me like those mailings are a real shot in the dark.
http://sjcostello.blogspot.com/2009/02/ah-crap.html?showComment=1235579940000#c6026447100632487584'> February 25, 2009 at 8:39 AM
Thanks Scott and Shae! I've heard of magic Jack before, but never really looked into it. It sounds perfect for what I want.
http://sjcostello.blogspot.com/2009/02/ah-crap.html?showComment=1236183960000#c2441384041760586982'> March 4, 2009 at 8:26 AM
scott,
1. Absentee owners. Ask your local title company for the list. They will give it to you in excel, dbase etc.. format. A GREAT list is the multiple absentee owner list (true landlord list.) The hits on that list will have more than one property that they don't live in and you'll see a huge return on your invested dollar.
2. Probate. I specialize in probate so trust me on this. Partner with a realtor. Have them gather the info at the courthouse and you do the data entry into the computer. Merge/mail your mailers and then after 2-4 weeks, give the list to your realtor partner so they can mail (or not) to them for listings. It's a coop-ition kind of thing. I did it when I had no money/time and the partnership with the realtor has paid off over time. check out my blogpost on probate. It's long, but should give you some good detail. http://heytaylor.blogspot.com/2007/11/probate-hookup.html
3. Patlive is awesome for a seller hotline. they have a pre-recorded message line and the callers can hit 6 to talk to a live operator. I pay about $300/mo total and get between 80-100 responses through there per month.
Freedomvoice.com is a great resource for taking calls as well. You can have up to 100 voice-mail/pre-recorded message boxes that you record for specific target markets (pre-FC, Probate, Divorce, etc..) I think I pay about $50/mo for mine. there's no live operator, but you do get an email once people call.
My freedomvoice # is 866-565-8802. I'm not sure what's on there right now, but you're welcome to call it and listen. Hit 103, 104 etc to get an idea of what I've got recorded on the boxes.
In fact, if you've got questions or want to talk to me directly, just email me at 11daysale@gmail.com and well hook up.
Good luck!
-Taylor