ANSENTEE OWNER LETTERS WORK! Get them out! Talk about a discount!

Locked up the deal from the absentee owner letters we sent. My lawyer is working with the bank now to put it all together. Purchase price is $14k, FMV is over $90k, should rent for $800+. Hope to get this closed in Nov.

That is fabulous! What a pay day!!!

I have sent out 800 post cards to AO and 200 more will go out this week. I just ordered another 2500 absentee owner post cards. Can't wait to start sending those out!

Karen

Great work, guys! I thought this was gna be your wholesale deal? Any way you look at it, there's your cashflow. Next deal, please!

You two have to be excited! You just never know unless you ask/try!! How many letters did you send out?...just curious.

That would be very tempting for me to do a retail Fix/Flip! How much for a retail rehab?

Keep up the good work!!

Hey Karen - You're bound to get something with those kind of numbers!!

Congratulations Jack. That is what this is all about making money and helping others. This is a once in a lifetime deal and you found it. Again Congratulations.

Steve

That is so encouraging. Thanks for posting.

So you want to hold a property that your buying for 14,000? It's ARV is 90,000, and only 5,000 in repairs. Wow, I don't see why you would want to hold the property, you can flip it fast for a huge profit. Put 5,000-10,000 in repairs and sell it. Your getting around 20% on the dollar which for an investor is a HOMERUN. Just my thoughts...

Congrats again Jack, your on a row. I love coming on DG.com and reading success stories like this, it just gives me more fuel to keep pushing forward. Where did you get your letter you send to the owners? Would you mind sharing that?

Another amazing story! This stuff WORKS!!!

Hi Jack what and awesome deal, way to go, when we try we never know what will happen but things will happen, great job, Jim

I just love the response I get from absentee owners. It's usually about 15-20% response rate.

Jack,

Do you mind telling me where you find all the absentee owners you mail letters to? Was wondering the same thing about Karen.

Appreciate it,
Denese

I would like to know as well where you find them. Do you purchase a list and if so where do you get it from and how much can we expect to pay for it.

The wind is pushing right behind you!! Fantastic deal!

How do the postcards work? Do you order them and they are sent from some company or are they shipped to you and you fill them out? We have sent out 750 letters so far, have a list of 3000 AO. Lots more to do!

Hey Dallas,

Ha, I like the whole wholesale idea or quick lipstick on a pig and cash out. The money is so enticing, BUT, we know we need to get some buy and holds in order to get me out of the 9-5 grind. This house will be great cash flow, even if we pull out $40k in a mortgage. Mama Knucks has pretty much put her foot down that we are keeping this one so we are closer to getting me home doing this full time.

Hey John,

Yes it is hard to not just double close or do a lipstick on a pig and retail it but we know that buy and holds is what we get me out of the 9-5 grind. We have sent out 750 letters so far BUT I have not kept up my end of the calls coming in and putting the deals together. Its a scared and nervous thing that I need to get over. I have probably gotten 75 calls from those but I know I have lost other deals by not doing what I need to. If we were to flip it retail and put $10k into it to make it nicer then others, we should be able to get $75 pretty quickly, if we tried to get FMV we'd have to wait since there aren't as many buyers out there for these. We are also tossing around the idea of doing a lease to own for FMV, 20 year term, at 10%, this way we collect a nice down payment and don't have to worry about repairs.

Our thoughts on the buy and hold is monthly cash flow. We are in the middle of a monster rehab now and that check at the end when its done is nice, but its not monthly and it will take that to leave the 9-5.

Hey folks,

I ordered the AO list(2887 names) through list source($527), you can go to their website and pick an area and buy however many you want. I know there are other ways, searching tax records is one, but with working a full time job, running our non profit, this REI business, and a travel agency, AND having 2 teenage boys, we had to outsource a few things. We also don't answer phones, we pay a service, pat live($1.06 the first minute with $1 every other minute after), to answer the calls and then they email us with the info.

The letter I use I can't share, its an agreement with who I got it from. I think there are examples of letters out here on DG, I will look around and post if I find one.

I'll try to send out some yellow letters as well. I hear they work very well. I wasn't told not to share the information about the yellow letters that I was given. Anyway the place to orDer them from is. www.yellowletters.com/ I also have every letter from Probate, Absentee Owner, and all the rest.

Just PM me and I'll give the info that I have. They encourage people to share their info to boost their business.

Life has gotton in MY way so when I get back I'll try the Yellow letters. If I'm lucky I wont miss my window. Wish me well. I'LL BE BACK..(Taken a Leave of Absence). CONGRATS ON THE DEAL FAMILY;-)Keep up the good work!!

I have an amazing Title rep who gives me FREE lists and prints me Free mailing labels. She ran the Cash Buyers List for my target zone (215) and sent the preprinted labels to me. Then she pulled my AO list. 6,660 AOs!!!! I had her send me 3,000. I figured that would cost more than I have anyway for the postage!

I designed my own postcards (well, actually, I wrote the message and a friend who is a graphic artist made them pretty!) and had them printed at www.GotPrint.com. They turned out gorgeous!! So far not a great response but I will be starting a second mailing soon. They say sometimes you have to send them up to seven times.

I got a response on one of my yellow letters I send to vacant houses (found by one of my Bird Dogs). The guy wrote back to me and said he is "incarcerated" and would like to sell! I would say that pretty much sounds like "distressed"!

Immediately after he received my letter, he called a realtor and listed it. I have been working with her and she and I have built a nice rapport. There are squatters in the house right now and she is working to get them out! I am hoping that since it is such a pain in the neck for her, she will encourage him to jump on my CASH offer!

Contact your Title Reps and ask if they have any "farming tools" that they offer access to. Mine has turned out to be a gold mine.

Karen

Thank you both for answering my questions. I'll get busy and see what we can find here in Texas. Again, I truly appreciate you taking the time to help me and others.

Denese

FREE is always good! We have sent out 750 letters so far so I won't need another list for a while unless I decide to expand to other areas sooner. Let me know how the next round of postcards goes, that would be cheaper then letters. We pay our kids 30 cents for each letter, they fold the letter and put it into the envelope, write the AO address, put our label and stamp on it, and then seal the envelope closed. On top of what we paid for the list, the paper, the envelopes, stamps, ink for the printer, and the answering service. The one deal we have locked up more then pays for all of this, so any others is gravy.

Hello. I represent a nationwide skip tracing firm in Dallas, TX. We are currently working with a local realtor, locating individuals who have abandoned property because they are behind and facing foreclosure. We offer a comprehensive report from the last known address and homeowners name to assist in locating and marketing the different programs available to such individuals. We then offer a program to locate the homeowner. We only charge the realtor if we are able to locate and set a call between the investor and the homeowner. I just wanted to see if any of you might be interested in using this program. We have had really good results. This is a great way to find excellent deals for your investors too.

Hello. I represent a nationwide skip tracing firm in Dallas, TX. We are currently working with a local realtor, locating individuals who have abandoned property because they are behind and facing foreclosure. We offer a comprehensive report from the last known address and homeowners name to assist in locating and marketing the different programs available to such individuals. We then offer a program to locate the homeowner. We only charge the realtor if we are able to locate and set a call between the investor and the homeowner. I just wanted to see if any of you might be interested in using this program. We have had really good results. This is a great way to find excellent deals for your investors too.

Sent some out a few days ago using Yellow letter generator software. My phone started to blow up today with calls. The link for that software is below. Highly recommend checking it out instead of spending $100s of dollars for some website to do them for you that has a minimum order of 1000 letters to order at $1-$2 each. You do the math. I think the software is only $59. Hope this helps

After reading you post on 10/22/2012 I had good laugh. On your third & fourth paragraph... I had something similar happen to me. While driving for dollars I found a good prospect, so I sent them a yellow letter with a business card and the next thing they did was hire a realtor and listed it.

It's so funny u mention this. This very scenario has happened to me so many times. If the sellers only knew how much money they would save by not using that real estate agent. They always seem to think they need the agent. Most cases where this happens the agent ends up killing the deal. That's my experience with that.

wondering how that property is going? did you get it rehabbed and rented? refinanced?

I wouldn't flip it; when you refinance it for the FMV, you get more $ than what you put in, and then your tenants will pay the loan. It's like getting a property for free! how sweet is that?!

Congrats!

We are keeping the property for a rental and have had some outside work done. We have mold remediation going on Wed and Thursday this week and should have the outside work, pressure washing, replacing rotten wood, paint, replacing outside lights done this week. Then next week they will get the inside work done, hope its ready 2 weeks from today. We have it financed with an unsecure loan right now but will work on a new financing deal with pulling money out soon. To much going on with my 9 to 5, my rehab, working on my parents sale of their place in NJ and buying the one here, all supposed to happen in the next 2 weeks also. AND I need to fly up to NJ and pack the truck and drive it down, loving it though!