My yellow letter for expired listings and vacant properties

Thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences with this.

investorinmissouri - Thank you for sharing your letter with all of us! Nice letter!

Trustpoint - Good info here thank you! A local investor showed us one of his letters and envelopes and intentionally puts the stamp on a little bit crooked. I don't know if it helps or not but I noticed it. He puts his return label on the front and it too is a little crooked too.

Lea

sweet!!!
thanks for sharing

I think that years and years of research show a 2% to 3% response rate on mailing campaigns. So you mail 500 and get 15. Around $10 per lead. Do just one $10,000 assignment from those leads and WOW.

One of my doorknockers is getting a very high call return rate on the notes she leaves on homeowners doors when there is no answer. She leaves a pink sticky note with read ink! She has excellent hand writing. We never mention why we want a call back. We get a much higher return call rate when we simply put: Hi_______ my name is __________ I came by to see you but no one was here,
could you please call me at ___________?

Michael Mangham
MD Home Acquisitions LLC

I have now used your yellow letter and it worked the first time out, and this owner lives 5 states away and they were nice enough to call me and tell me that the house went back to the bank a year ago.

K

I like this idea. I have only tried mailers twice with no success, this time will work!

Thanks for sharing the GREAT success and response rate your door knocker gets with her pink sticky note! I like this.

Lea

I am going to try this letter to find sellers for L/Os. I am going to pull a fresh NOD list, pare it down to find areas I want, 3BR+/2BA+, approximate price range, those with lower past due, etc.

Don't see why it wouldn't work here, too.

Karen

I was going to post the link to the flip crusher's video Eric and Alex did, but someone already beat me to it! =)

These yellow letters do work!!! I use them on expired listings and vacant properties as well. If you are doing more targeted marketing, I would however recommend typing something up with more detail. Just make sure you sign any marketing you type out, so it still looks more personalized. In fact, typing up letters and sticking them in an invitation envelope can really be just as effective. The whole goal is just to get them to open that letter and not throw it away without reading it.

Thanks Jason,
I really appreciate the info, every little thing helps when you are starting out as you know.

This information is great...it is not the first time I have heard about it but I think seeing it here on the forum and being able to read the thread is like being in a brain storming sessions and it just really got my mind a flowing.

I am thinking of using this yellow letter marketing system to do some focusing marketing in some neighborhoods of interest for me it is more like towns of interest....for some reason regarding my L/O I'm really drawn to small to medium towns surrounding Oklahoma City.

I will begin this before the end of this month...I had to date it to make it happen.

Thanks DG Fam

I have to agree these letters work great. I would add a check of the expired list against your equity list so that you're not mailing prospects who cant make you money.

Do you guys have a general script you use when they actually call you?

Or do you just run with the normal seller's script?

Call Script
1. Owner first and last name. (if adding confirm spelling)______________________________________________
2. In case we get disconnected what is a good number to call you back on?_______________________________
3. Do you happen to have a cell number? _________________________
4. What is the best time to call you back? _________________________
5. How did you happen to hear about us? __________________________
6. Are you calling about a note you received regarding selling your house? Yes No Maybe
7. Do you have a house you're hoping to sell? Yes No Maybe
8. Is the house listed with a real estate agent? Yes No
9. What's the address of the house you're hoping to sell? __________________________________________
10. Property City?___________________ Property State? ___________ Property County?_______________
11. Out of curiosity, why are you selling? __________________________________________________________
12. When do you want the house sold? _____________________________
13. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being highly motivated, how would you rank your motivation to sell? ___________
14. How did you happen to own the home? ____________________________________________________________
15. Is the Home Vacant or Occupied? Vacant Occupied
16. Occupants Name? ________________________________
17. Do You Know the Year Built? __________________
18. What is the approximate square footage? ___________________
19. How Many Bedrooms? __________________ How Many Bathrooms? ______________ Size of the Garage? ___________
20. Knowing I buy "As Is" tell me a little about the condition of the property, does it need any repairs? Things like paint, carpet, roof repairs and such? ________________________________________________________________________________
21. What do you think the repair costs are going to be? _______________________
22. What do you think your house will appraise for in today's market? ____________________
23. What are you asking for the house? _______________________ Pause
24. Is that price "As Is" or fixed up? ___________________
25. How did you happen to come up with that price?___________________________________________________________
26. Are your payments current or behind? Yes No A little In Foreclosure
27. If in foreclosure; You may owe more on your home than it is worth, would you agree?
28. Do you have an interest in NOT having a foreclosure on your record right?
29. Have you heard of a short sale? Yes No
30. Owner Occupied Foreclosure? Yes No
31. Notes ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
32. Prospect Status Dead Follow up Made Appointment
script

The script that you wrote is great but how do you get them to sell the house at a discount? Like 50% off their asking price. I'm pretty sure when they call me they will most likely automatically think I want to buy it at their full asking price.

To see if they are motivated enough to discount the property you have to qualify them by asking certain questions in the script.

Why are you selling?
Is it listed?
If so for how long?
Have you received any offers?
What will you do if you do not sell the house?
If you received an all cash offer what is the least you would accept?

Thats great I understand that part.

If I ask them these questions should I just say I will buy your house for half your asking price in less then two weeks and see what they say? I don't want to insult anybody.

and then make them an offer. If you tell them right from the start that you will only give them half of their asking price then they will throw you out. You need them to think it's their idea for that price. Or maybe they can give you terms which means you can sometimes give a little more in the offer. Sometimes great terms is better than a low price depending on what you want to do with the property.

I know for me after qualifying them if they seem motivated enough and flexible I will go view the property before giving them any kind of number. After I view it I will let them know I will be contacting them the following day.

When I present my offer to them I show them why I am pricing it the way I am. I explain again that I work with a group of investors who typically buy at 65% or lower of the market value on a home. I also tell them they are in competition with the foreclosures in there area ( i think Matt is the one that said this). I show them the list of compare ables I get from my Realtor that way they have something physical to see as far as pricing. I also remind them of the reason they came to me and why they are selling the home. I also remind them as well that if they want out fast this is what it is worth cash to close quickly. If they want retail value they will have to list it and wait, Market, and wait along with having people in and out of the home with out knowing if anyone is even going to give an offer.

The first call is to find out if I have a fantasy land or reality land seller. If I have a seller who wants value or less I will keep the appointment if not I will call back and state that their house isnt at the value they were hoping for and to keep me in mind if their situation changes.

Ineviably they ask what I think the value is and to that I tell them I dont know because I stopped determining value when I realised their value wasnt going to fit.

I then re-ask them their final number explaining again that I pay all cost and buy as is. They always say a lower number. I then tell them that I will call them back on a day specific once I finish my due-diligence.

I have found that if I let them call me three times before I call them back the success rate is much better.

Once I do make the appointment the entire conversation is scripted. From "Is where I am parked okay" to asking for signatures.

Thanks Jason B!!!! I have bookmarked this one and will be trying it. Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions of what they have tried and what works!!

It is feedback like this that makes this site indispensable!!

Fantastic!
Louisa

Its simple yet cutting edge and effective!

very effective

Brilliant, Susan. People just love to offer helpful advice. Great way to get her calling. I bet she knows every little thing about her neighborhood. Good info picking if you were to thank her and ask for bits of advice as you interbiew her about folks who might need your help. peace,

You can get them premade from somewhere, even with a trackable code, too.

Which phone number should you put on the yellow letter - The 24 Hr. Recorded msg. (for sellers), or your cell phone?

***

I would put my cell number.

If you put an 800 number, you are defeating the purpose of making it not look like a big company thing. Then it looks like you are trying to be tricky.

I just received on Friday the exact yellow letter that is shown at the beginning of this post. Two things struck me: 1) I immediately knew it was a yellow letter as I could see the size of the envelope with the address in red, and 2)I personally thought the person has terrible penmanship. (I was also taught it was a waste of time doing a YL in a higher end neighborhood, but that is besides the point here.)

I will have to say that I have used the Yellow Letter Marketing System over the years but when done poorly I would think your results would be poorly as well. So in the final analysis, your end reader has to be able to understand what you are writing or you have simple wasted a 44 cent stamp.

I may call this person to explain my impression, but she probably won't take the constructive criticism well.

thank you for sharing. I appreciate the information.

Where do I get expired listings without someone asking me if I'm pre qualified?