Where you are at in your market, it's probably the same situation. Not as many deals on the MLS and lots more competition to find the good ones.
What is the solution to this? Looking off-market.
Why?
- There is less competition
- You can find sellers BEFORE they decide to list the house
- Better deals
- More variety
- More ways to make money (Owner Financing, Wholesale, etc.)
If those reasons sound great to you, then there are two questions to ask yourself:
1. Do you have the money to send out marketing consistently?
2. Do you have the time to hustle and find the off-market deals?
If you answered yes to both of these, then direct mail for vacant houses is probably a great strategy you should try.
First, Know Your Market
Market research is very important with direct mail. Use Listsource.com to find the zip codes in your area with the most real estate investor sales in the last few months. Then from Realtor.com, check the median list price of houses and how many properties are in the market in that area. You can then see what zip codes have high inventory and where real estate investors are buying.
Then, Market Yourself
Real estate investors are basically direct marketers. We are sending our message directly to customers and hoping they act on our call to action. In order for them to respond, you need to build your brand. Don't be boring and make sure to set yourself apart from the other investors in your area, so that when a good deal pops up, you are the top of mind reference.
Top 5 Strategies to Crush Your Competition in Competitive Markets
1. Look for vacant houses
This includes pulling vacant house mailing lists, driving neighborhoods looking for potentially vacant houses, writing down addresses and either skip tracing and calling the owner or sending them a letter.
2. Probate direct mail marketing
Probates are sellers who have inherited a property from a relative that passed away. You can find this list to mail to at your local county courthouse or on sites like Listsource.com.
3. High Equity Out of State Absentee Owners direct mail
Pulling this list from Listsource.com and mailing to them is a MUST for competitive markets. Yellow and black postcards seem to work best for this type of mailing. An example that Chris has used is below:
4. Do what your competition is NOT doing
It could be using online marketing like Google business or making YouTube videos. Do things that set you apart from the local competition in your market.
5. Networking
Create a newsletter and use your social media to market yourself and be the top of mind reference when anyone thinks about real estate.
Create a System
If you are about done with your 9-5 and want to learn more about these acquisition strategies and our proven system, check out this brand-new class I just put together with Chris Seder about my 3 Step Quick Win Profit System for flipping properties and achieving financial freedom.
I'll show you how you can easily acquire investment properties or wholesale deals at the lowest price so that you can turn around and make quick cash, establish passive income as a rental, or make a big, life-changing profit as a flip.
Be Daring,
Josh
