Wednesday, August 30th, 2023
If you’ve made it here, I’m guessing you’re one of my fellow real estate investors (or aspiring!) who wants to dive into the nitty gritty details of what it takes to generate real growth and wealth in this business.
One of you made a comment on a post last month inquiring about lead generation on a small budget. I felt it super fitting to dive into this topic since this very method is how I found my first two rental properties. It's these rental properties that ultimately lead me to the team I built and work with today on my out-of-state investments.
So, how did I find it?
A TEXT campaign.
Yes, believe it or not, I connected with the seller through one of those spammy text campaigns…
Yuck, right?
Well, my friends, it works. I was on the originating end of one of those text most of us ignore, delete or reply STOP 😆, inquiring about whether or not you want to sell your property.
When it comes to marketing to off-market properties, the most cost-effective marketing methods include door-knocking, texting and sending out handwritten notes.
Yes, I’ve done it all…And yes, every form of marketing SUCKS (if you’re one who enjoys it, you’re a unicorn 🦄, and I’d love to meet you 😄).
That said, I advise you pick the one or two you dislike the least, that also fit within your availability and budget. Since landing a solid lead is a targeted numbers game, I lean into text campaigns because I can reach hundreds of motivated sellers per week, with minimal preparation within a friendly budget.
But to WHOM, you might be asking, do I send these text messages?
The types of motivated seller lists are extensive. For the sake of this conversation, I’m going to focus on the very specific lists that I’ve had success with.
I like to connect with tired landlords (non-owner-occupied properties), and specifically, those with property tax delinquencies. This is a subset of the foreclosure list, which research has shown is one of the best list to “farm” as a result of the high level of motivation these homeowners have to get out of their current situation. Moreover, the reason I prefer to connect with “tired landlords” is because these houses are investment properties; a landlord’s attachment to their property is often far less than say an owner-occupied property. I’d argue most of us have some sentimental feelings towards the property we call home? On the flip side, a landlord views his property through a much different lense…it’s a business, which lends the conversation to being more transactional in nature…which I appreciate! More often than not, these "business owners" have let their rental properties go by the wayside and hence need some TLC…certainly those that fall on the tax delinquent list.
So where do you find these list?
While you can subscribe to any one of the large platforms that generate these lists for you with a few clicks of a button, I was taught the old school method by one of my mentors. These tax delinquent lists can be found on every Treasurer’s website. They come out every 6 months to 1 year depending on when the Treasurer holds their tax sale. With some patience and research of the tax sale schedule, these lists are very accurate and FREE.
So what do I do with these lists?!
Well, as mentioned earlier, I’m a fan of text campaigns. Here, you DO need to be careful about working with the right company, one who maintains compliance with the current laws and regulations. I use RooR.app because it's one of the less expensive texting platforms that keeps you compliant. They also have a great customer service team that will help you upload skip-traced lists without you having to work through the hassle of reformatting. They also have an app that you can use to manage your incoming messages and replies. No platform is perfect, but this is the one that has worked for me.
So, let’s talk about the financials behind it all. When I’m running a campaign, I typically have two lists with anywhere between 200-500 properties. So, if I’m sending out messages every 10 days to these two lists (3,000 messages/mo at most), I’m spending no more than $135/mo on text campaigns. Include the monthly fee for compliance ($50-100), and what it costs for skip tracing the list ($0.10-0.12/lead), I’m not spending over $250-300/mo in marketing.
Does this method generate results?!
A targeted, niche list that is acted upon consistently will deliver results. And that there is the final key…consistency. You can’t expect results from one or two or three messages to the same person. It takes between 7-12 touches to open the door. Stay consistent my friends!
Well, that was a lot of dry information!
For those of you who made it through, I hope you found what I discussed helpful.
As I mentioned earlier, it truly works if you farm the right list consistently and FOLLOW UP. After all, I wouldn’t have acquired my first two rental properties without following this process!
☕ Cheers ☕
