Mailing Lists

[Lisa_REOGal]

OK, kind of a newbie here.

If your marketing budget is modest, what is the best way to compile mailing lists. For instance, say you wanted to target first time home buyers. My thought is to hit the apartment complexes. How can I find those addresses, not necessairly names (althouhg that would be a plus) but just the addresses to for flyers or something?

so far I've relied on my SOI and it's worked out nicely, but I know I need to prospect in more ways than one. My SOI has provided me with mostly listings ... not complaining ... 4 months in and I have about 9. But, I know I need to prospect like my life depended on it. Since my budget is limited I need to make best use of my money.

THANKS A BUNCH TO ANYONE WHO IS WILLING TO SHARE!!!

[emicarn]

One idea that you can try. If there is an area that is HEAVY in apartment complexs....

find out the voting precinct they are in, go to the town hall, and purchase a voter list for that precinct or ward. While this may be expensive [my town it is 50.00 / precinct] it will give you names and addresses of registered voters. It is a start, and you could end up with 1000's to work with for a time.

[Lisa_REOGal]

I would have never thought of that ... hopefully it's not $50! But, I guess I could just find the precinct with the most apartment complexes and start there.

Thanks for the advice!

[Dan Connolly]

I think direct mail, although it works for some people normally takes a while to start producing bankable results. While you are thinking about doing that I would also start to investigate pay per click on Google. When you consider the costs of producing the piece and mailing, it generally runs in the neighborhood of 50 cents per piece and probably 97-99% of them are tossed in the trash. The same money would potentially generate more responses on line. Most buyer's start their search for a home online. Especially younger buyers. This site has a lot of good info on PPC if you search the database. You already have a search tool on your website, that's what most people are looking for. You would have to tweak your website and create landing pages etc. but I think you would get more bang for the buck that way.
I don't do PPC because I get a fair amount of traffic organically online, but if I was starting over, that is the route I would take.

[RonnieG]

In case you haven't been keeping up with the market news the last couple of weeks, the days of 100% financing are behind us. In today's mortgage market, apartment dwellers and first time home buyers may be the toughest clients to get financed. They are generally living in apartments for one of two reasons: They simply don't want or need the obligations of home ownership, or they don't have the discipline to save for the necessary down payment and closing costs.

I did lots of mailings in my first couple of years, and at about .50 per piece, including very targeted mailing lists, postcards and bulk postage, the returns did not justify the expense, which turned out to about $50-$80 per lead. Now, I only do PPC, until my organic leads build up, and the cost per lead is running about $20. In both cases, conversion of leads to deals is up to you and how you handle them.

If you are going to do mailings, my suggestion would be to target town home and condo owners, or homeowners in starter home communities, who have owned their property for three or more years. They are more likely to have at least some equity to take into a new home, growing families, and are likely to be two sides: list and buy. I got those lists from the county assessor, partly because their records show when the property was purchased, plus complete owner names. County Assessor lists are also a good way to identify non-resident owners, who may have already moved out of the area and converted the property to rental. Non-resident owners often tire of trying to manage a rental from far away, especially if they have problem tenants, and are generally happy to discuss selling it at the end of the current lease term.

[Lisa_REOGal]

Thanks for the tips everyone! They were all really helpful!