First off, I'd like to give a recommendation to Quantummail as a great mailing company. It's an all-in-one print and mail from online service.

Here's my question. Would anyone be willing to share farming postcard design or copy that works for them. Or the concept. Initially, we don't have any just listed or just sold homes, but are looking to gain clients. We're a small brokerage and specialize in listing homes. Our commissions rates are reduced.

If interested in just contacting me directly please write:

linking @ we-list-homes-for-less.com (please remove spaces around the '@' symbol)

Thanks - Jeff

Hmm... I think it would be hard to track results based on postcard size. There's so many other factors it could be contributed to. Including luck of the draw and the type of market.

I would like to know however if people do have success with direct mailing, what they found works, and what type of clientelle is best for targeting?

Since I'm fairly new to the business I was always trained to focus on first time homebuyers.

Have any of you ever tried mailing to apartment complexes in high rent districts or pulled a farm package and filtered the results leaving only those addresses which list an alternate address for the seller?

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Dana Point Real Estate - Laguna Niguel Real Estate - San Clemente Real Estate

I've had the best direct marketing results from mailing out a Market Analysis to an entire farm area quarterly. I've made them myself, although if it's a large farm, you may want to go with QuantumMail. The quarterly updates were a short descriptive text of the property that sold, list price, sold price, and date.

Be very careful to find out if your association has any rules or regs against this. My association allows it but you have to add two disclaimers - one that states if the recipient is working with another broker, that it is not intended as a solicitation. The other states that the list of homes sold does NOT solely reflect my personal listings but those of other agents/brokers. This needs to be clear because some associations make it unlawful to advertise a Just Sold property if you were not a cooperating broker.

This has been my most effective direct mail campaign because it gives them exactly the information they're looking for - how much did "what's his face" home sell for last month? This quarterly information along with a drip campaign on a monthly basis should give you decent returns on your investment. At least they did for me. I always kept on eye on what my farm was doing and what percentage of turn-around it saw. If it was under a certain percentage I just eliminated it from my farm.

Good luck!

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Irene Morales Ward, Realtor
Northern Virginia Real Estate
RE/MAX Absolute

thats an excellent idea. Would I be best served by finding a neighborhood or two with high turnover that isnt dominated by agents? Then send the entire neighborhood recent comps to give people an idea of what their house is worth?

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Dana Point Real Estate - Laguna Niguel Real Estate - San Clemente Real Estate

If you can find a neighborhood with high turnover that isn't dominated by at least a couple of agents then I'd say someone's not doing their job in that community and I'd recommend you JUMP on it! Plan for the long-haul and hang in there. Sponsoring community events, along with the direct mail campaigns is another great way to get your name out there (Easter Egg Hunt, 4th of July flags, Block Parties, Neighborhood website or newsletter through the HOA, etc). If they see you care about the community - not only want to make a buck there, they may be more inclined to call on you!

Happy Farming!

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Irene Morales Ward, Realtor
Northern Virginia Real Estate
RE/MAX Absolute