A question I get all the time:
“Should I be marketing to absentee owners or high-equity properties?
My answer: DO BOTH! But go an inch wide, and a mile deep.
Let me explain what I mean…
One big reason people ask this question is because they’re concerned there’s already too much competition with the absentee owners list… and now the high equity list is also creeping up.
But like I’ve said a gazillion times—and in fact, I devoted an entire email recently to this—don’t worry about your so-called competition!
No, I haven’t gone mad…
Your ‘competition’ can actually be your partners. (i.e. people you can get deals from and you can bring deals to.)
Plus, if you’re do things better than other investors and you’re consistently marketing, making offers and following up, you’re good to go.
Geez, see how easy it is for me to get off topic?! I just LOVE this industry…
Anyway, to answer the original question: I say mail to both lists.
Heck, mail to ALL the lists.
But there’s a catch…
To do that, you’ve gotta do some research, friends, on your target area. You need to get super laser-focused. Even more targeted than you are now.
Dig deep…
- Look on ListSource
- Talk to investors
- Chat with other wholesalers
- Get in touch with property managers
- Speak with Realtors
You want to find the areas that are in high demand—where your target buyers are actively, hungrily buying—you should target sellers in those zip codes and drill down to specific neighborhoods. You’re letting the market tell you which area(s) you should focus on and drill down into.
Here’s what you DON’T want to do…
Don’t do ‘spray and pray.’ That means you’re just throwing stuff out there and hoping it works.
That doesn’t work.
Narrow it down… to be effective, you need to go an inch wide and a mile deep, metaphorically speaking.
You simply need to research where the demand is. Then, it actually becomes irrelevant which lists you target because you’re targeting an area.
Look, there is no “secret list”, okay?
It’s not about the lists…
It’s about marketing consistently and aggressively… and going deep.
I mean lots of marketing in very small, targeted areas.
- Now you pull out ALL the absentee owners in that area…
- You mail to ALL the high-equity owner occupants…
- You mail to EVERYONE in that area 50+ years old…
- You mail to EVERYONE who’s had a mortgage for at least 5 years
These are proven lists investors mail to, but really my point is, once you identify your “small pond”, then you become the “BIG FISH” and throw all the spaghetti you can against that little wall you’re focusing on.
Do that and you will be fine.
This is ideal for those of you who don’t have a big marketing budget.
Check this out…
I recently did a Post-It Note campaign an inch wide and a mile deep, and we got 65(!) leads.
I blitzed a very targeted area.
I actually closed on a deal from that campaign with my wholesaler partner, and we split the profits.
My take home was $5,300.
Sweet deal, right?
I did the marketing (half of which he paid for) and prescreened and sent the offers. We sent him the leads and he followed up with the motivated sellers.
Sure if I’d have done the deal myself, I could doubled my profit… but then I also would have doubled my work and effort. :/
Work smart, people.
Not hard.
Target deep.
So, how does this line up with the way you’re currently marketing? Are you throwing marketing to the wind and hoping?
Try my way. It’s better because it works.
