Posted by Kristine-CA on July 06, 2003 at 19:15:25:
I don’t contact attorneys directly anymore. I did in the very beginning–about 18 months ago. It’s the heirs or potential heirs that contact me and that I end up doing business with.
By the way, the bulk of my probate deals haven’t come from probate mailing leads. They’ve come from other leads (vacant, abandoned, tax-defaulted, abatement liens). And probate ends up being necessary to clear title, etc.
Hope this helps. Sincerely, Kristine
Postcards vs Envelopes - Posted by Ehab
Posted by Ehab on July 04, 2003 at 11:35:31:
Howdy all,
I found some vacant junkers and I only have the current addresses of the owners. Is it better to mail them a postcard or a letter in a colored, handwritten envelope?
Just wondering if any seasoned investors had a better experience one way or another.
…or, should I just fork out the money and hire a skip tracer to get the phone #'s?
Thanks.
Sample Postcard that may help - Posted by Barbara_NY
Posted by Barbara_NY on July 04, 2003 at 21:15:38:
I have used both letters and postcards. Each is effective in differing situation and markets. At the request of my membership I placed a link to an example postcard in our REIA newsletter last month and just loaded the same samples in our Yahoo group’s FILE section. If you are interested, you can find a sample of the front and back of a postcard are:
Good Luck!
Barbara
Re: Postcards vs Envelopes - Posted by Kristine-CA
Posted by Kristine-CA on July 04, 2003 at 12:16:29:
Ehab: I send letters with handwritten addresses and a stamp. I am relatively certain that 99% of my letters get opened. I prefer regular white envelopes and paper, but that’s just me. I’m trying to tone down the wheeler-deal image and appear as a regular person investing in property. However, I recently added an exclamation point to my letter–as in “Call me now!”) I get more calls when I state the property address in the letter (as opposed to a general letter).
Why not send the letters first and wait to see which ones come back. Why spend money on phone numbers for people that may not be interested in selling?
Sincerely, Kristine
Re: Sample Postcard that may help - Posted by js-Indianapolis
Posted by js-Indianapolis on July 05, 2003 at 17:57:57:
Barbara-
When I click on the pictures, it tells me I’m not autorized to view them. Can you put them up somewhere, or allow access to them?
js
Re: Postcards vs Envelopes - Posted by Brian Powers(MI)
Posted by Brian Powers(MI) on July 04, 2003 at 13:18:43:
I would like to know what makes you certain that 99% of your mail gets opened?
If that were the case, you would be the most successful direct mailer in the world.
BP
Personal follow up - Posted by Barbara_NY
Posted by Barbara_NY on July 05, 2003 at 18:55:35:
I tried to follow up with you off-line and the email was returned. So… let me try online. Below is the text of my message:
Hi,
Barbara Karnes here. I just listed the two links below on CRE for ya. I wanted to drop you a quick email to let you know I’m originally from Muncie, IN and noted you were from Indy. If I can ever be of help, just let me know… AND, you may want to join Charlie and Randy Fran’s investment club there in Indy called Indy Property Investors. Their web site link is: http://www.indypropertyinvestors.com/
FRONT OF POSTCARD:
BACK OF POSTCARD:
Good luck to you!
This should work - Posted by Barbara_NY
Posted by Barbara_NY on July 05, 2003 at 18:23:45:
I’m sorry. When I put up those links I’d forgottn that the Yahoo Group was for members. Of course I’d love for you to join. 
But that wasn’t the intension. I have them loaded on our REIA web server, too, and here are the links. These should work:
FRONT OF POSTCARD:
BACK OF POSTCARD:
Feel free to pull language and formatting from the postcard as you see fit, just remember to try and customize it to fit your personal needs.
Barbara
Re: Postcards vs Envelopes - Posted by Kristine-CA
Posted by Kristine-CA on July 04, 2003 at 16:04:21:
Brian: getting the mail opened does not make anyone’s marketing successful. Response rate is what determines success. I’m at about 5-20% response rate, depending on the type of mailing. Which I think is pretty good. The lowest rate came from a relatively untargeted mailing to out-of-town owners. I used labels from the title company and a handwritten return address. The letter was generic. I got over 50 calls from 1500 letters. Over 100 letters were bad addresses. I did one ok flip out of that.
I mostly focus on abandoned/vacant and probate probate properties. Those are smaller, specific mailings of 20-100. I’ve sent out 50 letters and gotten 10 calls within days. But that doesn’t make my marketing succesful. Lots of people call because they are shopping around or they think God has sent them a miracle and that I’ll be offering them 100K for that little old junker in Central CA that they haven’t dealt with in years. They are more than bummed when I offer them 10K. Some of them call back later though.
I don’t know too many people that wouldn’t be curious enough to open hand-addressed mail from return addresses with the name Poe from Santa Barbara. Of course, if they get a repeat mailing from me, then they’re on to me and they can throw it away. A number of people call and ask why I am investing in their area if I live in a different area. More than a couple of people have been so bold as to tell me that I must have a lot of money (!?) because of my return address.
I’m not having trouble getting the phone to ring. What I am more concerned about is being able to negotiate more deals from the calls I do get.
Sincerely, Kristine
Re: Postcards vs Envelopes - Posted by David
Posted by David on July 04, 2003 at 18:25:52:
Kristine,
How do you find the probates, at the courthouse?
David
Re: Postcards vs Envelopes - Posted by Kristine-CA
Posted by Kristine-CA on July 05, 2003 at 24:58:55:
David: I contact executors/administrators from a listing of new probate filings that is generated by the court several times a month. I also contact heirs that have been given title by probate decree.
Probate cases seem to find me. Often times, because of the kind of properties I work with (and where I work), the motivated seller is often an heir or a potential heir. In a couple of cases, the seller was the estate.
Sincerely, Kristine
Re: Postcards vs Envelopes - Posted by rm
Posted by rm on July 06, 2003 at 18:23:43:
do you find that more of your deals come from the attorneys or from mailing directly to the heirs?
Thanks.
Re: Postcards vs Envelopes - Posted by Ehab
Posted by Ehab on July 05, 2003 at 11:23:44:
A lot of good info…thanks.