Yes, I get back undeliverable postcards with the return address on the back. I always wonder if I get them all back. Since I have only done single mailings, I don’t worry too much about that.
I can understand that you wanted to make an impression on the recipients. And, if you are mailing them more than once, I can see that you are more concerned with the impression.
I do photocopying of my message, so I do not have any smudging of the print.
Ive got an idea… im planning to send postcards to all the mls homes i possibly can. im trying to do lease options and im guessing that at least some of the mls homes’ listings will expire soon and then they’ll call me. i prescreen them for a lease option on the phone and then go see them. basically what im wondering is…
what kind of a response rate can i expect from sending postcards to mls homes(all less than 5 yrs old, and price range $100k-$200k)?
im guessing i could do about 1 deal for every 200 postcards i send. thats only a 0.5% response rate. does that sound right or am i way off?
also, does anyone have a good letter/postcard message to send out for lease options? i have the ron legrand LO course examples, but i would like a few to pick from.
Being a Realtor myself, I doubt you can get even 1 response with 200 postcards. As someone mentioned before, most listed properties unless they are a bank repo or designated a fixer-upper or possible creative financing right in the listing, are unmotivated sellers who want all cash. On top of that the listing agent is going to probably run interference for you by telling the seller bad things about lease options and real estate investors.
I’d suggest targeting landlords. Send a mailout to out-of-state owners or landlords in general. Landlords understand the concept of renting the property already and might be open to selling creatively since they are already using the property for something other than their home.
Post cards are good if you specifically target. Just sending out a bunch of post cards to sellers of MLS listed properties probably isn’t going to be very effective.
First many of the properties are probably listed on 6 month or one year terms. And with most houses listed with a realtor, the seller is looking for a cash buyer and an at market price. Two things that we investors don’t like to do.
As Anne said, you also will allienate the realtors.
I would go down to the courthouse and research landlords that are evicting tenants and send them your post cards. Ala Joe Kaiser. Or mail post cards to the out of state owners of property. These would be two ways of targeting more than just sending them out to every listed mls property.
Matt, you might get a few calls from 200 postcards, but it’s not likely to get a deal, at least from my experience. Try more like 2000 postcards, and probably get a deal… but the good news is 2000 postcards only cost about $1000, and you’ll should make MUCH more than that on a deal, if you don’t get discouraged or run out of money first!!
IMHO there are better places to send postcards. See the Success stories, How to Articles, etc here on this site and see what I mean. Look at “33 ways to find motivated sellers” for starters.
No one here can tell you the best way to find motivated sellers, that’s location-specific research you’ll have to do. Where I live, a daily ad in the paper is affordable and seems to work well. However others have had great responses from bandit signs. Search the archives for marketing for lease options.
One thing I can tell you though: you may end up alienating realtors and sellers by sending postcards to people who are listed on the MLS. At the very least, you should target those who have been listed for a while.
You can easily exceed .50 per card, or if you are careful, spend less. I have done both, and the better cards are more appealing.
Here’s a rough breakdown of my last batch of 100 postcards, on Very Good paper…
Paper 10.00 for 25 sheets yielding 4 on a page
Postage 21.00
Printing 5.00
Cutting 2.00
Tax 1.50
Material 39.50
Addressing
Stamping
Delivery to post office
How much did they cost each? 39.5 cent plus labor.
Plus the postcard rate just went up to 23 cents.
Plus if you affix labels, factor in the cost of
2 labels (address and return address).
If you don’t use labels, you must print on both
sides, raising the price by 1.25 cents per card.
And this is not counting time and/or expense in
designing your postcard. If you factor any of that in
you will see any mailout costs quite a bit!
Sure, sending to MLS listings is going to get few responses. That was one of the points of my reply. The other was don’t delude yourself for a second that you can send out 200 postcards and get a DEAL that you close on! I have personally sent out 1000+ cards and NOT yet gotten a DEAL from them! Calls, yes. DEAL no.
But I get deals other ways, and the postcards work too. You just have to keep mailing them, and doing the other marketing.
I send cardstock postcards, cut out four to a sheet, as you discuss.
I do not print on the front side. I put my address on the top of the message side of the card, hoping that the postoffice will send back to me if they can not deliver.
I would also, if I wanted a return address on the front, consider a rubber stamped one.
One of your major expenses seems to be the paper. My cardstock costs about 5 to 7 cents each. Seems to me to be much better than paying $ 0.40 each. Have you done tests with very good paper vs cheaper card stock? Is that why you use the very good paper?
Ron, the postcards I used were for part of a sequential mailing, where I attempt to evoke a reply. I feel that a cheap card stock in that application only hurts the image I wish to portray, and the few cents extra cost for a ‘photo quality paper’ would help returns by bolstering the company image far beyond the cost.
Besides, usually when I print on cheap card stock, the ink comes off very easily and smudges. And the ink does not look very dark on the piece. The photo quality paper did not have that problem, and the cards all look like thermography business card printing (raised letters.)
So, to each his own… cheap card stock or expensive papers… I’ll use them both in different applications.
Does having the return address on the reverse work? That is, does the Post Office return cards to you?