Editor’s Note: Dennis Fassett is a former corporate finance executive turned real estate investing “Cash Flow Mercenary.” Dennis specializes in single-family and multi-family cash flow properties and thoroughly enjoys assisting his fellow investors with their own strategies, including how to buy your first apartment building.
As an ongoing contributor to Mogul’s “Market News Updates,” Mr. Fassett provides us with his own unique, lively, and thought-provoking commentary on the timely industry news and events of today that are impacting our industry. And be sure to check out his other super-helpful Market News Updates. For now, enjoy...
From Dennis Fassett, Cash Flow Mercenary...
I’m working with some new folks these days… and I’m a yuuuuuge proponent of direct mail because I’ve been very successful with it, so I encourage them to use that as one of their marketing tools as well.
Sometimes they listen. Sometimes they don’t. Oh well.
As my Dad used to tell me when I was growing up: ‘You can’t push a rope!’
For those who choose to take the plunge into the deep waters of the USPS, questions over when to mail start coming up right after Halloween.
Guess Why
Yep – the holidays. Principally, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
New folks always want to know if they should mail in November and December. And it’s a great question to ask, because if you do it right – direct mail ain’t cheap.
So because I’ve been asked that question eleventy billion times over the past bunch of years, I thought I’d address it here.
Wanna know the answer?
It’s pretty simply, actually…
It depends.
More specifically, whether or not, and how often you mail in November and December depends on which list you’re mailing to.
Let’s walk through it…
As most people know, I focus heavily on probates. They make up a big part of my business, and I’ve been mailing to them pretty consistently since January 2004.
So I have some experience with them in my market.
And over the years, I’ve done a ton of testing with my probate mailings. Everything from…
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what I’m sending… to
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how many times I contact them… to
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the time between mailings
And I’ve thoroughly tested mailing through the holidays.
What I’ve found with probates in my market is that it doesn’t pay to mail too close to either Thanksgiving or Christmas. So that means I generally don’t mail for a week on either side.
Why?
Well think about it...
If you’re the executor of an estate, you’re probably facing the first set of holidays since your loved one of close friend DIED.
Can you imagine a more emotional time for them?
I can’t. And so that’s the last place I want to be with my “I’m sorry for your loss” letter.
Plus – and this was the kicker for me – I got a ton of angry calls from executors when I mailed too close to either day.
Now I don’t really care about getting angry calls, because if you’re mailing to probates at all you’re going to get at least a handful of them every year.
What I do mind, is that one year I tracked the properties that corresponded to the angry calls. And I found that a number of them ended up being sold to investors.
And guess what? I wasn’t one of the people they invited to the party.
So what I’m saying is that mailing too close to the holidays probably COST me money, because I had taken myself out of the running.
So I stopped.
Now every time I tell people about this, someone jumps up and beats their chest and tells me how they got a deal by mailing straight through.
I say – good for them. But my experience has been different. So I don’t.
And if you’re looking for an opinion, I’ll tell you not to have mail hit sellers either the week before or the week after Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Even this year, which is the best 4th quarter I’ve experienced since I started in 2004.
But guess what?
I’ve also found that for other lists, it makes a whole lot of sense to mail around the holidays.
Take tax liens/foreclosure, for example. In my market, if taxes are 3 years past due, homes get forfeited in March.
So this list is almost the opposite.
Thanksgiving and Christmas are huge distractions because folks get busy with the hustle and bustle associated with each one. And because they’re distracted, if they’re having property tax issues, they can forget about the axe that’s about to swing down on them.
So I mail close to both because I want to increase their pain level to the point where they say they’ve had it – come and buy the house.
Which is exactly what happened this year.
I timed a mailing to hit a couple of days before Thanksgiving. That weekend a seller called me and told me he was done. He told me what he was looking for to get out from under it, and I agreed to his price on the pot because I knew the area.
My partner went over the next day and got it under contract and wholesaled it that week.
And boom – a $14,000 payday. Just like that.
One of the easiest and quickest deals I’ve ever done.
So take it from me: It matters when you mail!
But also keep in mind – these are results from my market. If you want to test yours, then feel free. Your market may behave differently.
How do you mail?
When do you send mailers and to what lists? Tell me about your experiences in your market below.