First Mailing Response So Far...

My first mailing (1700) was sent on Jan 22nd, first voicemail response came in fast.... about ten days, a clear no. My first email response came in today and I'm learning new cuss words...lol. Thanks to Seth's program and other podcasts (I was prepared for this) thank you, Seth. I hope this is just the beginning.... And my second mailer will be in the box soon... Have a great day folks!!!

Way to take action @bootstrapbill! It's never fun to get an angry response, but it's just a reality of sending out lots of direct mail. Sounds like you're taking it in stride. :)

Are there any significant changes you think you'll make on your second campaign (how your list is filtered, what your mail piece says, or otherwise)?

@retipsterseth Absolutely! Since there seems to be plenty of private money available for deals that qualify. I am going to focus on sub $50,000 market recreational properties that I can hopefully purchase for $6000 - $8000. each. And probably stay away from desert properties and focus on land with some other attributes like...… hunting, camping fishing, and off grid living ( and all must have good access). And I also think that I will add a (phone service like Patlive) to see if that will produce some additional responses.

@bootstrapbill, congrats on getting the ball rolling!

I sent my first mailer (neutral letters, no blind offers) almost a year ago, and the first person to respond was very gruff and impatient but ultimately did want to hear my offer. While speaking with him on the phone, he said something to the effect that he would probably consider an offer in the ballpark of 75% of the county's assessed value for his property. I said that as someone who resells the properties that I buy, and needs to cover all of my costs on both ends of the transaction in doing so, I could write him up a firm offer but it likely couldn't be for more than 40% to 50% of the assessed value. He literally hung up on me as soon as I said that.

The funny part is, while looking through the same county's tax delinquent properties just last week, I came across the same property, listing a new owner's name. Looking at the last sale on record revealed the "gentleman" that hung up on me when I said 40% to 50% a year ago, sold his property 6 months ago for 33% of the county's assessed value (assessed at $120k, sold it for $40k). If there's such a thing as feeling simultaneously vindicated and very frustrated, I think that would sum up how I felt.

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Hi Will @bootstrapbill,

That's a great start!

I know what you mean by negative responses with some not so friendly language, I didn't really take well to it when I first started but it comes with the business! You may find them to be quite hilarious in time... haha.

Best of luck!

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@retipsterseth Good morning Seth, I have now received a total of three responses and I was just notified that my mail just hit last night so things should heat up soon. In the meantime I have treated each response as though it was an accepted offer....ignoring the hate.

1. I looked them up on my parcel software and found the gps coordinates ( And located them on Google Earth) and found some previous sale info, most were purchased prior to the 2008 crash and they paid way too much.

2.Current assessed values ( which don't carry too much weight) are very sad. No wonder they are unhappy people!

3.And MOST importantly??? two out of the three do NOT HAVE road access and the third has some kind of what I think they call two track and it looks like a bobcat would help to clear the way to get to the property!

I feel like this has been a very good exercise (not a waste of time) for me and I have determined that even if they did accept my offer it is unlikely that I would have purchased any of these properties with the exception of the one with two track and even that one questionable to say the least.

Anyway I just thought I would share what I have learned so far. Peace and have a great day!

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Thanks for sharing your experience @bootstrapbill. I agree, there are always lessons from every campaign.

I actually had a similar experience not long ago in a new county, where I got a TON of landlocked acceptances (I hadn't anticipated that so many of the properties in this county would be landlocked, which totally threw off the way I priced my offers in the first place). Now that I know this is an issue in this county, it's a big finding I can take into account for every future campaign I do there.

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@retipsterseth UPDATE.... Received a counter on 116 acres that may be workable...The problem? No matter how long I stare at Google Earth....I can't find access, not even two track....lol NEXT.

@bootstrapbill, do you know if the state this property is in might have favorable laws for getting access, by right, to landlocked properties? You can search this forum for the phrase "easement by necessity", if I recall correctly, and should turn up a thread or two where this was discussed.

Off the bat, it's my understanding that both Florida and Arizona, at least, will grant this type of easement, by right. You have to pay an attorney to pursue it with the county though. Other states only allow this type of easement under certain specific circumstances, though.

If you find some posts that Jaren Barnes made on this topic, on this forum, he mentioned his costs he's encountered for this in FL. Definitely not something that would work for a very low-value property, but since you mentioned 100+ acres, I thought I'd bring it up.

Also, have you asked the seller about the access? Not saying you can take whatever they tell you as the gospel truth, by any means, but there's always the possibility there could be some circumstances that wouldn't be apparent on GIS, which you could verify prior to closing.

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