So you’ve found someone who wants to get away from their house payments, you’ve walked them through their options, and they’ve decided a lease option is the approach they want to pursue. You get the property under contract and now it’s time to find a tenant buyer. Getting the right person in the property will set you up for success. Here are a couple things to consider:

Stability is huge. A good way to check this is to make sure the people have steady employment. Many of these folks have been through a life-changing event recently. Maybe they lost their job a few years ago or went through a divorce, but no matter what it was, their credit took a hit. You’re looking for people who have rebounded and now have found steady income again.

A large portion of the tenant’s commitment to the property comes from their down payment. They need to have set aside some funds to get into a property. Make sure the down payment is enough that they will be unlikely to walk away from the property. If they only put down 1% of the property value they probably won’t look at the property much differently than a typical rental. You want someone who will view the property as theirs, so they’ll take care of it like they own it.

Yep, during the holidays. Think about it this way – the envelope is written by hand, there’s a commemorative stamp on it, and it looks just like the Christmas cards everyone is receiving right now, so you know it will get opened. Also add the fact that this is a slow time of year for people selling a house, so they’ll be happy to get any type of lead from a prospective buyer. Then think about all the other investors who are “taking a break” at this time of year, and WHAMO, no competition!

Now you can make money just by talking to your friends! Join our affiliate program and earn a commission on every referral, whether it’s for letters, leads or both. There’s no fee or investment to get started and we take care of all of the work. Just tell your friends and colleagues about us and starting earning your commission today!

There’s an article on us in the September/October issue of Personal Real Estate Investor magazine. It’s on page 43, and it talks about the effectiveness of handwritten direct mail. Pretty neat, huh?

Would you rather compete with Microsoft or nobody?

Easy answer, right – who on earth would choose to compete with an entrenched company that has enormous resources?

Yet this is exactly what many real estate investors and Realtors are doing.  They’re going after the same leads the same way as everyone else in their community, using saturated approaches like Craigslist and newspaper ads.  Then they wonder why their results are the same as everyone else’s.  Some people think outside the box and take an approach that’s different from their competition, getting breakthrough results.  Which one would you rather be?

This is a great question and the answer is… it depends. The biggest factor to consider when choosing a mailing list is your target audience. Are you looking for a property seller, a property buyer, or both?

Popular lists for finding property sellers include Pre-Notice of Default (Pre-NOD), Absentee Owner, and High Equity leads (also known as Free and Clears). A Pre-NOD lead is someone who is 30, 60 or 90 days past due on their mortgage, and they may need to sell their property to prevent foreclosure. Absentee Owner properties are typically vacation homes or rental properties, but can also be homes that someone has moved from but not yet sold. There are also High Equity leads, which are people with at least 50% equity in the property. For more information on these leads, click here.

The more frequently used lists for finding buyers include Renter and High Net Worth leads. Renter leads are people who are currently renting. They may be living in an apartment complex or a duplex. High Net Worth leads are people who have liquid assets of at least $1 million, and this list can be filtered by people who are or are not real estate investors.

These leads all come from credit bureaus, they are not public knowledge. This means someone using one of these lists will have much less competition for a property or individual because the information is not publicly available.

We have a new online special for each of these leads, order now before it’s gone!

All we need from you to get started on your marketing campaign is the 10 zip codes for your leads. Now it’s easy to find those, too! Just click here and you’ll be directed to Hipcodes, a great new site that will help you find your zipcodes!

We get this question a lot. How can people possibly get a 5-15% response rate with a direct mail marketing campaign? The simple answer is that our letters don’t look like a typical marketing letter.

Our letters use the handwriting of a person, not computer generated font. There isn’t a clear window on our letters, they don’t come in a business-size envelope, they don’t have a bulk mail stamp, and most importantly, the envelope isn’t typed! Since our envelopes are hand addressed and the letters are printed using a person’s handwriting, people want to open them to see what is inside. Our letters look like an invitation or a thank you letter, not a marketing letter.

Still skeptical? Request a free sample today and see what it’s like to receive one yourself!

We just added a Return On Investment Calculator to help make your investment process even easier. It’s simple to use and will help you determine the return on your marketing investment. Click here to try it out.

So here’s what I did today.  I mailed 250 yellow letters to Pre NOD leads.  I was going to quit targeting short sales for a while, because they can be a pain in the (you know what). but instead, I decided to embrace them.  After all, I have 2 short sales closing this month….One on March 23rd and the other on March 31, 2010. So I can’t complain.  They key to short sales is to stuff them into the pipeline. Not all of them will end up successful, but a good percentage of them will.  And if you’re impatient (like me), then add other types of deals to your workflow.  For me, it’s wholesaling.  Those deals keep me going and active while the short sales brew.

I’ll give you the results of these 250 yellow letters by the end of the week (March 19).  Talk soon!