| What Do I Say? - Contacting Distressed Homeowners
There are two important elements in marketing: 1. Making sure your message
is delivered to the right audience, and 2. Making sure your message has significance to
your audience.
You can't send one
postcard and expect good response.
Dealing with
distressed homeowners is different than most forms of advertising/marketing. You
aren't selling trips to faraway lands where you can use images to promote
"feel-good" purchases and you're not selling a product where the only customer
choice is "which" store should they buy the product from. You're dealing
with potential clients that aren't usually in "happy" mode, but are trying to
hang on to something very important in their life. It's essential to remember
that last sentence. You are dealing with other people's lives, it's important
to understand, and make sure, that everything you do will help, and not make things worse
in their lives.
So, if
you've decided you can and will do "the right thing" in all your dealings, let's
look at what happens when a default/lis pendens is recorded or filed in the public
records. When the notice is recorded, there are companies who collect that
information and compile it for sale. These companies are often referred to as
Pre-foreclosure Data Providers. If you subscribe to a data service, you'll get your
data, and like many people who have done it before, you'll mail a postcard or letter to
each residence on the list saying " I'll Buy Your Home!!!!!!!!". It's a
concept all right, but does it solve the homeowner's problem? Does it answer their
questions?
You might as well send
them a picture of a Vulture.
Why a vulture? Because that's the image of
you they're getting in their minds. You want to buy their home under market value,
but they don't really want to give anything away right now. What's the solution?
Try using the concept of an equity purchase. The next page will explain
it.
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