Hello all, I hope that upon finding this post, your real estate business is thriving.

I’m often asked for sample mail pieces and verbiage to use when contacting homeowners in our database that are falling behind on their mortgage payment. I came across a good phone script when calling these homeowners that are 30, 60, or 90+ days late on their mortgage payment. I asked Hoss Pratt, dubbed the “Prospecting King”, to put together a guided script to use when calling these financially troubled borrowers, and he was kind enough to provide the following verbiage.

Hi, is «Owner First Name» «Owner Last Name» available?

Hi, «Owner First Name», I know this call may seem kind of random, but… I have am a local real estate agent in the area, and I am working with a buyer who wants to purchase a home in your neighborhood – And your home is a perfect match to their criteria - My random question is if my buyer brought you a generous offer for your home… Would you consider selling the property as early as next week?

Yes – No – Maybe
Why don’t I do this… I will be in the are tomorrow at 7:00pm – I can stop by for a quick 10 minutes – take a look at the property, and see what we can do to work together… or not work together… either way is fine – Sound good? Will both you and your wife be there?

Yes – No – Maybe
At the appointment… Take the “Grand Tour” – Build the relationship using F.O.R.D. Family-Occupation-Recreation-Dreams. Ask this very simple question… “I assume everything is current on the mortgage… Correct?

Actually we are a few months behind…
Oh… Well in that case… What do you plan to do to bring it current?

Bingo… Found their pain – Now solve their problem – Be their solution

The J.D. Power and Associates 2011 Home  Buyer/Seller Study is off the press, and some interesting marketing statistics were revealed. In addition to studying consumer sentiment towards real estate brands, J.D. Power dug deeper into the inner workings of real estate, finding some big changes that have taken place over the course of a year.

Among their findings, the study revealed something that would come as no surprise to readers – REALTORS are hustling more than ever before. In 20011, 60% of buyers and sellers surveyed reported that their agent reached out to the them for a referral, a 28% spike from a year earlier. It seems the “I’m never too busy for your referrals” stamp isn’t sufficient anymore, as more agents are proactively seeking recommendations digitally and face to face.

These findings validate what we all know – that the real estate market is changing, and amplifies the need for agents to change with the market by proactively seeking new business.

In an earlier blog post on the importance of marketing your real estate business in a recession, I argued against conventional wisdom that it is even more vital to spend marketing dollars in a down market in order to differentiate your realty from others. In fact, the marketers who spent the most advertising dollars in the great depression not only survived the depression but rose above it to thrive, among them Procter & Gamble, Chevrolet and Camel Cigarettes.

Likewise, an agent can thrive in today’s real estate environment by amping up their marketing efforts and focusing less on real estate, and more on prospecting. Real estate prospector king Hoss Pratt articulates the importance of prospecting in today’s market in this YouTube video. “If you don’t prospect 3 hours a day, you’ll be extinct in this market”, he says.

Many subscribers of our 30-60-90 day late data grasp this principle by reaching out to distressed homeowners that are behind on their payments and through a series of of pre orchestrated mailings, phone calls and personal visits drive home their message of hope and solutions. This level of tenacity and hunting mentality has led to big, predictable results that have put them ahead in this fiercely competitive climate.

To learn how many struggling homeowners are in your area that need to get from underneath their homes, you can request a free area analysis by entering your criteria on a quick form.

In what’s good news to agents working with distressed property owners, the FTC issued a statement on Friday that it will no longer enforce most stipulations of the Mortgage Assistance Relief Services rule. This onerous rule required short sale agents to make a handful of disclosures when assisting distressed homeowners in staving foreclosure by obtaining a short sale.

This rule also prohibited upfront fee collection as well as false or misleading statements, two reasonable requirements in my view.

The subscribers to our data were required to place prominent disclaimers on the mail pieces they were sending to financially troubled homeowners, disclaimers that occupied an inordinate amount of space and, based on the feedback that I received, was oftentimes confusing because it addressed services provided by loan modification companies, not REALTORS.

Now, it seems this feedback that I’ve gotten from agents is validated.

“As more and more American homeowners seek short sales, it is especially important that the Rule not inadvertently discourage real estate professionals from helping consumers with these types of transactions,” the FTC stated.

At preforeclosuredata.net, we provide early, accurate and exclusive data on homeowners 30, 60, 90 or 120+ days late on their mortgage payment.

Yellow letters smash through the clutter and grab homeowners by their eyeballs.

The yellow letter is a handwritten, usually brief message on old school yellow ruled paper. Yellow letters are a tried and true marketing vehicle to reach motivated home sellers. The magic of the yellow letter is in its personal touch, look and feel. With today’s savvy consumer, any mail that looks commercial gets chucked in the waste basket. Anything that looks like personal correspondence will smash through the clutter and is practically guaranteed to be opened. In fact, the national average of direct mail is abysmal – it’s less than half of 1% Yet with yellow letter campaigns, response rates of 5% to 15% or better are not uncommon.

Individually writing hundreds of letters and envelopes is laborious, distracting, and a sure way to get carpel tunnel. Our team of handwriting experts will do all the work for you, from start to finish, allowing you to do what you do best – close real estate deals.

Simply provide us the list of homeowners and we will meticulously handwrite the letter and envelope and place a first class stamp to create maximum impact. Within 8-9 days, you will receive the completed mail pieces to be sent out.

Pricing

While other yellow letter service providers have high minimum orders of 1,000 or more units, we cater to the small REALTOR or investor that doesn’t have the marketing budget to market to so many homeowners. Our minimum order is only 250 pieces for $1.39 a letter. Additional volume discounts apply – call 866-490-3459 for details.