I am new here, and just saw that I should introduce myself. I’m Kacie and I live in Ohio. I’ve been a landlord for the past 8 years but stumbled across the idea of land flipping, maybe 5 years ago. I mailed out one wildly unsuccessful campaign to tax delinquent properties and got sidetracked by different life circumstances. All that to say, I’m back at it. I’m also now a single mom of twin boys, so my time is limited, but the motivation to succeed has never been higher!
I recently mailed out to a very filtered list of tax delinquent property owners. Who knew so many dead people own land and didn’t think to properly will it to their family members- yikes! I’m working a couple leads and praying it turns into something profitable. I’m certainly getting an education either way.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Blessings,
Kacie
Hey @kaciem, welcome to the forum! It’s great to see you here!
Wow, it sounds like you have your hands full! Most of us can relate to that on some level (this starts as a side hustle for most of us), but I know being a mom is a HUGE job. I’ve seen a few moms in similar situations do very well at the land business in the past, so I’m sure you can make it just as well.
I’m curious, from what you remember of the wildly unsuccessful campaign years ago, do you know why it was unsuccessful? Was it the age of the list? Was the list not filtered well enough? Was there anything wrong with the mail piece you sent out to them? Something else, perhaps?
This kind of thing can be hard to nail without a lot of guessing, but sometimes it helps to figure out what not to do the second, third, and fourth time around.
@retipsterseth well to be perfectly honest there were lots of things contributing. I did use a yellow postcard and mailed owners multiple times, the list had numerous wrong addresses so I received lots of the postcards back. I got my list fresh from the county, for free. All three counties I’ve contacted so far have given the list for free, although its typically a TON of work to sort. If I had to say the one thing that was the most wrong with the first campaign, I would just say me. I was very nervous about the whole thing and DREADED talking to the leads when they came in. I ended up partnering with another investor who I would forward the leads to so he could follow up. In general, I was just not sure that I could do it.
@kaciem I do understand the dread of phone calls, but you can absolutely do it. The dreading of anything is mostly in your head.
Not that it’s easy to identify or fix, but even if you don’t do handle those calls long term, it might be couple dozen calls yourself, just to get the first-hand experience and know what they’re like.
It’s not all that different from talking with anyone else. Even if a call goes “bad” (whatever that means), it can be pretty empowering when you realize it’s okay for people to have their own issues. It’s not your job to save them or give them a market value offer, you’re gathering information and presenting an option for them to sell. And the fact that you don’t have to see them face-to-face is a huge plus.
Either way… at least you’re getting those lists for free. That alone is a big plus!
@retipsterseth Thank you for your words of encouragement! I am definitely way better prepared when it comes to talking to sellers than I was that first go round. Now it’s just figuring out whether I even want their land.
I’m curious your thoughts, I have a couple sellers that have no attachment to their tiny little parcels of land and I’ve been pitching the idea to them of signing a purchase agreement for something nominal ($50 a parcel) so that I can then market the property to get a pulse on where or not it will sell. If I do think theres enough meat on the bone, I would close, instead of wholesaling just because I think it’s cleaner all around. But if I don’t find a buyer, I’ve been upfront with the seller that we will just let the purchase agreement expire.