Anywho, while checking out Loopnet last night I came up with an awesome idea to build my direct mail list to buy apartment buildings.

But another thing that they have is Rental Comparisons. So what they do is they have the subject property (the apartment building for sale) listed with it’s unit mix, square footage, occupancy and rents. Then they show a bunch of other apartment buildings around the subject property with their unit mix, square footage, occupancy and rents too. I’ve been reading this information for a few months now but last night it dawned on me…ya know an “aha” moment lol that I should add those comps to my mailing list! I mean they give me the property, the address and their occupancy. I figure the ones with lower occupancies should go at the top of my direct mail list to buy apartment buildings, wouldn’t you agree?

P.S. My adsense is on my nerves. It keeps showing ummm I don’t want to say the word to give it more reason to show more of those ads but don’t they know that the majority of this blog is about real estate and investing and not ummm d e n t a l work! Am I the only one whose noticed that? It’s driving me crazy lol Maybe I should just make a post that just says real estate, real estate investing, apartment buildings, commercial real estate investing, etc.

I have 5 letters in a series that I will send out to folks on my list in hopes that I can buy apartment buildings from them. Then I actually have 2 separate letters for different types of folks: out of state owners and landlords that are evicting tenants.

Crap, I just realized I didn’t tell you how I came up with my list of apartment building owners. Ok ok I’ll make a post about that after I finish this (sorry )

Here’s the first letter the way I sent it out originally (remember all of the whack jobs that have been calling:)

Carey Buck (this is right justified, I just don’t know how to do that here)
Address
State, City. Zip

Apartment Owner Name
Their Address (most likely their home)
State, City. Zip

Dear Apartment Owner Name:

I’m interested in purchasing your property. Are you interested in selling?

I currently hold a portfolio of properties like yours and I’m looking to add more.

As a property owner, I realize that there are a number of reasons why someone may be interested in selling. Everyone has his or her own reason and my question to you is, are you now ready to sell? If so, I am ready to buy.

I can close quickly or delay the closing as long as you like.

Please contact me at your earliest convenience so that we can discuss the sale of your property. Call me now at my phone number.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Carey Buck

P.S. To Get The Best Price For Your Property, Call Me At My Number.

I’ve since changed the letter and I’ve now replaced pretty much everywhere that it says property with apartment building or building, etc. You get the picture. I’m hoping that will cut down on the whacky calls and folks not knowing why we sent them a letter.

What do you guys/gals think of the letter? Any pointers? Tips? Ideas? Thoughts? Criticisms? Comments? Etc.

Of the 6 responses here is the breakdown on our quest to buy apartment buildings: 2 whacko’s who well were whacky and didn’t want to sell.

1 guy who was super duper nice and said for the right price he’d sell. 1 lady who asked to be taken off our list cuz her father died 3 years ago and she doesn’t want to sell.

1 guy who left a message today who was super duper nice and said he hadn’t thought about selling but if the price is right he would consider selling both of his properties and he asked me to call him back.

And 1 more whack-job who called me yesterday and I actually picked up and he said….(Scott, wait til you hear this one! lol) So he said: “Hi my name is blah blah blah, you sent me a letter saying you want to buy my property.” I said “yes, I did sir. Do you have a property to sell?” He said “well, do you know anything about my property?” I said “well I’d need you to tell me about your property if you are ready to sell it, however, is it ok if I call you back in a little while as I’m getting ready to go into the oral surgeon’s for a follow up after getting my wisdom teeth out?” He said “Sure you can call me back.” I said “Ok can I have your phone number?” He said “nope.” I said “uhhh well what’s your property address?” He said “I’m not gonna tell you.” lol I said “ok well if you won’t give me your number or tell me your property address how am I suppose to call you back?” He said “send me another letter like you did this one.” I said “ok sir, I will send you another letter.” He said “ok thanks.”

So I got Kathy a lil more involved with this whole let’s buy apartment building thang. Mostly because we didn’t have much choice cuz I literally couldn’t speak properly and I needed her to make call backs to folks that called after getting our letters. She was nervous and did not want to do it. Ya know? Like most of us who haven’t done something before and have a fear of it. But ya know what, she sucked it up and she did it. She called 2 people back and they were nice to her. 1 didn’t want to sell (why he called, I have no idea) and 1 guy was super duper nice and we’re going to check out his property when Kathy gets back from Virginia.

Now here’s the deal with the super duper nice guy. We aren’t so much interested in his 1 property (7 units) but he has another property that we want to get details on and Kathy talked to him for almost an hour and a half and built a pretty good rapport and she said she thinks that he has $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. So we were thinking that if we could get in good with him that he may be an awesome private money prospect. So we’re gonna meet him.

We went and looked at a 19 pad mobile home park yesterday. Without having the exact figures I think it’s definitely over priced. But I always ask for the actual expenses and income info because I want to practice actually “evaluating the numbers” so I can make buying an apartment building much easier.

Monday or Tuesday we’ll be meeting with a commercial broker and thanks to ChrisBuysApartments who commented on Scott’s Struggling Investor post about my blog here, I got some awesome insight as to what to say to this broker and more brokers.

Oh and a thank you to Scott from Struggling Investor for listing me as one of his Top 5 Up and Coming Investor blogs to watch out for. I appreciate that Scott and I promise, I’ll be giving you reason soon to make it worth you putting me up there!