Investor Spotlight
Issue #7:
Featuring Scot P.
Short Term Rental From Expired Listings
Scot Poore is mainly a buy-and-hold investor who operates solo (although he’s looking into hiring a part-time admin VA so he doesn’t lose his mind!). He rehabs and flips to gain the income he needs to buy and hold.
Last year he bought 6 deals: 3 BRRR’s, 1 short-term rentals, and 2 flips. He still has a great W-2 job which he doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon and uses it to help fuel his rental portfolio empire.
The Story
The area
Scot had his eyes on a local area in Georgia, called the Blue Ridge Mountains. This area is hot. With many homes selling above asking price, and being rented out as short-term rentals all year long.
Marketing
He purchased a list called: “Failed/Expired MLS listings” with the keywords “cabin” and “mountain”. (Check out our eBook on how to pull these types of lists… Or, go to our “List Vault” page; a library of list pulling videos).
After sending out 500 BPM handwritten letters, he got 20 callbacks (see the metrics below).
He changed the copy a bit to say that he and his wife are looking to buy a vacation home.
Seller
One of those calls was a landlord looking to 1031 exchange his STR (Short term rental) into a multi-family-unit deal.
The Numbers
- Purchase price: $423,000
- ARV: $500,000
- Cash flow: $2,000/month
- Purchase vehicle: Vacation Home Loan
- Down payment: $42,300
- Yield on downpayment: 57% per year
The Marketing
- Marketing ROI: 3,692% ($24,000/$650)
- Calls: 20
- Response Rate: 4%
- Cost per call: $32.50 (see commentary below)
- How many letters sent: 500
- The list: Expired MLS listings w/ keyword: “Cabin” & “Mountain”
- Mailing piece: BPM Template Letter
A huge response rate
Scot paid a measly $32.50 PER call from his marketing campaign.
However, this isn’t typical.
On average people pay $100+ per call. That’s because we typically see an average of 1%-1.5% response rates.
But, Scot got a 4% response (every once in a while we hear about these crazy call-back rates from our clients—it happens).
Here are a few possible reasons for a huge response rate like this:
- Scot’s letter implied he was paying full retail value—If you remember, he mentioned in the letter that he and his wife are looking for a vacation home (which is all true), but implies he is NOT asking for a discount. Most “We buy houses” letters in today’s world communicate “discount”.
- He was more “personable” in the letter—By saying “Me and my wife…” it sounds much more like a family that’s casually buying, and so a “mom and pop” landlord can relate.
- He only targeted sellers—Expired listings imply that they’re (or had intentions) of selling.
- He was super-targeted—A list of 500 can be very small if it’s a large area/demographic. But in this case, it was a great list because he was only targeting a specific area and specifically targeting a group of people: expired MLS listings
- He used a handwritten letter—On top of sounding personable on the letter and implying he’s a “mom and pop” buyer, he “handwrote” the letter. Ballpoint Marketing’s machinery mimics real handwriting to the “T”. You can’t tell the difference. And that’s because we use robots hands.
