Apartment Marketing has traditionally been used to attract first-time homebuyers. For almost 10 years, I mailed a series of 3 postcards to 12 complexes - which represented 5,000 units.
The reason it works so well? The addresses of the complexes never change - but the people do.
The problem has always been - how do you find a reliable list?
Before we tell you where to find great lists, there are many reasons why apartment complex marketing could be one of your best lead generation pillars.
Apartment managers say that they have a larger turn over in the spring and the fall. Mail your postcards 2 times per year - in February and July - or 60 days before April and September (spring/fall turnover).
Mail a series of 3 postcards within 10 days of each other. It's the 3rd mailing that generates the highest amount of leads.
The biggest mistake I made was assuming that most apartment dwellers were ALL 1st time homebuyers. But that was not always the case. Apartment dwellers could be in transition - between homes, going thru a divorce or short-term job transfers.
That's why the postcards that you send cannot simply market to 1st time homebuyers - but be more generic. As a firm believer in headlines, here are 3 that appeal to renters, regardless of what stage they are in the home buying process.
When your lease is up, do you know where you are going to live?
Did you know that for as little as your first and last months' rent and security deposit, that you have enough money to buy a home?
Are you making the landlord rich? Stop paying rent and own a home instead!
My experience has been that in mailing postcards, each with a different headline, to a 500-unit apartment complex, you should receive 10-15 responses with the 1st mailing; 5-10 with the second, and 20-30 with the 3rd postcard.
However, not all apartment complexes are created equal. I personally spent several hundred dollars mailing to a complex and received zero - I mean not a single phone call - response. What I found out was the complex offered government subsidized housing and no way were any of the tenants ever going to buy a home anytime soon for the same payment they were making now.
Before you buy ANY list, do your research upfront!
First some horror stories! A loan officer had purchased a list and been mailing to an apartment complex for about a year and received no response only to find out that the apartment complex burned down a year earlier. A real estate agent bought a list only to find out that the complex was being renovated. Because the units were so small, the owners were taking two apartments, converting them into one, and the mailing addresses had changed.
Another problem that loan officers have encountered is how to get the addresses in the first place. At first, I drove around the complexes writing down the addresses, entering them into a database and creating mailing labels. While I thought this was a cheap way to do it, I found that it took hours and hours of my time - when I could be on the phone creating business and talking to prospects and real estate agents.
My next bright idea was to hire college students to drive around for me. I paid them $10 per hour to do the same thing - drive around, write down addresses, and enter them into a spreadsheet. The average cost per unit? $150!
Other methods I had used were the post office; title company lists, buying apartment lists through the Internet. None of them were very reliable and most list companies only allow you to "rent" the list for a limited amount of mailings. Some lists sell for as much as $475 per 1,000 names and you don't even get to keep them.
Knowing all the things that could go wrong - and making sure you can get your hands on good, reliable lists, we have created
www.ApartmentToolKit.com.
Once on the site, find the link at the bottom of the page where we provide you with the tools to do the research absolutely free. When you register, you will receive the links to the websites and an email advising you how to double-check the rental amounts, locations or if the complex is under transition.
This is the only site exclusively for loan originators where you can purchase the lists for one flat fee - regardless of the size of the complex. Best of all, the list is yours to keep - forever! With each list you order, choose either Word or Excel formats. All the list work is done for you - all you need to do is print the labels.
No need to reinvent the wheel either. The Apartment Tool Kit has created postcards and renter's free reports as well.
Please don't look at this as a mini commercial for the site - but a source where all the problems you might encounter - have already been solved for you.
Don't limit your marketing message. Consider joint marketing with homebuilders who build entry-level housing. (Be sure to follow RESPA Guidelines.) If you hold monthly home buying seminars, send a post card notice two weeks in advance of the date. Not all apartment dwellers want to own a home - but will purchase rental or investment property. If you have a killer loan program for investment properties, use the list to let them know.
Once you have possession of your apartment mailing lists, you not only have a marketing strategy for life - but an asset to sell if you should ever decide to leave the business.
(Checkout www.LoanOfficerSeminars.com to view a presentation on how to give 5 niche seminars using your apartment mailing lists.)
Copyright, 2005, LoanOfficerMagazine.com
