| Pre-Foreclosure Leads and Lists |
With foreclosures hitting an all-time high and 90 day late mortgagors also hitting fresh highs recently, targeting pre-foreclosure leads before the bank has filed a notice of default or trustee sale is more important than ever. Many of the lead providers in the marketplace offer two types of pre-foreclosure lists. The main difference between the two is based on whether the data is sourced from public records (i.e. NOD filings with the county courthouse) or credit source (i.e. credit bureau reporting 90 days late). Also included within these two sources are sub-sets of data. For example, there are 3 different credit reporting agencies that have some crossover data. The marketing lists for the credit bureaus can also vary in terms of whether they are updated weekly or monthly. Public records data is usually not as accredited as credit source data, because it must be hand recorded into the database (versus automatic computer processing by the credit bureaus). This makes public records data prone to more errors, and the databases and mailing lists expire faster.
The mindset of the homeowner is critical. All too often when targeting pre-foreclosure leads, a company will market to a homeowner that is too far down the path of being late, almost to the point where their home is up for sale. The opposite problem occurs when you target people that are only 30 days late. Over half of those that are 30 days late on a mortgage payment ever become late on the 60 day mark. Most are able to cure their 30 day delinquency so marketing foreclosure avoidance services is premature!
There are ways to market in the mass media but with pre- foreclosure leads the population as a whole is not late on their mortgage. The main targets for companies in this business are homeowners that are looking to strategically default. These are homeowners who know their home is not worth what they bought it for and are willing to walk away from this home. These people will try to modify and short sell their home before letting it go to foreclosure, but they are not interested in owning a depreciating asset. Catching these homeowners is of paramount importance.
It is important to remember that these homeowners can’t just be unemployed and 90 days late on their home. The ideal client is someone that is prepared to make the decision to short sell their home or modify their loan. Fortunately for you, they are also willing to pay you the price to make it happen. Don’t let unemployed, desperate people become your target market as you will find it’s not profitable in the long run.
Another way to target these strategic defaulting candidates is to run a query on homeowners that are more than 20% upside down on their homes. This criterion alone can perk interest and a phone call that will allow you to guide the homeowner that is struggling with underwater equity but has a stable job to trust your guidance on minimizing the impact on your credit and wealth. Pre-foreclosure leads are a great way to start, but remember to develop your own system using quality data and both aggressive and unique direct marketing ideas.
Give us a call today or fill out the inquiry form and we will contact you during normal business hours. For more information on pre-foreclosure lead attributes, click here.
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