Real Estate Postcard Q&A: First Class Mail vs. Bulk Mail

Agent's Question:

Is it better to send real estate farming postcards by first class mail or bulk mail?

Brandon's Answer:

There are two major differences between Standard (bulk) mail and First Class mail. First of all, there's the speed factor. The U.S. Postal Service states that Standard mail usually arrives within 3 to 15 business days, while First Class mail averages 1 to 3 business days.

Another big difference is that First Class mail offers return service, while Standard mail does not. Let's say you send 1,000 postcards, but 150 of them have bad addresses. With First Class mail, you would know this because the bad ones would be returned to you (at no extra cost). The post office will also try to forward the postcard if the recipient has moved.

But if you sent those 1,000 postcards by Standard mail, you wouldn't know about the bad addresses because Standard mail doesn't return to sender. In all likelihood 150 postcards with bad addresses would wind up in the trash.

A Postcard Revelation

I once knew a broker whose agents had been mailing their farming postcards by Standard mail. They office later switched to First Class mail for faster delivery, and they were shocked by the number of returned postcards.

"We never got returns like this before," the broker said to me. "So why now?"

In truth, their deliverable rates probably didn't change much. They just didn't know about the bad addresses before because Standard mail doesn't get returned. So they assumed all the postcards were reaching their destinations. Switching to First Class was an eye-opener.

Which Class is Right For You?

So which class of mail should you use? Well, that depends. If it's important for you to know about your undeliverable postcards, First Class is your option. If speed is a factor, again, First Class is your choice. But if you're on a budget, I recommend using Standard mail.

Undeliverable Postcards are Common

Here's something to remember when you send out your farming postcards. Even with the most current mailing list possible, some of your postcards will be undeliverable. My research and experience shows that the average undeliverable rate for direct mail is about 8%. So no matter what you do, you're going to have some postcards that either come back to you or wind up in the trash. There is no such thing as a 100% deliverable postcard mailing.

With that said, you should try to maximize your deliverable rate by using fresh data. By using a reputable list provider, you can easily keep undeliverable mail below the 10% mark.

* Copyright 2006, Brandon Cornett. You may republish this article if you leave the hyperlinks active, and also retain the author's note and byline.

About the Author

Brandon Cornett is the author of "Real Estate Postcard Marketing," an insider's guide to using real estate marketing post cards. Agents, you can increase your postcard I.Q. by visiting http://www.realestatepostcardbook.com

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French Real Estate

Cognac - World famous yet still a "hidden gem".

The property mantra of "location, location, location" is well known in the UK/US markets but buyers of French property would also be well advised to follow this golden rule.

You may well have read that house price inflation was slowing in France (12% in 2005). However, with the European housing market in the doldrums, the French property market can still offer a great deal in terms of investment and capital growth.

One of the areas tipped by the experts as a "hot spot" is Poitou-Charente and the market here was indeed active throughout the last 12 months. In particular the area around Cognac in the Charente seems both sensibly priced and, most importantly, is extremely well located for overseas buyers.

Cognac is surrounded by no less than four airports (La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Limoges & Poitiers) as well as being close to both the Motorway network, allowing a four hour drive to St Malo, and TGV service at Angouleme from which it is direct access to Paris & one simple change to London Waterloo.

This all provides a great deal of comfort, as well as convenience, to those who travel to/from the UK. They know that regardless of the fortunes of the low cost airlines they will always have easy access to their holiday homes. Beware those locations that are solely reliant on one of the smaller airports it could prove costly.

Of course ease of travel is not the only aspect of location buyers are looking for. They want decent weather, pretty villages, friendly locals and plenty of property to choose from. The Charente has these characteristics in spades.

It is the second sunniest area of France with warm but not oppressively hot Summers. It also boasts some of the most beautiful villages in France. You will find them dotted alongside the Charente river as it meanders it's way through the countryside. The towns and villages are surrounded by both sunflowers and of course the vines that produce the grapes for one of the World's most popular digestifs.

Perhaps the success of the local Cognac, Pineau and wine accounts for why the locals here are renowned throughout the country for their laid back and generous attitudes. No holiday should be taken here without sampling the delights of Remy Martin, Hennessy, Courvoisier, Martell or one of the many smaller Cognac houses dotted around.

All of this means that the region is popular with property buyers throughout Europe & the US - but what do they get for their money.

Property here is predominantly built out of the local stone which is light in colour - take a stroll in any local village at sunset and watch how the houses take on a warm glow. But as well as stone houses & green (it's common but not obligatory!) shutters there are still excellent bargains to be had.

At the base level a client of ours has just bought two excellent plots of land totalling around 4,500 m2 for 50,000?. This land is 15 minutes South of Cognac and comes with existing planning permission and access to all utilities. He plans to build three houses on the land (one for himself, two for letting) and when we visited the local Mairie they couldn't have been more helpful in advising on architecture, local planning rules and other related issues.

At the cheaper end of the housing market a Suffolk couple have just bought a two bed town house in a good residential area within 5 minutes walk of the beautiful main square in Cognac town centre. The house is in excellent condition with a large sitting room and a small but pretty and well stocked garden. There is a strong demand for this type of well situated property and therefore my clients paid the asking price of around 120,000?.

With a slightly larger budget of 175,000? we found a truly beautiful stone house just North of Jarnac (home to the Courvoisier Chateau & birthplace of Francois Mitterand). The house is big, 180m2 of habitable space, with a garden of 1340m2 which is ample for the "pool and space for a kick around" demanded by our clients. The house also came with a small, detached, studio/office and barns ripe for conversion.

Once you hit the 200-300,000? market you see a really strong demand from UK purchasers and supply is slightly more limited - in other words the good houses sell fast. It's becoming increasingly difficult to find the "gems" in this budget range but we have recently found a tremendous Charentaise stone house with five bedrooms and walled garden of 1800m2 for a London client. He wants it as a holiday home and security was obviously one of the important search criteria. While not overlooked the house does have neighbours and access to the walled garden is limited to the iron gates at the entranceway. Allied to the obligatory shutters the house is probably as secure as you could find.

Finally we have had many clients looking with budgets of over 350,000?. This is still a healthy sum in the Charente where property has not reached the dizzy heights of Provence the Cote D'Azur or Languedoc Roussillon. Buyers in this category will still be able to purchase a decent family house, in good condition with pool and views out over those World famous vineyards.

In essence buyers at whatever level can look forward to some of the most beautiful and well priced property in France. They will have a variety of routes to choose from and should expect decent weather, a friendly welcome from the locals, great food and of course a choice of drinks to accompany their meals that is simply unrivalled anywhere in the World.

Graham Downie runs a property search agency covering the Cognac region.

He can be contacted on 00 33 6 68 53 12 81 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Full details of his service are available at www.cognacproperty.com

About the Author

Graham has 20 yrs experience in European real estate.

He can be contacted via www.cognacproperty.com

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Real Estate Professionals Need You to Write for Them!

Real Estate Professionals Need You to Write for Them!

 by: Isabel Fena

Ask yourself these questions:

• Are you an experienced writer?

• Do you want to stay at home to write?

• Do you want to work for yourself?

• Do you learn new things quickly?

• Are you interested in a broad number of subjects?

• Do you feel like youre being pigeonholed with your current writing and you want to branch out?

• Do you have a flair for marketing?

If you answered yes to any of these questions or even better several, you may have found a new career!

Its more important than ever for real estate professionals to market themselves legally considering the laws regarding email and telephone sales seem to change daily - depending on which court is hearing the case. Many experts speculate though that eventually some sort of anti-telemarketing law will be enforced and while its much more difficult to regulate email, its still being made more and more difficult to use this form of marketing and sales. So basically it comes down to the fact that real estate professionals need an effective way to market themselves without breaking the law.

If youve ever done business with a Realtor or Mortgage Broker they probably still send you newsletters, recipe cards, sports schedules, notepads, etc. If they dont they arent marketing themselves very effectively and you may have found your first client!

The majority of a real estate professionals business comes from word of mouth - whether its repeat business from people who are refinancing their mortgage, applying for a home equity loan, selling their house, renting their house, or from clients who recommend their guy to friends and relatives. Whatever it is, its in the professionals best interest to keep their name on your mind.

The frequency with which real estate professionals send out these marketing materials varies. My own Realtor usually sends me a quarterly newsletter along with goodies like flower seeds and notepads throughout the year. Some of the more industrious professionals actually send out newsletters on a weekly basis!

The key is for the professional to get his/her name and phone number in front of as many sets of eyes as possible. When the professional sends you a newsletter, that includes several interesting articles, such as how to increase the value of your home or budget decorating tips or how to clean up your credit before you apply for a mortgage, etc. you find these articles so fascinating you hang on to the newsletter. Or you know that your next-door neighbor is particularly interested in decorating on a budget so you pass it along to her and so on.

Next thing you know, many set of eyes have seen the real estate professionals name and they decide to call him/her when they need the services of a real estate professional.

When your cousin Vinney calls you up out of the blue to tell you hes moving to Arlington and do you have a Realtor you can recommend you do of course because the sports schedule/newsletter/recipe card your Realtor recently sent you is hanging on your refrigerator.

So what does all of this mean for you the freelance writer? It means more assignments and more money! After all, the real estate professional is either too busy or simply doesnt have the desire or skills to write their own newsletters and other materials. What they need is a freelance writer to handle this crucial aspect of their business.

To be certain, like any business youll need to get out there and hustle and market yourself before you can expect to market for your clients. Youll need to prepare professional looking samples to start out with and hawk these to as many real estate professionals as you can think of. You can find these professionals by looking in the phone book for addresses, pulling fliers from yard signs and introducing yourself to Realtors conducting open houses to begin with.

Writing for real estate professionals can be a fun, lucrative and interesting business. Now get out there and get to work!

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