Tracking my own lead conversion before I ask anyone to pay for one
The first rental is still four months out and I've been filling the wait by working a small pre-foreclosure and code-violation list in one township, partly to learn the market I'm buying into. Somewhere along the way it turned into a real pipeline and I'm now sitting on data I don't know how to price.
Since November: 96 properties identified, 61 with owner contact info found, 44 attempted contacts across mail and phone, 11 conversations, 4 owners who said a number out loud. Two of those numbers were within 15% of what I'd guess as-is value, which I think makes them real leads and the other two fantasy.
So my cost per real lead is 96 addresses, about 22 hours, and roughly $180 in skip tracing and postage. Call it $90 and 11 hours a lead. If I sold those two at $500 each I'd be making about $16 an hour before the phone bill and I'd be handing away the only two deals on my own list.
That's the tension. I built the list to buy from it and I can't buy yet, and by the time I can, these two owners will have sold to someone else or decided to stay. A lead has a shelf life measured in weeks and my capital timeline is measured in months.
The option I keep circling is finding one investor who'd pay me on close and let me shadow the transaction, so the lead doesn't rot and I see a closing from the inside. What I'm not sure about is whether that's a real trade or whether I'm just talking myself into giving away the two best things I have because I'm impatient. Still open on it.