I have debated for quite some time if I would publish this post or not. As any of you guys who read my blog know I ‘m a huge fan of DIY work. From replacing parts on my wife’s 170k mile 15 year old Ford, learning to play guitar, and even getting into Real Estate. I got to a point where I wanted more control of my Real Estate Investing pipeline. I either was swamped or desperate for my next deal. I wanted to be able to control the volume, timing, and customize my mail to my hearts content.

After speaking with SEVERAL of the leaders in the DM business I will be blunt… It is NOT worth bringing your marketing in house unless you’re approaching 10k pieces of mail a month or more. You may be able to get your cost per piece down but… It’s EXTREMELY time consuming. Time is your biggest resource and I highly recommend not being cheap with money and generous with your time.

In 100% honesty for a few months I literally spent 40+ hours a week just producing my own marketing. I’m getting the results that I wanted but I am hiring someone to run my equipment for me. So I brought it in house… and then outsourced it (sort of) again. We typically get our marketing done a month or so in advance. Which is great. This gives me the ability to have thousands of pieces of mail just ready to go. If I’m not getting enough calls I drop more mail. If I’m busy I can hold off. I also really like the level of customization and control it gives me. Most of the major mail houses have pretty much a “one size” fits all marketing piece. If you’re in a competitive market you’ll find our pretty quickly that you need to send more mail to get the same amount of deals when the market heats up.