3,692% ROI on Direct Mail: How One Investor Turned Expired Listings Into a Cash-Flowing Cabin Rental

Most real estate investors mail to the same lists: absentee owners, pre-foreclosures, tax liens. 

Scot P.  went after a list that almost nobody thinks to mail: expired and failed MLS listings filtered by property type keywords.

Five hundred letters, 20 callbacks, and one deal later, he had a cash-flowing short-term rental producing $2,000 a month and a 3,692% marketing ROI!

Here's the full breakdown.

The Challenge: Breaking Into a Competitive Short-Term Rental Market

Georgia's Blue Ridge Mountains is one of the hottest short-term rental markets in the Southeast. Cabins and mountain homes regularly sell above asking price, and year round tourist demand keeps occupancy rates high. That's great if you already own there but it makes it extremely difficult to find deals at prices that make the numbers work as a rental.

Scot is primarily a buy-and-hold investor who uses flips and BRRRR deals to generate the capital for his rental portfolio. He still works a W-2 job, which he uses to fuel financing, and operates his investing business solo. He needed a way to source an off-market deal in a market where on-market properties were being bid up past retail. Cold calling and driving for dollars weren't realistic options for a solo investor with a full-time job. Direct mail was the play but only if he could find a list that wasn't already being hammered by other investors.

The Plan: Target Expired MLS Listings With Keyword Filters

Instead of mailing a traditional investor list, Scot pulled a list of failed and expired MLS listings (properties that had been listed for sale but didn't close) and filtered it with the keywords "cabin" and "mountain" to narrow it to his target property type and area in the Blue Ridge region.

Check out our eBook The Lazy Investor's Marketing Plan on how to pull these types of lists!

This is a smart list strategy because:

• Every contact on an expired listing list has already demonstrated intent to sell. They tried to sell, it didn't work, and now they're sitting on a property they wanted to move. That's built-in motivation without the sensitivity of probate or the legal complexity of liens. And because most investors don't think to mail expired listings (they associate that list with real estate agents, not investors) the competition is minimal.
• The keyword filtering made the list even more targeted. Instead of a broad geographic pull, Scot narrowed to a hyper-specific property type. The result was a small but highly relevant list of just 500 contacts.

He then mailed a handwritten-style template letter with one critical adjustment to the copy - instead of positioning himself as an investor looking for a discount, he wrote that he and his wife were looking to buy a vacation home. Every word of that was true and it completely changed how the letter was received.

The Execution: Copy That Sounded Like a Buyer, Not an Investor

The response rate on this campaign was extraordinary: 20 callbacks from 500 letters, a 4% response rate. The typical response rate for direct mail in real estate investing is 1% to 1.5%. Scot's campaign nearly tripled that benchmark.

Several factors contributed to the outsized response:

The copy implied full retail value.

By saying he and his wife were looking for a vacation home, Scot signaled that he wasn't asking for a discount. Most investor mail (especially the "we buy houses" variety) telegraphs that a below-market offer is coming. Sellers who want a fair price throw those letters away. Scot's letter didn't trigger that filter.

The tone was personal, not transactional.

 "Me and my wife are looking for a vacation home" reads like a family making a lifestyle purchase. A mom-and-pop landlord or an individual seller can relate to that. It doesn't feel like a business solicitation - it feels like a neighbor reaching out.

Every contact on the list had already tried to sell.

Expired listings mean the seller had intent. They listed, it didn't work, and they're likely still open to the right offer. You're not trying to convince someone to sell, you're offering a second chance to someone who already wanted to.

The list was small and surgical.

Five hundred contacts is tiny by direct mail standards, but list size doesn't matter when relevance is high. Every name on this list owned a cabin or mountain property in the Blue Ridge area that had failed to sell. There was no waste.

The handwritten format reinforced the personal angle.

A handwritten-style letter from someone who sounds like a family buyer, not an investor, is almost impossible to ignore. It looks like personal correspondence, which matches the tone of the copy perfectly.

 

One of the 20 callbacks was from a landlord who owned a short-term rental and was looking to 1031 exchange into a multifamily property. He was motivated, the timing was right, and the deal came together.

 

The Results: A $2,000/Month Cash-Flowing STR and a 3,692% Marketing ROI

Scot purchased the property using a vacation home loan with just 10% down. The numbers on this deal are the kind that make buy-and-hold investors pay attention:

• Purchase price: $423,000
• ARV: $500,000
• Down payment: $42,300
• Monthly cash flow: $2,000
• Yield on down payment: 57% per year
• Purchase vehicle: Vacation home loan

And the marketing metrics were equally impressive:

• Mailing piece: Handwritten-style template letter
• List: Expired MLS listings filtered by keywords "cabin" and "mountain"
• Volume: 500 letters
• Total mail cost: approximately $650
• Callbacks: 20
• Response rate: 4%
• Cost per call: $32.50
• Marketing ROI: 3,692%

 

*Note* Most direct mail campaigns in real estate investing produce a cost per call above $100. Scot's cost per call was $32.50 (roughly a third of the industry average) because his list was targeted, his copy was dialed in, and his mail piece got opened.

 

Key Takeaways for Real Estate Investors

Expired listings are one of the most overlooked lists in real estate. Every contact already tried to sell, and almost no other investors are mailing them. If your market feels saturated, this list should be your next test.

Keyword filtering eliminates waste. Scot didn't pull every expired listing in Georgia - he filtered by "cabin" and "mountain" to match his exact target. Apply the same logic with "duplex," "waterfront," or "acreage" depending on your strategy

Match your copy to your strategy. If you're buying to hold, say so. Scot's letter said he and his wife wanted a vacation home - because they did. That framing gets responses from sellers who would have trashed a "we buy houses" letter.

Don't skip a list because it's small. Scot spent $650 on 500 letters and landed a deal that cash flows $24,000 a year. Relevance beats volume every time.

Competitive STR markets reward off-market sourcing. On-market cabins and vacation rentals get bid past the point where cash flow works. Direct mail to expired listings is one of the few ways in without broker relationships or pocket listings.