What decides who gets an off-market deal, without Parcel and with it.
~7×
as likely to get a real conversation when you reach out within an hour.
Estimate · HBR 2011, web leads
90%
of sellers list with an agent, where every buyer can bid. Off-market, you reach them first.
Estimate · NAR 2024
- When you hear about it
- WithoutWhen it lists, or when a bought list reaches you weeks later
- WithThe morning after the city or county publishes the record (newest here: Oct 9)
- Reaching the owner
- WithoutA letter or a door knock at the property
- WithThe owner's phone and email from an owner lookup, when one is found
- Getting there first
- WithoutWhenever you get to it
- WithA morning alert and the lead already in your pipeline
How we estimate
We don't give a percentage. There is no public data on how often an investor wins an off-market deal, and we won't make one up. What the research does show is that reaching people first, and before a home lists, is what moves the odds:
- Oldroyd, McElheran and Elkington, “The Short Life of Online Sales Leads,” Harvard Business Review, 2011: Across 2,241 US companies, those that answered a web lead within an hour were nearly 7 times as likely to have a qualifying conversation as those that waited longer. These were inbound leads, not property owners, so read it as direction, not a number for real estate.
- National Association of Realtors, 2024 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers: 90% of sellers sold with an agent and 6% sold by owner. Once a home lists, every buyer can bid; before it lists, you may be the only one talking to the owner.
