Real estate farming for the modern agent, told the messy way.
TL;DR
We’ve spent the last few months deep in the trenches of real estate farming—testing postcards, experimenting with personal letters, and now layering in digital outreach too. From clunky mail merges to robotic handwriting to AI-driven email tools, this is a transparent look at what we’ve tried, what kind of worked, and what’s still a work in progress.
1. Why We’re Farming Again
Mark Choey isn’t new to real estate… far from it. He was one of the top agents in San Francisco, co-founded Climb Real Estate, scaled it into one of the top teams in the country, and eventually sold it to Realogy. After that, he went all-in on real estate tech, launching Highnote, a platform that’s redefining how agents pitch and present listings.
But recently, Mark’s been making a quiet comeback. Not just as a tech founder—but as an agent again. And with that came the question:
How do we rebuild local mindshare in an ultra-competitive market… without burning through tens of thousands of marketing dollars?
The answer, or at least the starting point? Farming.
2. First Round: Postcards
We began with postcards because—let’s be honest—they still work. Especially in the Bay Area, where luxury buyers and sellers actually read their mail (or at least have an assistant who does).
We looked at a bunch of platforms:
- Corefact sounded cheap, but once we tried to customize designs to match Christie’s branding, the price jumped.
- QuantumDigital accepted PDFs (great), but their 20-card minimum made testing annoying, and the pricing ended up higher than expected.
- XpressDocs didn’t allow design uploads at all. Template use only.
That’s how we landed on PropertyRadar. It wasn’t flashy, but it checked a lot of boxes:
- $0.76/card (6×9) was the most affordable we found
- No minimums! We could test with just 1 card
- Easy export of up to 10,000 contacts per month
- Shared login during the trial phase
The quality of the postcards? Decent… but Mark had concerns. The card stock felt just okay. The UI was clunky. And image-only uploads felt limiting from a design perspective. But for where we were at, it worked.
3. Then Came the Letters
While postcard tests were running, Mark had an idea: target a specific luxury building in San Mateo, where we had two qualified renter leads and potential sellers.
Instead of a generic blast, he wanted something personal—a letter.
So we did it old school:
- MS Word
- Manual Mail Merge
- Printing at home
What we didn’t expect? The hours it would take Mark to print, fold, stuff, seal, and stamp just 100 letters. We were laughing about it on Slack, but also asking…
“Isn’t there a better way to do this?”
4. The Tech Side: Letters, Robots, and Digital Farming
While we were folding paper and licking envelopes (okay, not really—we use peel-and-seal), we couldn’t ignore the obvious:
That’s when we started exploring parallel tracks:
Letter automation through platforms like LettrLabs and Handwrytten
- Our goal: keep the personal touch, ditch the hours of manual labor
- Handwritten-look letters still feel more human especially for luxury clients
- We’re actively testing LettrLabs now as a scalable option
At the same time, we’re also testing email/digital farming tools like TrustScout, which let us:
- Send targeted messages to owners with verified emails
- Automate follow-ups
- Track clicks and opens (things a stamp can’t tell you)
It’s a different audience but an important one.
Some homeowners respond to personal letters.
Others only check their inbox.
We’re farming both because in a city like San Francisco, your buyers (and sellers) might be in Web3 and still love a thick card stock.
5. Platform Comparison: What We’ve Tried So Far
Here’s a side-by-side snapshot of the direct mail and letter tools we’ve tested (or considered) along with what worked, what didn’t, and where they landed on pricing. We’re still experimenting, but this gives a sense of where things stand so far.
Platform | What We Liked | What We Didn’t Like | Pricing Notes |
PropertyRadar | – Easy to use after initial tinkering – 10k contact exports/month – Can send 1 test postcard – Good support | – Design upload limited to images only – Postcard quality is just okay – No cardstock/laminate options | $0.76/card (6×9”) Base Plan Solo: $119/month |
QuantumDigital | – Accepts PDF proofs – Decent card stock – Offers samples | – Requires 20-card minimum – More expensive than PR | $0.85+/card, contact import needed |
XpressDocs | – Comparable to PR in pricing for standard mail | – No design uploads allowed (template-only) – First-class mail is pricier | Similar to PR unless using premium options |
Stamps.com | – Potential for envelope automation | – Free customization will require desktop plugin (Windows only) – No USPS barcode removal – Limited design customization | ~$39/month upgrade required to test custom features on the online app |
LettrLabs | – Robotic handwriting at lower cost – Personal-feel at scale | – Still in early testing | TBD (currently being tested) |
Handwrytten | – Best-quality handwritten samples | – Expensive compared to others | Pricing varies—higher than LettrLabs |
Note: We’re still exploring platforms that let us balance personalization, automation, and brand consistency without spending hours printing and folding letters by hand.
6. What’s Working (Kind Of)
- PropertyRadar remains our base, with exports, lists, and campaign tools
- Letters are much more effective—higher read rates, more personal, better ROI
- We’ve started tailoring postcards by zip code (condos, lofts, Mira Tower, etc.)
- We’re experimenting with mixing postcards for broad awareness + letters for surgical targeting
7. What’s Not (Yet)
- Returned mail is still a problem. Bounced postcards with address stickers can’t be updated in PropertyRadar, so we’re tracking these manually for now.
- Time and labor are still huge factors. Letter folding, envelope design, and postage take real time even if the tools are “automated.”
- Design limitations on several platforms feel outdated, especially when we’re trying to represent a luxury brand.
8. Still Figuring It Out (And Always Evolving)
This isn’t a polished case study. We don’t have all the answers yet. But we’re sharing the process anyway—because honestly, most agents we know are also still figuring it out.
We’re still testing:
- What type of message resonates most with sellers
- How to scale without losing the personal touch
- Where to blend old-school marketing with new-school tools
And as AI continues to evolve, we’re watching that space closely too. Mark’s background in tech (and current work with Highnote) keeps us at the edge of what’s possible—from AI-assisted writing to smart targeting to automated follow-up sequences that don’t feel robotic.
Letters might win. Or email. Or some combination we haven’t built yet.
But whatever the mix is, we know it’s not static. We’re building a farming strategy that’s just as much about iteration as it is about outreach.
Final Thoughts
If you’re an agent trying to farm smarter (not just harder!)…we feel you. Our goal is to keep sharing what works, what flops, and what still makes us want to scream into a stamp roll.
This is the beginning of the journey. We’ll let you know where it goes next.
PS:
We’ll be updating this story as we test out new tools like LettrLabs and TrustScout. If AI ends up sending our next batch of letters or emails, you’ll be the first to know. Stay tuned.
