Real estate direct mail in Clairemont:
a farming plan for realtors

North Clairemont (92117)

North Clairemont is street after street of 1950s and 60s ranch homes, many of them from the same few floor plans, on flat lots with room for a garden, a garage conversion or an ADU. A good share of owners have been here for decades.

• Who sells: long-time owners downsizing or moving closer to family, heirs and trustees selling a parent's home, and younger owners who bought a starter home and are moving up.
• What to mail: "as-is or updated?" cards, with what original-condition and remodeled homes on nearby streets sold for. In Clairemont the gap between the two is large, and many owners don't know whether fixing up first is worth it.
• How to mail: EDDM® on the routes that are mostly single-family homes. Because the homes are so similar, a Just Sold card here works almost like an appraisal for the whole street.

Clairemont Mesa (92117)

The tract streets of Clairemont Mesa, east and west, fill the middle of the community around Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, Genesee Avenue and the shopping centers. They mix the original 1950s and 60s houses with duplexes, small apartment buildings and later infill.

• Who sells: long-time owners, landlords selling a rental house they have held for years, and owners who added an ADU and now want to know what the whole property is worth.
• What to mail: to owners, "what is your home worth?" and "thinking of selling your rental?" cards. Owners of older rentals often want a quiet sale with the tenant in place, and a card that offers one gets their attention.
• How to mail: a homeowner mailing list near the busy corridors, so your cards skip the apartments. Use EDDM® only on routes that are mostly single-family homes.

Bay Ho and the Tecolote Canyon rim (92117)

Tecolote Canyon Natural Park runs for miles through the middle of Clairemont. Along its rim, in Bay Ho and on the streets that look out over the canyon or toward Mission Bay, homes have views and quiet streets, and they sell for more than the same floor plan a few blocks inland.

• Who sells: long-time owners who stayed and remodeled, now downsizing or retiring, and families moving up after a few years.
• What to mail: view and canyon homes priced on their own. A card that separates view homes from non-view homes shows owners you understand what makes theirs worth more.
• Wildfire: canyon-edge homes can sit in a fire hazard zone, and buyers now ask about insurance and brush management early. Mention it in your listing prep card.
• How to mail: a list of the rim streets themselves, since the canyon edges cut across several routes.

Bay Park and the Morena trolley stations (92117)

Bay Park climbs the hill above Morena Boulevard, with some of the best views of Mission Bay in the city. Bay Park is split between 92117 and 92110, so check the ZIP Code of each street before you mail. Since November 2021, the Mid-Coast extension of the Blue Line trolley has stops at Tecolote Road, Clairemont Drive and Balboa Avenue along the western edge of Clairemont, and the city has planned more homes near them.

• Who sells: long-time owners with a lot of equity, owners of older rental houses near the University of San Diego and the trolley, and families moving up.
• What to mail: view home sales, and investor cards on rents and sale prices near the trolley. Many of these owners don't live in Bay Park, so ask us about a list of owners whose mailing address is somewhere else.
• How to mail: a homeowner list. The streets mix owners, renters and two ZIP Codes, and a list lets you mail exactly the blocks you want.

ADU lots and investor properties (92117)

Clairemont's large, flat lots have made it one of the busiest areas in San Diego for ADUs and garage conversions. Some lots now have a front house, a converted garage and several new units behind it. This has divided neighbors, and it has created a new kind of owner and a new kind of sale.

• Who sells: owners who added an ADU and now want to cash out, owners who would rather sell the lot than build, and investors who finished a project.
• What to mail: "sell as is, or build first?" cards, comparing what a home with an ADU sold for with one without. Keep the claims general and suggest they confirm what their lot allows with the city.
• How to mail: a homeowner list, so the card goes to the person who owns the lot, not the tenants in the units.

How to read the table before you pick a farm

The best farm is one where homes sell often enough, owners stay long enough to build equity, and the routes reach owners rather than renters. The table above shows 92117 as a whole, which covers most of Clairemont. Use it as a starting point:

• Owner-occupied tells you whether EDDM® fits. Clairemont often has more renters than its rows of houses suggest, because of ADUs, rented houses and apartments along the corridors. Below about 60 percent, a homeowner list usually wastes less money than whole routes.
• Owners there since before 2010 are your long-time owners. In Clairemont many bought decades ago at a fraction of today's prices, so they have a lot of equity and the freedom to sell when they choose.
• Owners 65 or older points to downsizing, moves closer to family and estate sales over the next few years. In a community built for young families in the 1950s, that turnover has been under way for years and will continue.
• Median home value shapes the budget. A view home in Bay Park or Bay Ho earns more than a tract home inland, so a higher-priced farm can pay back with fewer listings.

One number the table can't give you is turnover: how many homes sold last year compared with how many homes there are. Check it in your MLS for the exact streets you are considering. Many agents look for 5 percent or more, and in a farm of 1,000 homes that means about 50 sales a year to compete for.

Clairemont sellers worth their own mailing

Beyond your neighborhood farm, a few groups of owners in Clairemont are likely to sell for a specific reason. Each deserves its own card, with a message about that reason.

Owners 55 and older, and Proposition 19

Many long-time Clairemont owners pay property tax on a value set decades ago, and stay put because any new home would mean a much higher bill. Since 2021, Proposition 19 lets homeowners 55 and older move their property tax base to a replacement home anywhere in California, up to three times, if they buy within two years of selling. A higher-priced home adds only the difference to the tax base. A simple card that explains it, and invites them to a free consultation with you and their tax adviser, is one of the most useful things you can mail here.

Heirs and trustees

Many Clairemont homes pass to children who live somewhere else, through a trust or an estate. They need help with a home that may not have been updated in decades: clearing it out, deciding whether to fix it up, and pricing it. A card on selling a parent's home, mailed to owners whose mailing address is somewhere else, reaches them where they live.

Military owners

Clairemont is a short drive from MCAS Miramar and the Navy bases around San Diego Bay, and some owners here are service members or base employees. When orders come, they must decide quickly whether to sell or rent the home out. A card that offers both a sale price and a rental estimate, and explains how you handle a sale once the owner has moved, speaks directly to them.

Landlords

Clairemont has many rented houses, duplexes and ADUs, and their owners respond to cards about rents, repairs, tenant-occupied sales and what their property would sell for. Mail them where they live, with a list that uses the owner's mailing address.

Renters ready to buy

Clairemont has many renters, in apartments along the corridors and in ADUs behind houses. A first-time buyer card, with what it takes to buy and the down payment programs available, can reach them by EDDM® on apartment-heavy routes. It is a different business from farming owners, but it fills your buyer pipeline.

Just Listed and Just Sold cards in Clairemont

How far to mail around a listing depends on the neighborhood:

• Tract streets in North Clairemont and Clairemont Mesa: the same tract plus the nearest streets, usually 300 to 500 homes. The floor plans repeat, so every owner can compare.
• View and canyon-rim homes in Bay Ho and Bay Park: other view homes first, along the rim or the hillside, rather than a plain circle that takes in the streets behind them.
• Homes with ADUs: other lots that have one, or could have one. Owners thinking about building watch these sales closely.

Send the Just Listed card in the first days of the listing, timed to arrive before the first open house, and the Just Sold card soon after closing. Draw a radius around the address in our mailing list planner, or pick the routes around it in the EDDM® route planner.

A 12-month Clairemont farming plan

One card a month to your farm, plus Just Listed and Just Sold cards whenever you have them. Here is a year built around how Clairemont owners actually decide:

What a Clairemont farm costs

A farm of about 1,000 homes is a common start here: a block of North Clairemont tract streets, the rim streets of Bay Ho, or the Bay Park hillside. Clairemont's small lots and tract layout pack a lot of homes into a short drive. Here is what mailing it every month for a year costs, depending on how you print:

8.5 × 11 EDDM® postcards, printed and mailed, including USPS postage. Printing ahead costs less because the price per card drops at larger quantities; we store the extra cards and mail them on your schedule. See all EDDM® prices.

Most agents settle on the middle row: a few designs that rotate through the year, printed in batches, plus Just Listed and Just Sold cards as they come. At Clairemont prices, the commission on a single listing is usually several times the yearly cost of the farm.

EDDM® or a mailing list in Clairemont?

On the quiet tract streets of North Clairemont and Clairemont Mesa, many homes are owner-occupied, and EDDM® reaches nearly the same people as a list for much less. Near Genesee Avenue, Balboa Avenue, Clairemont Mesa Boulevard and the shopping centers, and on streets with many ADUs, renters make up much of each route, and a homeowner list wastes fewer cards. In Bay Park, where streets are split between two ZIP Codes, a list is simpler. For heirs and landlords who live elsewhere, only a list with the owner's mailing address reaches them at all. Tell us the areas you want and we'll recommend the right mix.

What every Clairemont real estate postcard must include

A farm postcard is usually the first time a homeowner hears from you, and California treats it that way. Under the Department of Real Estate's rule for "first point of contact" material (California Code of Regulations, title 10, section 2773), the card must show:

• Your name and 8-digit DRE license number, and the number of every other licensee named on the card, such as a team partner.
• Your responsible broker's name, as it is currently licensed with the DRE.
• The license number in type at least as large as the smallest type on the card. It can't hide in fine print.

Mailing as a team adds one more rule (Business and Professions Code section 10159.6): the responsible broker's name and license number have to be shown as prominently as the team name. A few more points keep the card out of trouble:

• The Equal Housing Opportunity logo, and words that describe the home, the street or the market, never the kind of buyer or neighbor it suits.
• Only your own sales on Just Sold cards, with the side you represented. A sale you only helped buy can't be shown as one you sold.
• Estimates labeled as estimates. "Find out what your Clairemont home is worth" is fine; a promised price is not.
• REALTOR® in capitals with the ® mark, if you are a member of the National Association of REALTORS®.

We add your license number, broker and logo to every design and send a proof, but ask your broker to approve the final card. Your brokerage may have its own rules on top of these.

For more card ideas, the Just Listed and Just Sold basics and how to pick a farm, see our real estate direct mail guide.

Get a quote for your Clairemont mailing

Tell us which neighborhoods and services you want to focus on. We'll reply with a price for printing and mailing, and the routes or list we recommend.