Real estate direct mail in Lemon Grove:
a farming plan for realtors

Downtown and the Broadway corridor (91945)

Around the Big Lemon, Broadway, Main Street and the Lemon Grove Depot trolley station, older houses mix with duplexes, small apartment buildings and businesses. The city is updating its downtown plan, which proposes taller, denser housing along Broadway and around the trolley over the next 15 to 20 years.

• Who sells: landlords selling a rental house or a duplex they have held for years, long-time owners, and heirs.
• What to mail: to owners, "thinking of selling your rental?" cards, and to owners of larger parcels near Broadway, what the downtown plan could mean for their property. Keep it factual and point them to the city's plan; developers and investors will ask about these parcels.
• How to mail: a homeowner mailing list, not EDDM®. Renters make up much of these routes. Ask us about a list of owners whose mailing address is somewhere else.

The postwar streets south of Broadway (91945)

South of downtown, the neighborhoods are mostly single-family homes from the 1940s and 50s, many of them modest two- and three-bedroom houses on wide lots with long driveways and big back yards. Many owners have been here for decades.

• Who sells: long-time owners downsizing or moving closer to family, heirs selling a parent's home, and families who need more bedrooms than the original house has.
• What to mail: "remodel or sell?" cards, with what updated homes nearby sold for compared with original-condition ones. Owners of 70-year-old homes are asking exactly that question.
• How to mail: EDDM® on the routes that are mostly houses. The farm is compact and other agents rarely mail it as steadily as they mail the bigger cities around it.

The hills toward La Mesa and Mount Helix (91945)

On the north and east sides of the city, toward La Mesa, Mount Helix and Spring Valley, the streets climb into the hills. Homes here tend to be larger single-family houses, some with views, on bigger and sometimes sloping lots.

• Who sells: long-time owners, many retired, whose homes and yards are now more than they need, and owners moving out of the area.
• What to mail: how you price a view and a big lot, with sales from the hillside streets rather than the city as a whole. These owners know their home is not average.
• How to mail: EDDM® on owner-occupied routes. Lots are larger, so each route has fewer homes, and a Just Listed card needs a wider radius than in a tract.

Around the Massachusetts Avenue trolley station (91945)

The west side of the city, around Massachusetts Avenue and its trolley station, has older single-family homes, small multi-unit buildings and newer infill, with an easy ride to La Mesa and downtown San Diego.

• Who sells: investors who own small rentals near transit, owners of homes with a second unit, and first-time buyers moving up.
• What to mail: investor cards: rents, cash flow and what similar small rentals sold for. For owners, the value of being close to the trolley.
• How to mail: a homeowner list. The routes here mix renters and owners.

Big lots across the city (91945)

Lemon Grove's larger lots are one of its best selling points, and they are spread across the city rather than in one neighborhood. State law now allows a granny flat, and on many single-family lots a lot split, so a deep lot can be worth more than the house on it.

• Who sells: owners who could build but don't want to, and who would rather sell to someone who will.
• What to mail: "your lot may be worth more than you think", with sales of homes on large lots and homes with a second unit. Suggest they check what their lot allows with the city, and don't promise a value you can't support.
• How to mail: pick the streets where the deep lots are, using a parcel map or your MLS, and mail the owners on those streets with a homeowner list. It keeps the cards on the lots that matter.

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. With one ZIP Code, Lemon Grove's table is short, and every number counts:

• Owner-occupied tells you whether EDDM® fits. Lemon Grove has a large share of rentals, especially near downtown and the trolley. Below about 60 percent, a homeowner list usually wastes less money than whole routes, and in Lemon Grove the routes vary a lot from one street to the next.
• Owners there since before 2010 are your long-time owners. In a city where so many homes are 60 or more years old, many owners have been here for decades and have a great deal of equity.
• Owners 65 or older points to downsizing and estate sales over the next few years. A high share rewards a patient, helpful farm.
• Median home value shapes the budget. Lemon Grove is one of the more affordable cities near central San Diego, so you may need a few more sales a year to cover the farm than in the cities around it.

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.

Lemon Grove sellers worth their own mailing

Beyond your neighborhood farm, a few groups of Lemon Grove owners 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 owners stay put because a new home would mean a much higher property tax 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. For owners who bought in Lemon Grove decades ago, that can be the difference between staying and moving. A clear card that explains it is one of the most useful things you can mail.

Heirs and family sales

A city built in the 1940s and 50s has many homes passing to the next generation. Heirs often live elsewhere and want a simple process: clearing the house, deciding between repairs and selling as-is, and working with a trust or probate. Mail long-held homes, and owners with an out-of-area mailing address, a card that says you handle these sales with care.

Landlords and out-of-area owners

Rental houses, duplexes and small apartment buildings are common in Lemon Grove, and many of their owners live somewhere else. They respond to cards about rents, repairs, selling with tenants in place and what their property would sell for. Mail them where they live, with a list that uses the owner's mailing address.

Military owners

Lemon Grove is an easy commute to Naval Base San Diego, and military families who bought here may get orders to move. Some sell, and some keep the home as a rental. A card that explains both choices, and what the home would sell or rent for, is useful either way, and it reaches the owner later as a landlord too.

Renters ready to buy

Lemon Grove's prices make it a realistic first home for many renters nearby. A first-time buyer card, with what it takes to buy and the down payment programs available, can reach renters 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 Lemon Grove

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

• Single-family streets south of Broadway: the surrounding blocks, usually 200 to 500 homes. Owners compare with homes of the same age and size.
• The hills and the big-lot streets: a wider radius, since fewer homes fit in each block.
• Near downtown and the trolley: the owners within a few blocks, from a list, so the cards skip the apartments.

In a city this small, a Just Sold card travels: neighbors talk, and a sale on one side of town is news on the other. 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 Lemon Grove 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 Lemon Grove owners actually decide:

What a Lemon Grove farm costs

A farm of about 1,000 homes covers a real slice of Lemon Grove: the single-family streets south of Broadway, or the hillside streets toward La Mesa. In a city this size, two or three farms of that size would reach most of its houses. Here is what mailing 1,000 homes 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. Even at Lemon Grove prices, one or two listings a year usually pay for the farm.

EDDM® or a mailing list in Lemon Grove?

On the single-family streets south of Broadway and in the hills, most homes are owner-occupied, and EDDM® reaches nearly the same people as a list for much less. Around downtown, Broadway and the trolley stations, renters make up much of each route, and a homeowner list wastes fewer cards. For big lots, a homeowner list drawn around the streets where they are keeps the farm focused, and for 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 Lemon Grove 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 Lemon Grove 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 Lemon Grove 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.