“It was nonstop, all these things that make you think it’s urgent, last call, or necessary, and you open it and it’s just more nonsense,” he said.

New homeowners may also receive, as the Augustyns did, move-in packages with fliers for things like blinds, furniture, carpet cleaners and landscaping services as well as coupons for big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes and Bed Bath & Beyond. (Mr. Augustyn kept and used that last one.)

Ms. Logrippo said some brokers will work to cultivate a certain town or neighborhood with a mass mailing of postcards when they list or sell a house there. The goal is to “get somebody to equate my name with selling houses in your neighborhood,” she said. Brokers may also send brochures and magazines related to owning a home, which are published by a third party with brokers paying to have their names put on them.

She said homeowners may receive more of such mailings if they live in a desirable neighborhood or if they’ve lived in a house between seven and 10 years, because that’s how long, on average, someone stays in a home. “It’s very easy for a broker to go into MLS and look up houses valued at over $1 million that haven’t been sold in at least seven years and start marketing to those homeowners.”

Ms. Logrippo said that homeowners who tried to sell their houses but took them off the market could expect a flurry of marketing materials, too. “Those are called expired listings. Maybe it didn’t work out with the agent you had, so every agent in town is going to try to get you to sell your house with them,” she said.

She said real estate investors like those who targeted Ms. Walsh often run “yellow letter campaigns,” so named because they used to be handwritten on legal pad paper. The investors are typically looking to buy houses for below market value, sometimes from homeowners in distress — like after a death in the family.

Ms. Walsh has gotten some of those that look like they’re handwritten on legal paper (though she said they seem computer-generated) or on bright-colored paper , as well as mailers that are more formal and look like wedding invitations. She feels compelled to open those. “We set up a trust fund for my son, so I don’t want to accidentally throw something away,” she said.