50 WAYS TO FIND DEALS and the one thing that works EVERYTIME!
OK! Lets dive right in! Some of these are better than others but here is a list compiled of every possible way I (and others that helped me) could think of to find deals. Hope you find some that stand out to you. And don’t forget to see #51 the thing that works every time at the bottom.
- Drive your target area at least 3 hours per week looking for vacant, run-down and ugly properties. Record the address, look up the owner and contact them.
- Contact a Bylaw Officer for your target areas. Introduce yourself including the statement, “My associate investors and I buy, fix up and resell properties to nice families…we are making (neighborhood) a better place to live, one home at a time…you’re in favor of that, aren’t you? Would you please share anywhere with infractions so that I can contact the owners and offer to purchase their house?”
- Contact glass companies, restoration services and disaster clean up companies and ask if they do “board ups.” They will often board up properties for owners who are leaving their property vacant. Offer to pay the board up company the equivalent of their board up fee when you purchase the property if they will share those property addresses with you.
- Hire “bird dogs” to find vacant and ugly properties for you. Contact people whose job takes them into your target areas such as newspaper delivery, milk delivery, UPS, FedEx, mailman, lawn care, pest control sprayers, locksmiths, etc. Pay them $5 for each digital photo with address of the property.
- Put up “bandit” signs in your target areas
- Pass out business cards to everyone you know and everyone you meet. Sample dialog: “What do I do for a living? I’m a real estate investor…here’s my card.”
- Call all the “We Buys Houses” signs in your target neighborhoods.
- Pass out flyers indicating you are looking for properties in your target areas.
- Send postcards into your target areas indicating you are looking for properties.
- Run classifieds ads in newspapers and online.
- Magnetic Vehicle Signs or Vehicle Vinyl “Wrap” WE BUY HOUSES and a phone number.
- Billboards in lower income areas
- Door Hangers
- Ads/pulltabs on buses and bus benches
- Direct Mail Letters into your target areas using your local post service.
- Google Adwords and/or AdSense and/or Alerts
- Real Estate Investor’s Association or Club
- Ask locksmiths who is always changing locks on their property. (headache property)
- Word of Mouth Advertising
- Real Estate Agents/MLS
- Online Searches
- Delinquent Property Taxes. Once a year in February in Alberta they release all the properties that are tax delinquent for auction.
- Contact property Managers
- Foreclosure Searches
- Divorcing couples (might be a sensitive one but always people that want to get out of their situation fast)
- Pre Foreclosures
- Court of queen bench properties
- Out of Town/Absentee Owners (look for vacant properties on the MLS)
- Contact home Inspectors
- Retirement Homes and Assisted Living Centers (lots of elderly people are moving into homes and may need help moving and own their place out right)
- Garage Sale Ads (These people need money)
- Ask local utility workers
- Talk to Attorneys
- 4 “D” Service Providers (Death, Disease, Divorce, Disaster)
- Executors/Administrators/Personal Representatives of Estates
- Probate
- Bail Bondsmen
- Surplus Properties for Sale (City or County)
- Non Profit Organizations (with donated property)
- Mobile Home Dealers
- Legal Servers, you know “you’ve been served”
- Security Guards
- Hard Money Lenders
- Bankers and Mortgage Brokers and other lenders
- Private Money Lenders
- Homeowner’s Associations
- Tired Landlords
- Insurance Companies (damaged/partially burned houses)
- Fire Departments (partially burned houses)
- PODS or other storage facilities
AND THE ONE THING THAT WORKS EVERY TIME IS
TAKE ACTION!
Pick your two favorite and go DO IT!
See you out there 🙂
Brendan