Real estate is without a doubt a competitive industry whether you are an agent, wholesaler, or investor. If you don't have the right strategies up your sleeve, you won't find real estate deals, build wealth, and gain long term success.
To find the best real estate deals, your best option would be to buy from Property Leads. But you may also use some proven strategies like running ads online, driving for dollars, sending direct mail, buying from a wholesaler, connecting with mortgage lenders and property management companies, attending property auctions, etc.
Of course, the right strategy would still depend on several factors such as your niche and budget. To learn more about all these and more, check out the rest of this blog.
Identifying your niche in real estate is like putting your target in place. When you have identified what field you want to enter, it becomes a lot simpler to identify the means to get to that dream.
For instance, if you want to enter house flipping, you may start by driving for dollars or searching as-is sales on the MLS. Meanwhile, if you want to buy properties to turn into rentals, you may want to run online ads so people directly go to you.
There are so many strategies you can use in order to find real estate deals. We've listed 29 of them below!
Property Leads is a pay-per-lead platform that can provide you with highly motivated leads from your target areas. We generate leads from SEO so the quality of each lead is guaranteed. Moreover, we sell their leads exclusively so you would have less to no competition.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of Property Leads is that the leads come to us to seek solutions to their real estate problem. This makes them more motivated compared to leads generated from outbound marketing strategies.
There are many real estate websites and online marketplaces that offer leads for real estate professionals. Some of them pull their leads from the MLS while others use data from public databases.
Of course, just like other lead sources, the leads from these platforms come with a fee. But the good thing is, most of the contact information they provide is scrubbed against the DNC list.
Sending direct mail to houses in your target neighborhood should not be estimated as well when it comes to landing great real estate deals. Most often, people really stop to read emails unlike when they receive emails.
Luckily, there are many platforms that can help you send direct mail to find deals or find motivated sellers in as fast as 3 days. Some of them even offer free templates for both mails and postcards.
A wholesaler is a real estate investor who obtains a contract with a seller and sells it to a fellow real estate investor.
Most wholesalers have good deal finding abilities so they always find off-market real estate deals on vacant properties, fixer uppers, joint venture, etc. Buying contracts from wholesalers significantly cuts the time you spend on finding from online resources and negotiating. Moreover, the wholesaler already has the information about the property so you would no longer need to do skip tracing, etc.
Online marketing to buy houses covers a lot of strategies you can do online. Some of the most common is running PPC ads on Google and Facebook. This may also cover the creation of landing pages and a social media page where you can actively post relevant content to target your audience and get automatic email alerts for new leads.
Aside from ads, the rise of TikTok also gave investors another platform to get known. Just keep on sharing relevant posts that might trend to gain a following and leads.
Real estate agents have direct access to the MLS or the Multiple Listing Service used to advertise available properties. Working with them means you get tips on the hottest properties that the real estate agents are not interested to work on and you can buy houses fast.
Moreover, real estate agents have a huge network. They can refer other agents to you who are having trouble with their clients or they can simply pass a client to you because their plate is already full. They'll even tell you about their pocket listings.
Driving for dollars is among the oldest strategies used by other investors in finding real estate deals. This strategy means driving around your target neighborhood to identify run down or vacant off market properties and then contacting their owners to see if they want to sell the property.
This strategy is a lot made easier these days by some driving for dollars app that can pull the property's information in just a few clicks.
Bandit signs are traditional signs you put on high foot traffic areas and busy intersections so you get more off-market real estate deals. Bandit signs don't have to be extravagant in order for you to find off market deals. But it does need to have your contact information and what you do so people would contact you.
Although many real estate investors have already shifted to online marketing, putting up bandit signs is still an effective way to land good real estate deals.
Newspapers may not be as mainstream as it was before with the rise of digital media but there are still communities that have their local newspaper. Most adults and older generations living in these communities still prioritize newspapers as their source of news so advertising your services through them can find you the best deals.
Make sure that you include your contact details so you get the best deal and the exact thing that you do as newspaper ads can be expensive.
Craigslist has been a source of good deals for many real estate investors since it was first established. Many potential sellers who don't want to list in the MLS publish their listing on this platform. You may use the search function and all the filters of this platform to find foreclosed homes, rental property owners who want to let go of their property because of high rental rates, etc.
Your local town hall is a bank of a lot of public information that you can leverage to find more real estate deals. Some of the data you'll find at your local town hall are tax records, eviction notices, probate listings, divorce leads, and more.
Some town halls readily provide this information for real estate investors but in most cases they require a certain fee.
The MLS or multiple listing service is a platform where real estate agents list houses for sale. Only licensed real estate agents have access to the MLS for security purposes.
Getting access to the MLS would give you more chances of finding motivated leads. You might want to partner with a real estate agent to find MLS listings.
Although advertising using audio commercials is already old school when finding potential deals, you still might want to try this strategy since many people listen to the radio when going to and coming from work.
Make a good audio commercial and bring it to the local radio station or a popular one. Just be ready to pay the fees as this still can be pretty expensive even with the advent of social media and other platforms online.
Title companies are actively working with homeowners who are selling or planning to sell their homes and finding deals. They may hook you up with a few of their clients who are having difficulties with the progress of the sale and would just want to sell fast to a cash buyer.
Many of these title companies never run out of clients so you would have a steady stream of leads from them.
Mortgage brokers or direct lenders are among the companies that many home buyers contact when they want to buy a new home. These buyers are potentially selling their homes in the market, too, and may be looking for buyers or other real estate investors.
Build good relationships with mortgage brokers and direct lenders in your area so you get notified of motivated sellers who are also looking to sell their homes.
You can also ask the lenders for homeowners with bad credit who want to sell their homes to alleviate their financial situation.
Property management companies are in charge of looking after real estate investment properties that cannot be managed by their owners. This includes vacant off-market properties, vacation homes, etc. And since they are actively connected to homeowners and other investors, they may know of people who are looking to sell their home through off market deals.
But just like other sources here, they may charge a fee for the information of a potential seller or deal they'll rely on you especially if the sale went to closing.
When lenders or banks foreclose on homes, a property auction is staged to sell the property. During these property auctions, many investors and other interested buyers bid on the property in a specified increment to land a deal.
You may want to attend these real estate auctions and try to win great deals. Just be cautious when bidding because you may lose more money than you originally intended. Don't skip analyzing deals before bidding.
Pre-foreclosure properties are properties that are about to be seized by the lender and sold in an auction. Many pre-foreclosure properties are underwater so homeowners want to sell fast.
These are great opportunities for real estate investors since the properties are typically sold below real estate market value. The homeowners also want fast deal closing so the property will also be turned over to you immediately.
Eviction records are often times available in your local clerk's office and in the mortgage lender's office. You may want to get a copy of these eviction records to cold call homeowners and land deal. Note that some lenders sell these records for a fee and not all of the information they have in hand is accurate so you may need to skip trace.
Buying tax liens is one of the primary strategies of other real estate investors. When a property has a tax lien, an investor can get the right to buy the property. The investment property may have been seized because it serves as collateral for the unpaid taxes.
This sale can be complicated so as much as possible, employ the help of an expert real estate attorney who understands taxes and the market.
If you are not satisfied with bandit signs, why not go big and rent a billboard. Billboards are typically placed in areas with high foot traffic so more homeowners can get sight of who you are.
The advantage of this is that they are quite large and can be seen from far away. The downside is, it can be pretty expensive depending on the size of the billboard, the location, and how long you want your ad displayed.
You can go more extra by customizing a magnetic sticker and sticking it to the side of your car. The magnetic sign should mention what you do and how to contact you. If you are always on the road, this is a great strategy for motivated sellers in the market to come find you.
Meanwhile, you may also want to commission some taxi or Uber drivers to bear your magnetic sign so you can reach more people.
You can track for sale by owner properties in your area through the bandit signs they put outside their home. You can easily see these signs when you go driving for dollars.
For sale by owner properties mean that the owner doesn't employ the help of a real estate agent. They offer more flexible pricing and are more willing to sell below market value.
Expired listings are properties that weren't sold when listed in the MLS. The owners of these expired listings are often times desperate to sell and their properties are usually in bad shape or damaged. Expireds are great opportunities since the owners want to sell fast and so they are willing to accept below market offers.
Before you head over anywhere else, you might want to connect with your family and friends to ask if they know someone who plans to sell their property.
Even if they don't personally know someone that is ready to sell, they can mention you to people they know when related conversations occur. The best thing about this is that since they are your family and friends, they won't ask for any commission. It's already your own discretion to give them a few bucks for their help.
Most local communities have their own landlord or real estate magazine which features various real estate development in the area or other extremely helpful opportunities. Just like publishing in a newspaper, you can also publish an ad in this landlord magazine for a fee.
SEO or search engine optimization is used to gain traffic for your real estate investing website or landing page. Essentially, this means optimizing your website for the user intent of your potential clients. This means inserting the correct keywords into your content so more homeowners can read it and learn who you are.
Most SEO real estate websites have a way to capture leads like a lead capture form, chat box, etc.
There is no shortage of real estate deal finding strategies you can leverage for your real estate investing business. It's just a matter of identifying which one is suitable for your niche, real estate business size, and budget.
All the 29 sources and strategies we shared above can all work to your advantage in finding your next deal, but if you want to skip all the hassles, prioritize buying leads from Property Leads just like what many experienced investors are doing. As mentioned, we sell leads exclusively so you would have lesser competition and can stay ahead of the game!
Learn more about us by filling out the form below!
30 N Gould St Ste N
Sheridan, WY 82801
(207) 309-3949
sales@propertyleads.com
