How 2 find an off market home to purchase (primary) in an HOA in Central Boca Raton?

[Tanya Solomon]

I am looking to buy a home in a specific area (Central Boca Raton) that has 3 gated communities, making "door-knocking" next to impossible. Currently living in a rental in nearby but do not like the homes in this housing community. The agent that found my rental we live in until we find THE house to buy works mostly in commercial and I have been the one finding the properties. It seems like everyone "has a great agent for me" but all these agents do is look at the MLS and talk a good game but have yet to perform outside of the norm/easiest MO. I am not tied to any one agent.

I am an intermediate residential RE investor with the bulk of my experience in CA and have bought in hyper, uncertain, "quirky" markets in the past. Adding equity to every property I have ever owned by remodeling, added sq ftage/changed home footprint,  added ADUs (in CA), etc. So, I can see things like good bones or see past minor things that would turn off most primary home buyers. 

Does anyone have any creative ideas on how to find homes that have sellers that are interested in selling off the market and finding these properties when they are in highly secured, fancy gated golf communities? We could do a cash deal, close as fast as the HOA allows or slower if seller needs more time, do a "rent back" for a few months, and are not afraid of a fixer.

In this area, there are a lot of ppl that have vacation homes they do not really use and or are vacant 90% of the time. There has got to be at least one seller out there that is thinking of offloading their property, especially bc one community we like has a 150k initial assessment (this is a deterrent for flippers) AND an almost 50k a yr HOA. Carrying a property in this community would cost at least 4-5k a month even if they own it outright.

I have been actively looking for about 4 months now and have made a few fair but on-the-low-side offers on homes that I found listed on the MLS. These sellers have their properties overpriced and DOM 6 months or more but do not want to come down in price.

Advice, tips or referrals would be greatly appreciated.