My new idea for finding motivated sellers

[Nat C.]

I just had this idea for finding motivated sellers in the very difficult, competitive market I am in. The city has a lis penden list as part of their public records, with a new 50 or so listings added daily.

My plan is to comb through the lists and find addresses of interest, compile a shortlist and then do a drive around to those properties. Understandably it's not always easy to find the actual owner and that might require some extra work.

Example 1, I just found a property in a location I like. Property appraiser website shows me it sold in 2010 for $85,000. My current valuation of the property is around $180,000. Let's hypothesize the owner made the bare minimum mortgage repayments and then accumulated fees and interest and that mortgage is in the vicinity of $80,000. I might offer $130,000 which pays off the mortgage and gives the owner cash to walk away with, without ever having a foreclosure on their record. 

This is just an idea I had today, so if there are major problems with it, I'd appreciate people telling me.

At present, I currently do 3-5 hours of Driving for Dollars per day (driving and research included) and I'm not yet sure if the time invested is worth the return!

[Stephen Barton]

I believe your question to your post has to do with finding motivated sellers @Nat C.? Honestly, 99% of my deals come from direct mail. That is it! Nothing fancy, but I do what works. This is the old fashioned way and has a lot of competition, but I find that it is harder to do than picking up a newspaper. You see, it is my opinion that the harder you look to find deals- the less competition you will find trying to get the same deals. 

You may also think about expired listings? This is something my mentor and managing broker does to find deals. I actually bought an expired listing by shear luck just 4 months ago. It just so happened that the seller tried to list her property and it did not sell. Another way is to go to HUDhomestore to find deals. These have a lot of competition but once you register you can start bidding on deals fast! 

I think for me Nat is that we just don't give up. I have come so close to getting a deal and then it does not go through and I feel like giving up. Then, right when I am thinking about giving up - that is when amazing deals are right around the corner. Dedication+Determination= A Deal.  LOL!