Where and how to find motivated sellers?

[Todd Hensy]

I have never flipped a house in my life. However, through years of intense study of how to flip houses -- I have yet to find an ideal motivated seller. The term "motivated seller" is so broad that it includes mostly real estate investors trying to sell a 20k house they bought for 10k to make a quick buck or some dilapidated house that needs 40k in repairs. I do not want to buy properties from other real estate investors.

I have been to craigslist, byowner.com, redfin.com, just about all markets. If this was so easy 280 million people would be flipping houses and not working 9-5 jobs.

Where and how can I find a typical person wanting to sell their house at a discount due to divorce, death or just wanting out of their mortgage? I NEED LEADS.

 I just want to score my first deal---whenever that will happen.