Finding homes to flip in a sellers market - North Dallas

[George Searcy]

Hello,

My dad and I are looking to start flipping homes in North Dallas (Plano, Murphy, Wylie, Sachse). Currently it's a sellers market, and houses sell quickly for too much to be able to repair and sell at the ARV. We've visited a number of what we've kindly called failed flips, where it was obvious the investor spent to much on the house, couldn't afford to fix up the house to look good (didn't get rid of the cat pee smell, no pads under carpets, etc) and are now asking for $20K over market value. We would very much like to avoid this.

We've looked into a number of strategies for finding houses. (real-estate agents, HUD homes, REOs, short sells, etc.) but it comes down to the asking price is too much, or it's under contract and the price is being pushed up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, since we would like to get a home before the first of November.

Thanks in advance,

Ron