Creative & Clever Way to Find Deals

[Curtis H.]

Hi BP,

This tip could be considered as an addition to @Brandon Turner & @Joshua Dorkin's article about 7 clever ways to find new real estate deals found here: https://www.biggerpockets.com/renewsblog/2015/02/2...

I've recently discovered a new way of finding new deals that aren't necessarily on the market. My method is to message (text, phone, email etc.) landlords who have posted to local classified sites looking for tenants, and ask if they would consider selling their rental property. I have done this twice now. The first fellow phoned me back with an affirmative that he had never considered this before but would certainly be interested. He was looking to get more $$$ than I was willing to pay for the property. 

The other night, I was watching a hockey game (yes, I'm Canadian) on tv and browsing Facebook when a post from a local Facebook classified group caught my attention. It was an ad looking for a tenant and a very low posted rental rate. I thought that it was either low because the house was either in bad shape and in a bad location OR the landlord had no idea what the rental rates are in this market as the rate he was asking is way below the average. I messaged seeing if he would be interested in selling and within minutes had a response that he also would be interested in selling. It turns out, the house is in one of the best locations in town and is in incredible condition (has never been rented to a person outside of his family). Specifics aside, within a day and a bit I had an Offer to Purchase signed for a purchase price that is 30%-35% below FMV!

I just thought I'd share this new technique which can be added as "clever way #8" in Brandon's article! Okay...it doesn't have to. But for anybody looking for another creative method to find new deals, try browsing some local classifieds to see if any ads stick out and get in contact with the landlord! You never know...