Novice Investor Wants to Find a Fixer

[Luis G Sanchez]

Hello.

I own my home and 3 rental homes.  I have a foreclosure on my record and a short sale from 4 years ago.  Because I show overall losses on my taxes for the rental homes and my credit is not great, I am unable to qualify for a home purchase. 

Because I cannot qualify for a new mortgage and do not have enough cash for a downpayment, I am interested in using a hardmoney loan to buy and flip a fixer to pay off my mortgages.

I have some experience with contractors to repair the properties for rent.

I have a full time job and I coach my children's sports teams, so I do not have a lot of time to dedicate to find deals.  

I am a licensed real estate broker, and am inactive in terms of selling homes.  I can see everything on the multiple listing service, and I need to find deals that are NOT on the market.

I have seen the videos / pod casts / heard the techniques for finding a fixer:

-driving for dollars, pre-foreclosures, real estate clubs, sending mailers, lead generation website, etc.

In your experiences, what has been the best and easier way to find a fixer (not on the market) to flip?