New Buy and Holder: Finding Deals in a Seller's Market

[Justin Koopmans]

Hey guys!

Just wanted to get feedback on how those of you in Seller's markets are finding good buy and hold deals..?? 

I'm just starting out and want to house hack for my first deal so that I can lock in an awesome interest rate and have little to no money down on the deal. But I'm looking in Northern California (Sacramento area) and the market there is insane. Over 60% of homes on the MLS have multi offers on them and stuff is way overpriced.

For example, I just offered on a duplex and the seller just laughed because my offer was so much lower than what he was asking (and this duplex has been on the market for 10 months! And still no budging on price). 

I'm thinking about doing a direct mail campaign to find some off-market deals. But wanted to get some tips and tricks from the experts.