How to find Off Market Deals- house flipping

[Zach Ballou]

I am a new investor in the state of Rhode Island/Massachusetts and closed my first multi-family deal this past winter. I'm looking to give house flipping a shot , but its tough finding houses on the market. I put in cash offers quite often, but always get bid out. I decided to try to find deals off market. I have a few thousand post cards that I designed and purchased that I plan on using to hopefully get a deal. Now that it's time to distribute them I'm not exactly sure the best way to do so. First I wasn't thinking I would drive around to find distressed properties which I found to be ineffective. Then I thought of trying to send them out to people who are in the early stages of pre-foreclosure , but don't know know how to find this information. Any suggestion would be be greatly appreciated.