Finding off- market properties: Part 1- Driving for Dollars

[Kimberly Kesterke]

If you want a greater equity spread, and negotiate with the owner directly, then finding off-market properties is a better strategy for you. It wasn’t until I stepped into doing a few turnkey deals that I acquired an off -market property. However, I found I was able to realize better deals, negotiate directly with the seller and ultimately make more money. Here are some techniques I have used to find off-market deals.

Driving for Dollars

The only costs incurred when driving for dollars is your time and some gas money. Driving for dollars is much like what it sounds- you get in the car, drive and write down addresses. Once you arrive at home, you can pull up the tax records on your computer and find the owners of the property. This is the information you can use to either skip trace their information for a phone number or send a letter their way. A few factors to look for that make great investment opportunities:

Over grown lawns

Unkempt or overgrown lawns can be a good sign that the owner is not able to keep up with the maintenance of their property. They could be an absentee owner- living elsewhere while owning the house, or they could simply be getting older and unable to care for the home like they used to. It could also be tenant occupied and the tenants aren’t taking care of the home.

Run down

Check to see if the home looks tired- chipping paint, cracked windows, mold stains along the siding- you get the point. Look at the roof line and check for worn out shingles, rotted soffit and broken gutters.

Boarded up Windows

These properties are typically owned by other real estate investors or out of town owners who simply didn’t want to mess with the property. Both can be good prospects and can help sharpen your negotiation chops.

Notice of Condemnation 

Don’t get too concerned with condemnation letters. Yes, obviously there is a code violation that has not been addressed that you will need to rectify, but they are are a great sign that the owner either doesn’t want to deal with the issue to get the property up to a safe standard or doesn’t have the means to do so. You would be surprised how often these letters pop up. Just make sure to do the proper due diligence as to why the home was condemned in the first place. Caving roofs are manageable, old meth houses- well you decide if its worth the risk. These properties are also great wholesale opportunities to pass to a very experienced investor. 

Pro Tip # 1:

A wholesaler gave me a good tip once when driving for dollars. The problem is sometimes streets start looking the same overtime, and you can get caught in the trap of driving the same couple of streets  repeatedly. So, he would go to the local gas station, purchase an old fashioned street map of the city, and highlight the streets as he drove them. He said that he was able to find incredible deals, without spinning his wheels. He even found areas of his territory that were new to him, even though he already felt he had mastered his area.

Best Practices once you acquire your drive list:

Step 1: Set aside 1-2 hours

Step 2: Input addresses at the following web address- https://qpublic.schneidercorp.com/

• Select State
• Select County
• Click on Search Records
• Search by Location Address
• Input address

Once you click submit, you will see a property record. Scroll down to owner- The address will be placed in this area. If the property is owned by an Estate, or LLC, then scroll down to Assessment notices. This will populate the most recent tax bill- along with the address where the tax bill was sent.

Pro Tip: If the property owner has other properties, then their name will be highlighted in blue- in the form of a hyperlink. You can click on that link and see their entire rental portfolio. This is a great way to identify portfolio deals and investors with large portfolios. 

Once you identify the owner- what do you do next? Well, this depends upon your strategy. Are you planning on calling them? Email? Sending a letter?

In order to find phone numbers and e-mail addresses, you will need to utilize a skip tracing service. There are plenty of services on-line (just do a google search for skip trace) which charge you a fee per search batch. The cheapest way I have found to reach out to owners are through letters and postcards. When I first started, I just used an old fashioned typed up, printed out letter. And I got results. I was able to get my costs down to about .55/ letter.

If you would like to see a copy of that letter, then please PM me your e-mail address and I will send it over to you. You are welcome to use the same verbiage or make it your own.

What else are some good tips for driving for dollars? What have you found worked? Anything you look for that is not yet on this list?