Tactic for Locating BRRRR Properties

[Jacob Barker]

I'm a new investor in a tough area for real estate. Salt Lake City, UT, has very high prices, even for distressed properties. Getting creative in finding properties that aren't necessarily on the MLS may be my only option. With that in mind, I wanted to ask if anyone has tried any of the following to get leads?

I'm a cop in the area, and my department and the city have several resources that might have insight into specific addresses where a BRRRR might be found. The only questions is, how much of these sources are public information?

1. Community Intelligence Unit (CIU): This is a police unit that is very public facing, and I imagine that a lot of agencies around the country, if they're of a fair size, likely have some version of this same thing. Their job is to take complaints from citizens and City Counsel members concerning long-term problem locations and find solutions. Often times these are distressed properties that may be good BRRRR's. Might we be part of the solution they need?

2. Health Department: They're constantly shutting down properties for drug contamination that are very distressed. Seems like a good find. It's very expensive for a landlord to decon a house/apartment, it might be easier to just sell it. Some are even in decent areas.

3. City Code Enforcement: Properties that are consistently getting warnings and citations for failure to care for their property could easily be rentals where the landlord is over his head and would take an out, if presented, but can't afford to fix up the place to sell it. And the complaints about these properties are probably coming in because they're found in nice areas and the neighbors are sick of the eye-sores.

4. Narcotics Squad: I doubt this would be much of a resource, you never know, but we get tips on our hotline of problem addresses all the time. If they're rentals, maybe the owner would like a solution to their bad tenant problem.

Has anyone explored these options?

[Jaron Walling]

@Jacob Barker These resources sound like good ideas! Finding "good" distressed property is the challenging part. You could get some insider information and find the sellers motivation, but before you get all giddy inside I'd be careful to not mix the side hustle with a stable 9-5 job. I'm constantly wanting to look at wholesaler emails and property records in my office but it's not worth it. Just something to remember. 

If you're a cop and driving around a lot that's a tactic in it's self. It's called driving for dollars. You could start a note/list on your phone with addresses and research it later off the clock. Deal hunting can be fun. Good luck man. 

[Jacob Barker]

@Jaron Walling Yeah, I definitely wouldn't ask for non-public record information. I'd mostly use these ideas in other cities that I don't work in, going through normal channels. I'm just curious if others have had success with doing this?

And I've already started Driving for Dollars! It's amazing how many properties pop-up when you're looking! Even the nicest neighborhoods have eye-sores!

[Whitney Hutten]

@Jacob Barker These are all great ideas.  The question would be, can you write a letter to the county courthouse to get a list that is public information?  Have you tried that?  I doubt you can get the Health department data as that would be most likely a HIPAA violation if someone fell ill on the property.  Now if the city charged someone for negligence or another legal misdealing, I imagine that would be public record.

If it were me as the cop, I'd be certain I was getting my resources from a public arena and not "using my position" to get deals... keeping the side hustle completely separate from the "day job".  

From a operations standpoint, if you are able to "drive for dollars" on the clock, try the app DealMachine so you can log in addresses right there and add them to your mail campaign.  Ooooh... could you get other cops to help you do the same???