Philly Suburbs - Live in Flip Strategy

[Jon Jones]

Hey BP Community-

I have been looking around the philly subburbs, primarily Delaware County, for the past six months, trying to close my first deal. For my first deal I am hoping to purchase a "lightly" distressed/outdated SFH or duplex property and do a live in flip. I don't feel comfortable borrowing hard money for my first deal and won't be able to work quick enough to make it worthwhile, so I am limited to conventional financing for the time being. Unless someone is aware of another route!

I have a realtor and lender lined up, but unfortunately the market in these areas has just been too hot, as I am sure everyone has heard a millions times this past year, and I just can't make any of the numbers work for the few properties that are on the MLS.

 As a result I am wondering if there is anyone out there who is using a creative strategy to find off market properties that can be conventionally financed. I have though about direct mail campaigns or door knocking to try and find a property that is in good enough shape to conventionally finance, but I wanted to see if anyone else out there has had any better ideas first or experience with that strategy.  I understand this strategy is not going to net me the profits a typical flip, but I think it is a safe place to start

 Appreciate any advice the community has for me on this subject!  Thanks 

[Rich O'Neill]

@Jon Jones @Brian Tome is spot on. I love digging into the returned mail. Often the problem is that public record was never updated, so skip tracing is especially effective here. They search different data sources and can sometimes come up with updated info. Success rate on skip tracing isn't awesome, but it is relatively inexpensive on an already parsed down list (your returned mail list). 

Delco, and a lot of places are really hard to find deals anymore. Like Brian said, giving your letter some sort of personal connection (ex:"I am looking for a house for me and my family, and love yours!") should help boost your response rate. I did a little bit of this when I was looking for my primary a few years ago and I must have gotten a 50% response rate when I left my card in people's mailboxes with a handwritten note to that effect. I only did probably 10 of them but it was amazing the response I got. 

Best of luck and let me know if there is anything I can do to help!