The hunt - Searching for off-market deals through the county

[John Alosio]

Greetings BP

I have a question regarding sourcing leads for off-market deals.

I'm gearing up for a marketing campaign. I've been looking at my county Legal reporter, scouting for 'notice of default' in hopes to find someone in pre-foreclosure that may be open to talking about their situation.
My question to  you all would be... is there an advantage of going straight to the county for up-to-date information? I understand that getting a list from one of the popular list sources like 'prop stream' would be an easier (and more expensive) way to approach it.

My thinking is that there are probably  tons of investors in the area that are pulling lists through these popular sites. My advantage may be to hit the owners first before the notice becomes available to the masses.

Is this a realistic thought process? what kind of lag time would a company like prop stream have between a notice becoming published, to actually making it to a list for investors to jump all over?

Any thought are welcome.

Thanks in advance!

[Abel Curiel]

Hey @John Alosio, great idea.

How beneficial it is going direct to the county really depends on the county. Some counties near me don't publicly disclose certain information leaving platforms like prop stream to be the only option.

When I got started in RE, I spent hours at the Queens County offices pulling lis pendens lists. Some of the leads, had never been contacted by an investor, wholesaler or Realtor. Others, however, had already been contacted by people interested in selling/buying the property with a few owners even going Under Contract already.

To find out best practices in your county I would:

1. Connect with investors in your county (BP forums like this, searching BP, REIAs, BP meetups, other investor meetups)

2. Pull a list for 'notice of default' in your county and do a trial with propstream or another platform to pull a similar list and cross reference for any consistencies.