How to find good deals?

[Tiffany S.]

***this was posted in the marketplace accidentally...so I am re posting in the appropriate forum***

So I've heard about the great amount of money one must put into marketing in order to find a leads. The stories of people sending out hundreds of letters and not generating a single lead was very daunting, so I decided against it. About 2 month ago I drove by a house with a "for sale" sign...but no number. After a bit of investigation i found what I guessed was the current address of the owner. I sent a plain, hand written letter in a regular enveloped that expressed my interest in buying his property. Fast Forward to a couple weeks ago...I finally received a text response that he is interested in selling. Didn't take as much work as I thought to generate a lead after all. Maybe it was just luck. Either way I could not make a deal out of it but I digress....

So my question really is how do local investors find good deals (outside of the MLS)? I am hoping someone local can chime in as I am sure it can vary by location (Hampton Roads, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake). Wholesalers? Craigslist? or is MLS the way to go? I would love to hear from somebody locally who has some properties under their belt, especially in Portsmouth.