Small Multifamily in RI

[Patrick Hughes]

Hello fellow Rhode Islanders, I am looking to begin my real estate investing career and am excited to do so. I am in search of small multifamily (2-4 units) in Rhode Island but have been really struggling to find any deals even worth looking into over the last few months. I would love to hear any suggestions or strategies that others have used in the area to locate deals. Thanks in advance! 

[Anthony Thompson]

@Patrick Hughes welcome and congratulations on starting your real estate investing career! The classic advice when you're having trouble finding deals is to make more offers (a lot more offers) on MLS properties until something sticks, and/or to pursue off-market deals.

BiggerPockets has lots of advice on strategies to find off-market deals, but they all have in common that they'll require persistent effort over a long period of time, and if you market yourself successfully as a home buyer you'll need to take a lot of calls and sift through a lot of coal to eventually find something that might be a diamond.

Common recommendations for finding off-market deals include driving for dollars (looking for run-down or vacant houses you see when driving, then tracking down the owners and sending letters or post cards), direct mail to a variety of lists (e.g., absentee owners, town violations, long-time owners with equity, etc.), telephone pole signs (aka "bandit signs"), lead generation websites and SEO advertising, etc.