Looking for a distressed property in Maumee, Ohio

[Jim McAuley]

Looking for a distressed property in Maumee, Ohio to fix and flip or wholesale. Drove for dollars and listed 124 properties. I send letters every 6-8 weeks and used Skip Batch Tracing to call them. Got a few calls back from the letters. They all wanted full retail for their property. Skip batch tracing was about 50% good numbers, out of that I had to leave messages about 80% of the calls that went through. So far no call backs. I left notes on doors of vacant houses of the people I cannot contact. I am looking for a motivated seller looking to get rid of their house at 70% FMV. I know I am looking for a needle in a haystack, but out of over 5,000 homes, there HAS to be one homeowner out there wanting to get rid of their headache. I am tempted to move my search into surrounding Toledo area, but I am very familiar with Maumee. I flipped 3 houses, own a twinplex, looking to buy a 4 unit apartment. I have to build my cash up for a downpayment. Any thoughts, suggestions or advice would be welcome.

[Christopher Abele]

Quote from @Jim McAuley:

Looking for a distressed property in Maumee, Ohio to fix and flip or wholesale. Drove for dollars and listed 124 properties. I send letters every 6-8 weeks and used Skip Batch Tracing to call them. Got a few calls back from the letters. They all wanted full retail for their property. Skip batch tracing was about 50% good numbers, out of that I had to leave messages about 80% of the calls that went through. So far no call backs. I left notes on doors of vacant houses of the people I cannot contact. I am looking for a motivated seller looking to get rid of their house at 70% FMV. I know I am looking for a needle in a haystack, but out of over 5,000 homes, there HAS to be one homeowner out there wanting to get rid of their headache. I am tempted to move my search into surrounding Toledo area, but I am very familiar with Maumee. I flipped 3 houses, own a twinplex, looking to buy a 4 unit apartment. I have to build my cash up for a downpayment. Any thoughts, suggestions or advice would be welcome.

 Aren't we all?

I have a SFH rental in Maumee that hit the market recently. I received just as many calls from people asking if I would be willing to sell as those asking about renting the home.

I can also tell you that we were bombarded with letters from realtors: "I can sell your home for up to xxxx." Anyone with a true distressed property has been told repeatedly for the past 6 months how much their home is "worth" via letters (and you're using the same channel to make an offer.) 

Are you posting here, on a REI forum, hoping that someone has a property they'll sell you for pennies on the dollar or are you looking for advice on what you might not be doing to find that hidden gem? Your post is slightly unclear.