How are people finding deals for house flipping?

[Erik Gensler]

Hello, everyone.  This question is for anyone that actually obtained a property for house flipping within the last 6 months.  

How are you finding leads for your off market deal?  (It is especially helpful if you are in the Portland, Oregon area.)

I am relatively new to flipping and I have not been having any success finding single families that show good metrics for flipping. The MLS does not seem to have anything and I have been checking regularly. I even work with a local realtor I found on BP, but it seems like nothing is out there.

Additionally, I set up a Carrot site and paid for a list of off-market houses in a few zip codes that I have identified as desirable flipping neighborhoods. The houses targeted were the niche lists as described in many of the BP podcasts.  After that, I sent out over 1,500 postcards that were made by 2 different real estate marketing companies.  I was surprised to find out that I did not get a SINGLE call or lead through my website.  Not one person contacted me as a result of the mailing.  Not even a bad lead called.

I understand that I am supposed to spend 3 months and many mailing campaigns to see results, but it seems like that would be a huge gamble at this point considering there was nothing to show for the first round.

Any thoughts on online marketing, auctions, etc?  What are people actually doing now to find something? Anything?

Thank you!