Houston area deals 2017 - where are you finding them?

[Nick S.]

As 2017 kicks off, I'm newly motivated to pull the trigger on my first of hopefully many rental property deals.

I'm mostly looking at moderately distressed 3/2 SFRs in the Houston suburbs for buy and hold rentals. I'd like to target something in the 1.25%+ rent to "all in cost" (purchase + rehab) range.

Where are other investors currently finding deals in the 1%+ range?

• MLS - seems like there are some, but they move quickly
• HUDhomestore.com - doesn't seem like there's much inventory and the ones listed don't seem like great deals
• Auction.com - I've just started looking at this, could be a possibility
• Wholesalers - I've only talked to one of the "full service" wholesale brokers so far, haven't started networking to individual wholesalers yet. The deals I was seeing weren't all that enticing.
• Direct marketing - could be the best option, but I haven't taken the plunge into this as of yet

Any suggestions or opinions on where I should be focusing my efforts?