How have you found your properties? Here is how I found mine.

[Larry Turowski]

How have your found your properties?  When I originally starting investing I remember hearing a guru say that had 31 ways to find deals.  I didn't want 31.  I wanted just one that I could do over and over again.  I turns out one doesn't cut it.

Some of these properties were flips, some buy and hold. 

1. Drive by.  The owner hand made sign out front and I stopped.  Inner city.

2. Bandit sign.  I know the Josh Dorkin and Brandon Turner are not fans of bandit signs--and I may discontinue using them--but I posted a bandit sign on a pole right outside a multi-use building and the owner called me.  Inner city.

3. Craigslist.  Owners listed a duplex on craiglist.  Inner city.

4. Craigslist.  Absentee owner, inherited, posted an ad on craigslist.  I suggested a price over email.  He didn't bite until about six months later when it hadn't sold.  Suburbs / Rural.

5. Realtor. REO house. B Area, city (better part of city, nice neighborhood). I discovered I didn't have the temperament for inner city.

6. Realtor. REO house. B area, small neighboring city.

7. Contractor.  My contractor had a job at this house and told me about it.  One of my best deals.  A/B Area, suburb.  (By A I mean low to medium middle class, nice neighborhood.)

8. Wholesaler. B Area, city.

9. Wholesaler.  A/B Area, suburb.

10. Realtor.  Short sale.  I somtimes send emails to the listing realtors telling them I am a cash buyer and if it wouldn't be a waste of time to make an offer in the X range, I'd like to see the house.  A/B Area, suburb.

11. Realtor.  I forget how I heard about it.  He may have had my contact from an email like that above.  It was inherited property.  B Area, suburb.

12. Realtor.  Same as above.  A/B Area, suburb.  I lost my shirt on this one due to big problems with the house.

13. Bandit sign.  Condo.  Relocating.  A Area, suburbs.

14. Yellow letter.  Short sale.  A/B Area, suburb.

15. Online marketing.  Inherited property.  A/B Area, suburb.

16. I don't remember.  Maybe craigslist or bandit sign.  Somehow I had contact and the seller called back a couple of times over a couple of years.

17. Wholesaler.  A/B Area, city.

18. Online marketing.  B Area, city.

19.  Online marketing.  B area, city.

20. Yellow letter.  Short sale.  B area, suburb.

21.  Yellow letter.  Short sale.  B area, suburb.

I still feel like a newbie (slow ramp up starting at the end of 2008) and am still trying to figure out my business model.

[Ed L.]

As a RE Agent I comb the hot sheets multiple times a day looking at New listings, price reductions, back on market, etc.  I also look at closed, pending, and expired.... Do that for a couple years and you will literally know almost everything there is to know about your local market.  

I then do a separate search just on REO and estate properties.

Mostly REO properties, occasional estate, and occasional divorce situation.

I've picked a couple off of craigslist, so I make a point to scour it daily also.  

I really need to step up my game and try some yellow letter campaigns, and bandit signs.