Advice for targeting off-market houses

[Keith N.]

Hi all,

I've been looking to find a Duplex in my area that I could owner occupy and rent out the other half, as this would be a great way to begin my real estate investing career. However, cashflowing residential multi-units listed on the MLS are super tough to find in my area unless they're in the hood.

I had the idea of running low cost/free (besides my own time that I don't mind putting in) marketing campaigns to try and target owners of Duplex/Triplex/4plex's.  

Ideas of the top of my head include:

- Email campaigns targeting "for rent" properties on Craigslist

- Bandit signs in areas which I know have lots of multi-units

- Cheap direct mail like post cards to owners addresses

All of these ideas would be cheap or free, and I feel would be relatively easy to implement.  Does anyone have experience or advice for someone like me trying to find better deals via finding sellers of off-market units?