Finding off market properties

[Justin Brown]

Hello everyone I was wondering if any of you guys know how to find cheaper deals that are not on market. The reason I am asking is because I live in Charlotte and my market is pretty expensive. So, with that said I feel like I should try to find some off market properties to see if I can find cheaper deals that way. I told this to one of my friends and he gave me the advice of looking up properties for rent on FB marketplace and Craigslist and calling those owners to see if they would be interested in selling their property. Do you guys think this is a good idea or do you think there is something else you would recommend me doing?

[Matthew Porcaro]

There are so many different strategies to finding off market deals. I'll tell you how I found my own primary residence in a very competitive market as well. 

My wife and I drove the entire neighborhood and took down every address of a property that we saw ourselves purchasing. We were looking for fixer uppers in a very specific area of Long Island NY, and were only looking for Capes, Colonials, and ranches. 

The more specific your criteria the better, because it makes the next step a lot more efficient. 

We then mailed to all of the property owners using Ballpoint Marketing mailers. They're about 1.80 a piece of mail, but they're handwritten and sent on greeting card style stationary. 

I mentioned that me and my wife were outgrowing our apartment and looking to move into the area. The response rate was great, and we ended up finding an older lady who was moving to a senior living facility and wanted to sell the house as-is with no contingencies. We used a fannie mae homestyle loan to take it as-is and renovate it using the banks money. 

The Facebook/Craigslist strategy works too.