Finding the Next Actionable Step

[Luke Buettner]

I've heard that Wholesaling is a good place to start because one can potentially close several deals without ever investing personal capital.  

About me: Interested in real estate for nearly a year now. I have been reading and listening to podcasts and learning from every source I can. I've been to a few different REIA's trying to find one to attend regularly.

Wholesaling came up because of someone I met on BiggerPockets.com.  We met and talked a few times.  As neither of us had money upfront to buy or flip a house, he suggested wholesaling.  I cannot get conventional loans because I'm attending college full time.  I'm not entirely sure about him, but I think it's because he's retired and doesn't have enough income.

Since then we've found a few properties while driving for dollars.  Allow me to clarify - we found a few properties that were vacant.  We've only been able to get in touch with about 10% of the owners of said properties.  We searched the tax records, but several of those are outdated.  I called one man who was extremely distraught when I said what I was calling about.  Found out that he had filed bankruptcy 2.5 years ago, yet the property still shows up in his name.  Most of the other properties were tied to an old land line that was disconnected.

Aside from that, I've gone to the County Courthouse to find recent foreclosure activity.  One person actually called me back and seems very motivated.  This seems to be my first real lead.  However, from what I gathered from the homeowner, we would need to negotiate a short sale.  From BiggerPockets, I learned that this can take 3-12 months or more.  I'm expecting a call back from him in a few days.

Looking forward, I know I can't focus totally on this one deal.  I need a stream of leads (and potential deals) coming in on a regular basis.  I've considered bandit signs, but I know they can be risky and can give real estate investors a bad reputation.  Thoughts?

Lastly, I think my next plan of action will be a send yellow letters or direct mail.  From what I understand, I would be saturating an area and basically mail to every address in that area at a discounted price through the USPS.  Does this seem like a good next step?