Do real estate investors and agents have free access to this data in most cases or is there a fee?

It doesn't make sense to me to have a tenant move out over a $25 rent increase and then have the place vacant for 60 days and need a couple of thousand in renovations.I never have any 20 year tenants, and if they stay that long, the landlord would have to raise the rent ocassionally to adjust for inflation.Rents here finally went up enough to notice, but now they are going back down, due to all the new houses that aren't selling so they are being put into the rental pool.

Kroll Factual Data does a really good report.

Welcome to BiggerPockets, glad you finally came on board!

What i understand when i find a property and start the closing process that i have to find a buyer who will pay the final amount.

This wasn't due to my exceptional landlording or marketing skills, but simply due to the weather finally improving.

=)FINALLY I've been able to save a bit of money and the value of properties are dropping into non-idiotic ranges here in the LA area.

Finally, compare that to the listing price and see if its worth pursuing.

No wonder we are in a RE meltdown.Too many people are trying(& buying) that have NO money.Bad things happen guys.You need cash to smooth out the unexpected.2.I'm guessing 99% of the people here own NO RE.I have read only a few posters who i'm sure have real world experience3.Too many people jumping into RE blind.4.People who buy books,cd's,dvds & attend seminars are idiots.A few final thoughts...Bad things happen.You WILL buy a property with a HUGE unexpected problem.Plan for it.You will have a renter smear feces on the wall the day before eviction.You are the ENEMY in almost every tenants eyes.

I like letters as we have probably had more success, but am also a fan of a two sided color postcard.You can write out an address real quick, put a stamp on it and fire it off in seconds.Letters take a little more time.We have had good results on both.We like to keep an excel spreadsheet on all contacts with date of contact and results (talked to them, they called us, they want to sell, they dont want to sell, etc.).we also like to drive by those properties that people are on the fence or saying maybe - and take a photo of the property and create a file of notes for when the owner finally calls and says yes.i hope this helps - we have a few other marketing things we do but you just asked about postcards.Brad McLeod