They are probably in undesirable areas, will never appreciate in value, always need repairs, take forever to rent and involve pulling teeth to collect the rent.I have bought the majority of my deals from the MLS.

I have no peripheral vision.

On rare occasions, the property manager will notice things about the property that will make it an undesirable rental property and you may cancel due to their recommendation.

@Mark WeinstockIn these parts those kind of "side deals" would put the bank agent in the unemployment line and land you both in a very undesirable legal mess.

Unless that is market I would wonder why it is so undesirable to the market.

Interesting thread and I like every response that I've read.This speaks to the timidity of would-be, new investors who consider approaching off-market owners/principals directly.At the root of this is fear: Fear of undesirable consequences, legal, financial, etc.Have you ever petted a snake for the first time?

You don't want it too high or you won't get calls and you don't want it too low or you will get undesirable calls.When a property gets stale, it's often times helpful to pull it off the market for a week, reorder the photos and freshen then republish it so the ad looks new and fresh.

It would be impossible to weed out all the undesireables in RE and Wannabe Finenciers.

* The time between discovering you have methamphetamine users (or other undesirables) at your property and the time it takes to get them legally out.* "Professional tenants" who either try to get into your property or do and won't leave.* Unsupervised children recklessly destroying your property, creating havoc in the neighborhood, tearing branches off trees & bushes, making graffiti, and creating a noise nuisance.

Even if they do appreciate for a while with the overall market they will be hit hard during recessions, and last to re-appreciate due to the undesireability of the longer commute times.I think your idea of a lakefront place makes a lot of sense versus buying tract homes.