FYI my current situation is:ME - FICO 665 middle score / $45k/yr income / $200/mo DEBTWIFE - FICO 650 score / $0 income / -$625/mo DEBTBROTHER - NO FICO - currently building / $30K income / $0 DEBTavailable max Down Payment $7,000PRO's Willing to purchase duplex / tri / fourplex in : riverside / rialto / pomona / ontario / san bernadino (no orange/red Crime map)price range : $180k - $450KREQUESTS: need atleast one unit to be 3 br *looking for value add* as well, After hearing the hundreds of first step methods, im finding it a bit hard to narrow down my search criteria. 2nd question is: After stating our current situation, what other strategies loan programs or methods to begin our first MFH buy and hold purchase would our financial situation warrant the most profit and least risk in this interest rising CA desert property market?

I’ve even considered writing to owners of the empty and obviously deserted properties to offer property management services just so the houses will be occupied, but of course, with good quality renters.

@Todd Tyler I am an agent that works out of Palm Desert and have been searching for a duplex myself over the past few months.

I am from the Inland Empire and looking for my first deal in the high desert area (Victorville, Hesperia, Barstow). 

Originally from the High desert (Victorville Ca). 

The most important thing for me is getting this all done as efficiently as possible so that I can get the hell out of the desert and back to civilization. 

Would be great to put them all on the roofs like in the desert in many cases.. that way you have a chance of the theif falling off the roof and killing or maiming themselves.

@Spencer Simon @Brian KyI lived in Fayetteville when Operation Desert Storm happened.  

Currently I have 3 properties in desert cities near Palm Springs, CA.

Hi @Rochelle Gellineau ,I have the opportunity to meet with some of the local Pros on this forum and have been provided with a lot of advice.Here are some of the options I will be pursuing to get leads:Bandit Signs - I made 25 bandit signs and placed them around the East Valley Friday night and picked them up Sunday night.I got all my materials from a local home improvement store but had a tough time trying to get them to to stick into the hard phoenix desert landscape.So ended up trying to find places where there was a grass but that meant my signs were in places with traffic.I did not get any call backs.Lesson Learned - I will invest into getting my signs professionally done and possibly hire someone to put them out for me.I used a sharpie marker to write my message and it rained over the weekend so my message was washed away.Need to start working with a permanent solution to write the message.The second option I am using is Direct Mail, I bought list of 209 leads from list-source with a specific criteria and my plan is to mail to that targeted list using Click2mail.