My RE agent partner is very valuable to me, but I find her more listings than she can find me deals - simply because of how the RE market works.Our top three ways to find motivated sellers are:1) Direct mail - to absentees, etc.2) AdWords (Google Search)3) Billboards & other outdoor signageWish you the best!

Where you can use them, bandit signs will generate a lower cost per call than direct mail, AdWords, or door hangers.One issue - with any outdoor signage including billboards - is you never know who's going to call - so plan on talking to people with no equity, upside down, mobile homes, whatever.  

You are right, however that everyone is bidding on crowd funding or crowdfunding on Google Adwords and it could be confusing with respect to GoFundMe of the world.

And even there, it will be limited by population, # of housing units, and supply/demand dynamics.If you find this all to be true, limit your AdWords account to only the "urban" areas there in IA.  

I'm a marketing guy as well, and I've been playing in this real estate game since 2007 or so.The thing that frustrates me is that something the works in one market will fall flat in another - the exact some strategy (direct mail, AdWords, etc.).  

This is easily done using Google Adwords. 

However, after our monthly expenses, we do not have a budget (Mailers/ Adwords) to be competitive with the 1,000s of other people trying to do it in almost every market.Because she is the only W2 employee, with bad credit, and I do not have 2 years of consistent income as an independent contractor, it makes it very hard to get approved for anything.

Google Pay Per Click (Adwords) - This is you paying for traffic.

I am talking about expenses like google adwords, website development, buying leads, and even paying for my biggerpockets membership.  

You can also buy lists from companies like list source and there are some REI software companies that have a cash buyer search feature.Best way to find motivated sellers is to purchase lists and compile lists from city and county for 60-90-120 days late on mortgage, pre-foreclosure, delinquent taxes, water cutoff, code violation, probate, divorce, high equity, etc. and mail or cold call.Other methods are driving for dollars, door knocking, wholesalers, craigslist, Realtors, FSBO sites, expired listings, foreclosure sites, put out bandit signs, billboards, newspapers, other offline publications.You can use pay per click/adwords, facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, and other forms of online and social media marketing.If you have a large enough budget you can do TV and radio as well.You could letter up or wrap your vehicle.