I have noticed that the banks seem to be less interested in selling at a discount in my market, so I have been marketing directly to sellers with postcards.

@Samuel Muniz I'll send out my postcards.  

Hello Friends,Does anyone do post card mailing, and what is your response rate?

Please send me a postcard from prison lol

Once you have the list, you need to send postcards, mailers, etc. 

In the past I sent postcards to the mailing address of non-owner occupied properties.

@Todd Leveillee you'll want to take advantage of the great resources here on Bigger Pockets for methods of finding and marketing to motivated sellers.Common methods people use to find off-market deals (before they hit the MLS) are letters and post cards (direct mail), telephone pole signs (aka bandit signs), driving for dollars, divorces, evictions, probate, violations, etc.

Your postcard should float the idea, if you've listened to Pace Morby's recent podcast, that you will pay more than wholesalers and investors in the area, but to find out why and how, you need a call back and then you have to have your pitch down.

The monthly rates aren’t bad and I’m okay with the price of the separate fee for the postcards.

@Nhi Nguyen, hi.Each area is going to have a different set of strategies that work best, and a lot depends on what you're doing to do with deals once you find them.If you're going to wholesale, the most common strategies to get started on a budget are a combination of "Bandit" signs, yellow letters/postcards, and a website that drives traffic to you.