As you can see in the screenshot of financial headline today Juan, your taking an ounce of truth and whirling it up into a pound of lie. 

Define your target market and start pounding the streets.

I use a similar method to what Bruce uses to eliminate undesirable properties then I drive by anything I might bid on and put my eyes on each and every property.

I have a very nice LVP in our primary home...We have a 130 pound german shepherd and a smaller 45 pound dog....not a scratch to be found. 

You pass on enough maintenance costs like this to your tenants in the interest of saving your time and money, you'll be posting about how your mean and cruel tenants unloaded fifty pounds of concrete down your stack just before they disappeared in the middle of the night and you're now stuck with a 10 grand bill to run a new line in, how could they possibly be so cruel and mean to you?

I was thinking that the assessed value might help weed out the very undesirable properties/areas, though I haven't really looked into the assessed values of the properties in the rougher areas.

I've heard of people having good success with Absentee Owners in lower-income rental markets, but I don't see how - I would think these owners are getting pounded with mail over the years. p.s.

On these types of letters use a logo on your envelope, at least 28 pound paper, Personally I would do a linen, and always a first class stamp and live (real Person) handwritten signature and address...

Add Probates to your mailing campaignBuild a driving for dollars list and leave a note on the door, track them down, mail a letter to taxpayer address and call them if you can find a number.In todays "up" market, marketing responses typically decrease since sellers are getting pounded by everyone, they can just put a FSBO sign out or CL ad and get callers. 

I do believe that the best way to source the best deals is to mail, contact the owners/sellers, get in front of them, ground and pound like what you're doing.