My question is always if you're buying at a three and change, what exit cap rate are you targeting?

My epiphany occurred when I stopped working on marginal deals and started focusing on marketing to a very targeted audience.

You really have to pound the pavement.

I wouldn't look at any of these areas for buy/hold, without looking at doing a pretty targeted direct mail campaign for things like probate, foreclosure and other deals.

@Benjamin Bochman you may have heard and understood the logic in:An Ounce of Prevention is worth a Pound of Cure.Well I think:An Ounce of Doing is worth Ten Pounds of Studying!

We target evictions mostly, but we have done probates and pre-foreclosure in the past.

They talked conspiracies, especially when they understood the skill and accuracy needed for a single shooter, with a bolt action rifle, to hit his moving target, exactly on target.

Marketing/Sales (Acquisitions)I think it's easier to do learn your local values by starting in a really small area (like neighborhoods near your house if possible), master the values and trends there, and then branch out.Financing for flips can come from private lenders, hard money lenders, a line of credit, personal funds, or all the above.Then for marketing and sales you can study here on Bigger Pockets the many different ways to scare up leads for good deals within your target market.Best of luck to you.Chad

Get a title report for all purchases in your target market for the past year.Then any names that show up more than once and any LLC's, INC's etc keep those filter out the rest.You now have a list of actual buyers who buy for sure in your area.

I would target a bit higher , like in the 50-70% range if your units are good enough to warrant it.