Your Mentor (he or she may not see them-self as a Mentor - but a teacher, a partner - an opportunity to make more deals - a way to multiply their income).Become a Locator (also known as a Bird Dog), get into the market, go to auctions, talk to title company associates - agents and hard money lenders.What you want to know is who is THE MAN!

We work with a lot of very successful investors and one thing that sets them apart from others is being consistent with mailings.

University areas are great because of the consistency of tenant availability.

None of these are consistent and I've been lucky enough to live by them so far.

But you really want to set yourself up where you can afford to do it consistently.

Stay proactive, if you stay consistent, things will happen.

Just be consistent and mail to your list many times (as @Claire Trammell says) over, say 5 to 8.  

My dad bought a house in a C+ neighborhood and has had to re-tenant it multiple times because of tenants consistently paying late or not paying at all and leaving in a few months.

The one thing I'd avoid is hiring an individual  agent who does property management as a "side business" when sales are down and business is slow - the issue here is these agents don't have a support system or consistent method for handling problems and your property business suffers.

I consistently see deals go by that I cannot take advantage of--I just can't buy them all right now.