If you're mailing to the same list several times, the list is a fraction of the cost of the postage

Currently, we are venturing out for our first investment purchase and we're struggling to get two things accomplished: 1) identify a realtor that has expertise in foreclosures in a specific geographic area; 2) getting some competitive offers on mortgages...

Our budget is now a little tight as my wife works a fraction of the time to stay home with our toddler which dropped our income a good amount (leading to the high DTI).

At the moment I'm staying in smaller market where there is less competition and purchase prices are low.

Too many small and medium sized local investors and too many large institutional investors in the market -- so competition is fierce, and there is always someone willing to pay too much.If you want to invest in ATL, I highly recommend marketing for off-market properties...

I'm in a new market now and from attending so many meetings I've got an upper edge in this new market where I am at now.Although both cities are very competitive use that to your advantage!

It's always worth incorporating into your offer if you aren't worried about competitive bids for that particular property.

Plus, I'm guessing most other guys aren't doing it so if you have competition on an offer it would hurt you more than help you.If it's for determining actual construction costs you could either job expense it or call it "overhead."

Run an ad as a 2+den/office and another as 3/1 and see what you get more calls on.Price them competitively, don't worry about the size of the beds in the price.

We really went beyond what we intended and beyond most of the competition, but the market (buyer) rewarded us with a quick sale and good price.