You need to be more creative in obtaining the deals (going after the off-market stuff via good marketing techniques as opposed to trying to by stuff off the MLS), and you need to be willing to look at a lot of deals before you're likely to find a good one, but with patience, diligence and hard work, the deals are still out there.

There are three creative strategies for low Equity dealsOne offer subject to existing financingTwo offer wraparound mortgageThree offer lease optionSub to & wrap you are buying it and paying all outgoing costsLease option you are putting a tenant buyer in the houseI sell these solutions not by teaching the tools but by showing what the seller gets if I get involved with helping them with their house problem, sell the whiifm s what is in it for me

If you don't have capital (IE you are trying to wholesale, wrap, subject-to, or seller-carry creative financing), you might be better off moving to the area where you want to invest, it would be extremely difficult to do that from overseas profitably.In my experience, I'd stay away from the low grade houses and focus more closely on Multifamily, particularly larger properties as the price per unit and price to rent ratios are closer to what excites you about the low end homes, but with less risk and greater economy of scale.

For seller, leads, get more creative, look for estate issues, foreclsoure filings, evictions by landlords, tax liens, even new business filings may lead you to a seller, tons of info there.

I would still try to find someone willing to do creative financing and use that capital to go in to as many deals as possible.

local REI group (in Chicago we have the Chicago Creative Investors Association) c.

I haven't figured out how to find the time, or dig for the creativity, to make that leap

@Shaun Reilly I like it very creative in light of the business goal !.

I would take myself OUT of the equation.Investor: I can do all of these CREATIVE techniques and thereby make a ton of money solving homeowners problems etc.

If you don't like Stanley Steemer's price, then shop around, use coupons, find a cleaning contractor who's hungry for work.This is the time to find a creative solution that saves you money AND gets the job done right.