Always remember to persist and you will WIN!!!!

The most-accepted method for finding this kind of deal is to do mail lists or call lists of current owners - that way, they already have you in mind when they are looking to sell.The best way to get good returns on a property like this are to:Find an off-market seller through the above-mentioned methods, and negotiate a deal that is win-win for you and the sellerFind a property (on- or off-market) that has room for value additions, either through growth, increasing income or decreasing expenses.Most properties that are on the MLS market will be competitively priced, or will need work and are thus value-add opportunities and will not be great deals from the beginning.

So I now have a new slice of the diviersification pie and have found my net work is increasing at a faster rate than before.Simply put, I realized I was not going to win the game in the way I wanted by "safely" investing in my 401k and other mutual funds investing.  

People die, divorces happen, kids from another state inherit property they don't care about, people have time limits on their 1031 exchanges, people win the lottery, etc....I would call every agent you can find and say "hey, I'm ready to buy x....if you find x or anything similar to x...I'm ready to pull the trigger"

To survive, you need persistence, determination, consistency, and be able to find and lock up deals such that the seller wins, your buyer wins and you win.

:P  I travel a lot too, which is a personal win but a financial loss (I hardly have savings) and I'm thinking... maybe I want to travel and flip?

I am still to conservative to do one here in PDX  we just don't have the market for it.. it drops off drastically after 1.5 and really it drops off at 750k.I did buy a big home in 04 from Jerome Kersey the B ball player it was 10k sq feet on the Willamette river.. it was moth balled and sat stagnate for 2 years.

: Sothebys and the big name brokerages have consolidated a lot of the small players.

Here is the book's link: http://www.amazon.com/Shift-Estate-Agents-Tackle-Tough/dp/0071605266#reader_0071605266 Now if you focus onhelping the seller sell their home and preserve their equity dollars by selling on terms rather than for cash at a discount, you can get a win for you as the investor or agent, for the seller who is stuck, and for the buyer that has good income but needs time to get a mortgage.

He's a legit player in that market.