This is the branding,stay consistent on monthly direct mail campaign it does pay off!!!

For example I have around 5000 twitter followers on one of my feeds, they are almost all real estate investors. 

If you forget to mention this is how you feed your kids, then a low-ball offer holds no validity to them in the first place.Honesty is the best policy...otherwise you come off looking and sounding like a crook!

@Anthony Ferguson Hi Anthony,The most effective way to find motivated sellers is to put together a marketing system that you will use consistently.

Now as we enter our third year with the house, we are looking at two prospective properties to become our second {International} student house as we are consistently over-subscribed at the existing house.The potential pitfalls with renting a large (10-bedroom) house by the room:1) Zoning may not allow for a rooming house;2) No-one looks after the common areas - we started out with the tenants cleaning the common areas which worked fine the first year (we had the right mix of tenants) but did not work well this year ... ironically, the biggest problems were the two Canadian students in the house who did not pull their own weight.  

My advice is to stop asking questions and to take immediate and consistant action.Edit: Not trying to say it is bad to ask these questions, just that once you get a few different point of view to take action instead of developing analysis paralysis.

Honestly 2-4 unit properties don't really have a consistent market in my areas.  

Your followers could be buyers who watch your feed which you load with your latest deals that come through.

There are great opportunities here but our market has become saturated with investors over the last 18 months so you have to remain consistent with your offers to get anywhere.

I can't generalize on skim coating (really depends on the scope/size of the job), but hardwood refinishing is tremendously consistent at about $1.25/sf, both here in Atlanta and up in Milwaukee.In fact, my Milwaukee hardwood guy lives in Illinois, and is probably closer to you than to my Milwaukee houses.