All of our cabins are within an hour's drive of our team, by policy.  

My idea was to virtually drive for dollars with street view, write down addresses with 2+ mailboxes and send them a pretty custom typed hand stuffed letter asking if they wanted to sell, or connect.Made a small sample list (50 contacts) Sent it off to be skip traced, and got back phone numbers when I was expecting mailing addresses (.20 cents per name).

Personally found the deal, it was a drive for deals method and noticed the marketings of a pre-foreclosure.

@Craig Barter I love the spirit and the drive.

Use your knowledge and drive to convince your parents to get a home near your college.

Many of them are running their own deals and have a deep network.

PropStream is my favorite tool but if $400 is your total budget I’d start driving for dollars without paying for software and then sign up once you have some cash

If you “negotiate” a 5% payoff with the borrower, and have purchased the note at a “deep discount”, say 80% discount from unpaid balance, you just took a 75% loss on your investment.

I drive past little hand written signs of land for sale on a daily basis.

Also, provide them with a flash drive with before and after pictures of your project and a rehab scope that list upgrades.