Exhausted Every Angle - Can Someone Help?

i forgot, i also have sent a ton of letters to owners of distressed properties and those in pre-foreclosure. Also attended the sheriff's sale several times but the bidding is fierce and I have not participated in that.

Hey,

I hear that frustration in your voice, I am in a similar place. Tired of all the effort and going no-where, trying not to give up. On the verge though!

However, to get to my point and to respond to your post ...

What does "Long Distance" mean to you?
Do you mean the next town or the next county or the next state?
How far away is that from you?
Can you find a REI club say, 2 hours away from you and go there and make contacts with realtors, investors, i.e. others in that area who are knowledgeable of their 'town, county, state' ?

Maybe you are looking further than that, and hopefully someone here will be able to give you solid advice about that.

Not for nothing, we do not live that far apart. Hmmmm, maybe I should send you a PM.
Angela

Laura:

You're going to need a new realtor, either in another county that won't have the same MLS listings as your current realtor does, or hit a realtor on the border of the next state you're in. Let him do some of your legwork. Tell him what you're trying to do. If he doesn't want to submit low ball offers for you because his broker won't let him, then find another realtor. Tell him to set up daily MLS alerts - for expired listings, long DOMs (days on market), FSBOs (he'll hate you for that), REO's, short sales, etc.

A realtor in another county or border state can be great because he's going to know which are the bad neighborhoods, etc. Now the agent has to be careful because he's paranoid of "redlining" or "steering" or "blockbusting" and all those terms basically mean is trying to steer a buyer to or from a particular neighborhood. He can lose his license for that, and for all he knows when you call him on the phone, you could be someone from that State's Dept. of Real Estate trying to trap him.

Don't be discouraged about bidding wars; when I sold REOs in Boston, the buyers were like mad sharks trying to get the properties, and you have to know when to bow out of the bidding so you don't overpay for the property and lose any potential profit margin. If you were going to live in the property, that would be another story.

Anyhow, God Bless You! You're a real go-getter and you're just in a dry patch now, but you're smart enough to reach out for help! Come on, you other Deanies - help this lady with your valuable input!

Happy fishing!
JennyInMalibu

Are you looking to flip something again, or are you wanting to buy & hold?

Rina

Hmmmnmmn. . . .every angle exhausted? come now. . I'm sure you'll get a leg up on this one with a little help from some of us Deanies'. I was thinking WOW! what a difference a county/region makes. To date we've used only word of mouth, and our local county/city newspaper to score every single deal .Probably like you, I ran "real" adds as well as tester adds and made darn sure I kept all the info from each hit(sold our last house to a woman with whom I'd checked in each month with something like, "hey, found your house yet. . ? I have a so and so in 'ville that might be just right" )
. Honestly for me, the handing out of cards, Craigslist and presenting letters to distressed properties netted me nada. . . ..Today I found and investigated 4 nice properties in a town 8 miles from our home; 18 miles to the next little town, where we've found deals. I wonder if perhaps there aren't some properties in close proximity to you that just haven't caught your eye. Look again. . . perhaps with different eyes. .. Personally, I'm still to fearful to venture beyond a 30 drive; at this stage, I need to feel like what I'm working with is within easy reach. . but, I'm sure I'll grow and expand in time.
grady

I guarantee there are some sweet deals in your area every single day. Absolutely guaranteed. When markets are hot it is hard to buy on the MLS and get a steal. Have you tried to get the attention of some wholesalers in your area? Let the wholesalers do the work for you. I love bird dogs. Are you calling on houses owned by landlords? What about calling on houses that look like they are run down? Send those people letters. The thing to remember is this. Someone always wants to sell fast for whatever reason. Always. If everybody is buying old run down houses then focus on nice houses. Sometimes the owner is distressed and not the property. Everyday some real estate investor decides to give up investing in your area because of frustration. Don't be that person. Decide you are going to stick it out until the deal of a lifetime comes along. Tonight someone in your area is going to go to bed just wishing they could sell their house. They will probably pray about it and just ask for someone to show up and take the burden of home ownership off their shoulders. Will the person that shows up to help that person be you?

I truly appreciate all your support and comments, and deep down inside I know there must be great deals hiding in the wings and that my strategies are just not getting me to them. And I also know its playing the odds - I've sent at least 100 letters and walked through more houses than that, put in numerous offers, so I just need to keep remembering that the next one might be the one but I do admit its sometimes really hard to keep up that positive attitude, but I will. To answer a few specific questions:
Angela- I have been avoiding the only RE club because its an hour away at 9pm on a worknight (I get up at 4:30), but it doesnt seem so far or late in the big picture so I will go there next week! Where are you located?
Jenny-My current realtor is fabulous, and I went through about 10 to find her. So I know I would have to go through the same process in a different area, thanks for your tips and I will put out some calls.
Rina - I would love to either flip or rent, my goal of course is to eventually hold rentals for income and flip for fun because I really enjoyed it!
Grady- I hear you on not going too far from home. Ideally I would love my properties to be within reach....consider yourself very lucky to find your deals word of mouth and in the paper-thats truly amazing to me!
Matt - as I wrote my post I thought of you and I knew that if you lived here you would be able to find some deals haha! I have done most all of yur ideas except contact wholesalers - not sure how to find them. I would have thought my ads would have attracted them. And I also have not contacted landlords-I will start making those calls today!
So thanks to you all for hearing me out and taking the time to reply, you guys are the only people I have to come to for support!
Love to all,
Laura

You should invent some new techniques to find deals way below value. There are probably hundreds of undiscovered techiques waiting for someone like you to uncover them. If you ever get really discouraged you should google a guy named mel fisher. He was a treasure hunter and his story of determination is unmatched. Today is the day!

I was going to offer for us to work together on something up here. But that might take the fun out of it for you, and like Matt said there are probably hundreds of new techniques waiting to be discovered. YOU might be the inventor! We have to remember, just because it hasn't been tried or written in a book doesn't mean it can't work.

Here's to the pioneer in each of us!!!

Rina

Now this is just scary, I was going to suggest the same thing as Rina. I plan to send you a PM about something I was looking into that I think fell apart, I will send you details and see if you can come up with 'undiscovered techniques' to get it up and running again. Can't get to it just yet but I will later tonight. Now that I think about it I think I will cc Rina on it too. Turning to big sisters!
Angela

I know that you are a pro at this, but are you now a member of a REI. club. From my area in upstate NY, these guys ( yes all men) are worth a bunch of deals that seem to go between investors. Sounds like you hit a wall, just giving you bounce to get back in the game....Jan

Just shaking my head in amazement at the kindness and encouragement from all of you. You are truly my DG family, and having people so intelligent and successful taking the time to respond always brings me up from the depths of frustration! Rina & Angela - I am completely open and humbled by the idea of working with you. We will have to explore that more in pms. I look forward to getting your info Angela, and can't wait to meet and learn from Rina and Matt first hand in April! Jan - I am far from pro at this having only completed one deal - but thanks haha! I am a member of a RE club but have not yet attended a meeting due to time and distance but their next meeting is marked on my calendar for next week!!!!!
Again - I cant thank you all enough...and I will turn my mind toward exploring and inventing new ideas and techniques. Right now I'm going to go google mel fisher
xoxooxoxox

Laura and other Deanies:
I took Kris K's advice and joined meetup.com and they have TONS AND TONS of groups, including r.e. investing groups! I'm sure you can join several in your area.

The point is to GET OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE trying to find properties online. Go out and meet people! Press flesh and get your r.e. investment card out there. Do what I did and get an 800# (they're cheap!) and put that number on your new card. Just getting out and meeting people of all sizes and shapes all with common real estate interests as you is very stimulating.

I've found a great one that meets weekly and it's 25 miles away from me AND I DON'T CARE! Get out there!

All the pushes I get here to keep growing and finding new ideas is so motivating. The next meeting of my closest RE club is scheduled for the 25th of this month and you can be sure I'm going to be there! I will check out the site you mentioned as well. Thanks again!

Aside from screaming at passers-by, just by letting each and every person that you come in contact with what you do...you will get an in on some incredible deals... that haven't even hit the market yet. Had a kid at McDonald's behind the counter let me know about his parents having trouble making payments on the house. We are talking soon. They are everywhere hiding...it's up to you to cash in on the world's largest Easter egg hunt!

John and Samantha

John & Samantha - that is a great analogy! Love it

Dont't you all know that lonely old Sandra is curious to know what is going on. All about the ins and outs about acquiring deals. I feel left out about other ways of doing business. I want to count myself in, lol. Love you guys.

Sandra

Laura,
How did you get the information "fresh and new" on preforeclosures? I know that i can go to the court house and get a list of lis pendens, however, are you part of an online site that gives you these stats?
Thanks,
mati

Hi Mati,
Dean has a site called foreclosurealert.com that offers the best as far as foreclosures. Continued success................Lubertha

Catching up here - havent been online for waaaaay too long! To answer your question Mati - my realtor actually gets the list of lis pendens and they are part of my automatic emails I get from her each day. Lubertha is right about the Deans program, but I have not subscribed to that at this time. I have been so busy rehabbing my current place I've been keeping my eyes out for my next deal but not making offers right now as all my money is tied up in this house. Hope your having luck in your search - there are a ton of good deals hitting the market now!