NO MLS LISTINGS!!

[Pete Krzak]

I am looking to buy Single Family or Deplexes around my area(Erie,Pa) without going through MLS. Anyone have any ideas on great places to locate these. I would like to only use 10% down on them. The bad part is that we do not have real estate conferences or meeting around here. I want these properties for long term cash growth. Any ideas?

[Mark Updegraff]

Originally posted by Pete Krzak:

I am looking to buy Single Family or Deplexes around my area(Erie,Pa) without going through MLS. Anyone have any ideas on great places to locate these. I would like to only use 10% down on them. The bad part is that we do not have real estate conferences or meeting around here. I want these properties for long term cash growth. Any ideas?

I would say Craigslist isn't optimal, but you may stumble across a FSBO or find a contact whom has a portfolio from which they sell. Most of the listing of FSBO are overpriced IMHO - people who think what they've got is gold, when a realtor wouldn't list it anywhere in that ballpark.
Hopefully you live close to your target market, because there is nothing better than driving around the hood and looking for those FSBO signs out front. Of course, these are usually above market as well, but you can at least talk to the person and get a sense of how motivated they are to sell.

Finally, Good luck doing 10% down on an investment property, in these times lending institutions want 20% down or more. If you do find a lender at 10% down, let me know where!

Word of mouth also works really well. Make sure you have business cards and hand them out to business owners / clients in the area. There is always someone getting ready to sell, and they'll call you first if someone passes along your card.

again, happy hunting!