Resources for finding out of state deals

[Nick Ruffini]

Hi BP,

I'm looking to find more information about finding deals out of state. I live in Los Angeles and the homes here don't meet my investing criteria. I'm looking to invest in my home town in the suburbs of Philadelphia. I lived there most of my life, my family has been business there since 1974, I still have a lot of friends who live there (a few lifelong friends who are RE agents) and I know the area/neighborhoods well. 

What I'm having an issue with is finding opportunities to invest in. I'm getting the listings that are on the market (my RE agent friend set up a daily MLS report for me) and I've read David Greene's "Long-Distance Real Estate Investing book but are there any other resources? I can't "drive for dollars" in the area since I don't live there and the houses that are already listed never seem to meet my criteria.

Any suggestions/resources to find out of state deals would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks! 

[Angelica M Garzon]

@Nick Ruffini

Try list source or any other company that provides a list for a fair price. I recommend you narrow it down to one zip code your first time around to keep things within budget.

Some free options include: pre- foreclosures on Zillow, look up the addresses on the local county’s property appraiser or property record search, that should give you a hit on the owners mailing address and names, skip trace those if you’re brave enough to do a call (I am not lol).

Also look at tax lien properties that will be auctioned in your chosen county. Then do the same as you would for pre- foreclosures and send out direct mail to the addresses. In my county I can see all the properties scheduled to be bid on tax liens for the entire month, so it’s enough properties to do research on. Target individuals that have more than 2-3 years in back taxes.

Good luck !