Time Efficient Property Hunting

[Angela Dani]

Hello BP Fam,

Curious to get your thoughts on this. I have been spending a lot of time on sites like Realtor.com, zillow, redfin, MLS, etc. learning to search and scavenge for deals in the area's I'm interested to start flipping in Chicago. I do believe this is a good method while starting out to get familiar with the types of listings out there, however it is SO time consuming to make a list of properties, pick the ones to analyze, and then decide whether they are worth pursuing. I came across a few website services that claim to provide you a list of leads that are 20-50% off retail price with the ARV's and profit potential already done for you. Some are free, some require to pay a premium to access.

Are these sites legitimate for deal findings? The idea of the front end research work already being done sounds ideal, but haven't these properties already been through too many hands to end up already analyzed for others? How are they coming up with these profit values and how accurate are they to even trust? Are these wholesalers marketing their properties? Have people (in Chicago) found any success using sites like this instead?

I still work full time and spend my evenings moreso web browsing properties and feeling like I'm not getting as far as quickly as I'd like to. What have you guys found is the most time efficient way to search and analyze deals?

Thanks!

[J Scott]

These days, you're going to be hard-pressed to find a lot of good deals on publicly-listed websites or the MLS. I would recommend focusing on off market properties. Using things like direct mail, cold calling, door-knocking, bandit signs, advertising, etc. Get good at one or two off market strategies, and that should solidify your deal flow.