Finding flip deals in decent neighborhoods?

Question

Hey all -

Looking for my next flip. Trying to buy in the 100-150k range, but having trouble finding something that the numbers make sense on.

MLS is too expensive, wholesalers tend to have C/D properties, Craigslist is dry.

You guys ever use Prop Stream or other data lists? Where are you finding your flip deals at?

Joshua Janus · Answer

Drive for deals, send out letters, cold call, cold text etc. Whatever you do just make sure you are consistent and do it on a daily basis.

David Lee Hall, III · Answer

Drive for dollars. Seriously. :-)

I can say if you want a trendy location for a flip, the place is going to be in pretty bad condition in this market at around $100 because the land alone is often going to run that much. You know where you want to be, take a friend and spend an afternoon driving the streets, have them write down house numbers or you do it while they drive. Then take them out for a nice dinner. Split your list in half (you should have a hundred or two addresses).

Now comes the fun part. You can door knock those houses if you have some shiny brass ones. You can skip trace and call owners. You can do yellow letters.

As a wholesaler, landlord, and very rare flipper, I can say going this route gets results. I can also say it often is 5-10 contacts until you get a response. The money is in the follow up. Once you buy houses off market you will never go back to the MLS. The difference in price points will let you hire VA to run the whole process once you put it together and then some. Then you will have so many deals you will be selling the ones you don't want to your investor friends.

(I all seriousness though, do drive neighborhoods you like, and either be active with the distressed houses you find (door knock or skip trace) or be passive (DMM). If you go driving once a quarter and set up a follow up cycle you will never need to go to someone else again and your profits will be far higher because you aren't paying middleman fees.)

Josh Taylor · Answer

Best and most reliable way is to build your own list, any other list will already have been scoured by investors in a market like this, especially if you don't have a competitive edge on the flipping costs.