Flipper/Rehabber · Houston, TX · Member since 2020 · 17 posts · 1 vote
I’m trying to find off markets properties and owners to cold call in houston, tx but I’m trying to figure out how to find them without having to drive for dollars
If you don’t want to physically drive for dollars....do it virtually. Here’s my process.
I pick a street or intersection that I’m interested in and hop on Google maps and virtually walk the streets of the area. I jot down address that could have potential, then research them on the county/city property search website, property tax website, etc. Once you have the owners name you can go from there.
List can be touch and go with minimum results. You will be sending letters to the same property as every other investor who bought that list. Being one of the investors who have purchased lists, I’ve gotten more responses from properties that I sourced on my own.
Do a quick search in the message boards here. That question is a common one, and there are all sorts of ideas on how to go about doing this. A big part of the decision in how to find/market for properties is what works for YOU. You can send mail, but that costs money. You can D4D, but that doesn't scale very well. You can do a lot of cold calling, which many people aren't comfortable doing. You can send texts or RVM (ringless voicemail), neither of which I personally care for. You can setup a website. There are all sorts of options.
Do your research. Find out what all the options are, and which ones you think will work for you, your personality, your budget, and how much time you want to put into it.
@Barry Pekin thanks for the info, and I want to start doing cold calling but one thing I haven’t been able to figure out is how to find these motivated sellers to call them, I’m also studying for my real estate license that way I would have more tools to generate leads but I would like to start calling and developing my skills on the phone right now. And also I have thought about direct mail I could spend a little money on that but like I said I just need to figure out a way to find people to mail, I feel like I’m close to my first deal I’m just missing one step.
Get lists. First, who do you want to target? Estate sales? Tax delinquencies? Absentee owners? ListSource is a common place investors purchase lists. You may also be able to get lists from your county auditor depending on your location.
@Nicole Heasley Beitenman is right. I like to use PropStream because you have ongoing access to live data. You can't get some things, but you can do searches on things like high equity, location (of course), absentee owners, out-of-state owners, etc. If you're going to cold call, you can then use something like TruePeopleSearch to skip trace for phone numbers (free).
If you don’t want to physically drive for dollars....do it virtually. Here’s my process.
I pick a street or intersection that I’m interested in and hop on Google maps and virtually walk the streets of the area. I jot down address that could have potential, then research them on the county/city property search website, property tax website, etc. Once you have the owners name you can go from there.
List can be touch and go with minimum results. You will be sending letters to the same property as every other investor who bought that list. Being one of the investors who have purchased lists, I’ve gotten more responses from properties that I sourced on my own.
@Henry Urey Rivas Getting a list is key - and which list you get is also important. The Houston market is very crowded with investors so you don't want to be calling the same Absentee Owners that everyone else is contacting.
Consider working with a list broker. They can make suggestions for some of the new off-market leads that are proving to be effective. These might include Owners with Low Financial Stability Scores or Seniors with Long-Time Ownership.
I agree with you and follow same strategy which in my case is vacant land. I find area that has mostly vacant land that people bought many years ago and never developed. The area has nice views and I've found it via websites that sell vacant land. From finding lots that others sell I investigate other lots nearby and jot down owner information if its of interest to me. In my case I feel that a lot of people abandoned this land with many having unpaid taxes, trusts left behind, etc. For some of these lots I plan on sending owners a letter asking if they're interested in selling at below market rate. I'm basically looking for good deals and typing out 1 letter sent to 50 addresses is not time consuming or expensive. Even if its 1 response out of 50 I can make more than enough.
Work smarter not harder. In the day and age of the internet you can digital market and have motivated sellers reach out to you. Let me give you a simple example. What do you do when you don’t know the answer to something? You google it right? What makes you think homeowners who are in situations aren’t searching “how to avoid bankruptcy” or “how to sell my home ASAP” well they definitely are - because they end up in front of me. Think outside the box. It’s like comparing blockbuster video and Netflix that’s how I see driving for dollars hoping someone will sell as opposed to being in front of motivated homeowners because they want you in front of them. Hope this helps.