The channel matters less than how early you're hitting the list. Cold call, direct mail, SMS, they all work until everyone is working the same data. The gap is usually timing. A seller who's been in pre-foreclosure for a few weeks hasn't been hammered yet. One who's been on a national aggregator list for months has heard from everyone.
The channel matters less than how early you're hitting the list. Cold call, direct mail, SMS, they all work until everyone is working the same data. The gap is usually timing. A seller who's been in pre-foreclosure for a few weeks hasn't been hammered yet. One who's been on a national aggregator list for months has heard from everyone.
Thanks Carson, that makes a lot of sense.
So if you were starting from scratch today, what would be the first list you’d focus on reaching quickly before everyone else?
Pre-foreclosure, tbh. The filing is public the day it hits the courthouse, but most people don't see it until it's already been sitting in a data feed for weeks. That gap is where the conversation is actually winnable.
The channel matters less than how early you're hitting the list. Cold call, direct mail, SMS, they all work until everyone is working the same data. The gap is usually timing. A seller who's been in pre-foreclosure for a few weeks hasn't been hammered yet. One who's been on a national aggregator list for months has heard from everyone.
timing is everything on this, and that's where having an automated system helps a lot. the second a pre-foreclosure hits you want outreach going out same day without having to manually do it. been building that kind of setup for investors and it changes how fast they can move
Wholesaler · Charleston WV · Member since 2026 · 243 posts · 132 votes
3mo
In my experience, there isn't one magic lead source.
The best source is usually the one you can work consistently.
I've seen deals come from direct mail, referrals, driving for dollars, PPC, auctions, and cold outreach. But the common denominator wasn't the lead source—it was consistent follow-up and real conversations.
A lot of investors spend months searching for the "best" marketing channel when they would be better off mastering one channel and staying with it long enough to recognize patterns.
Motivated sellers are often hiding in the follow-up, not the first contact.
If I had to pick one long-term source, I'd say referrals and relationships tend to produce the highest trust and lowest competition. But for newer investors, driving for dollars and targeted outreach can be a great way to start conversations without a huge budget.
The biggest lesson I've learned is that conversations create contracts. The more quality conversations you have, the more motivated sellers you eventually find.
Investor · FL · Member since 2023 · 36 posts · 11 votes
3mo
This is exactly right, the follow up is where most deals actually come from. wholesaled for 6 years and the biggest thing i noticed was how many deals people were losing just because their follow up wasn't consistent. not a bad list, just no system keeping it alive. been building automated follow up systems for investors and the difference it makes is pretty significant
Coral Springs, FL · Member since 2018 · 474 posts · 105 votes
1mo
Carson's point about timing is the whole game, but I'd push it one step further: the best list isn't just early — it's one where the government has already done the work of identifying, notifying, and legally processing the motivated sellers for you.
Rhema, you actually asked the right question when you asked Charless about tax delinquent lists specifically. Here's why that list is structurally different from everything else people mentioned in this thread:
The county tax collector publishes a list of properties with 1-3+ years of unpaid property taxes. These aren't just 'motivated' — the county has already sent years of legal notices, published legal ads, and in tax deed states, gone through a court process to set an auction date. The list is public record. Specific parcels with owner names, addresses, and exact tax debt amounts. No guessing, no data feeds, no waiting for it to show up on PropStream or BatchLeads weeks after everyone else has it.
For Indianapolis specifically: Marion County publishes their tax delinquent list annually. The Indiana tax sale process goes through the county — the list is available directly from the county auditor's office, not through a third-party aggregator. You're hitting it at the source before it gets repackaged and sold to 500 other wholesalers.
The model is simple: pull the list (free), cross-reference with the county assessor or property appraiser for market values (also free), calculate the spread between what's owed in taxes and what the property is actually worth. The biggest spreads are your best deals — those are the properties where there's enough equity that a cash buyer can acquire at the tax sale and still have room for rehab profit.
What makes this different from pre-foreclosure (which Carson is right about for timing): with pre-foreclosure, you still need to find the owner, convince them to sell, negotiate terms, draft contracts. With tax deed auctions, the seller is already locked in — the county ran the entire legal process. The only question is whether a cash buyer shows up to bid. And that's where the wholesaler fits: research the list, identify the best spreads, then connect with cash buyers who want to bid at auction.
The competition is thinner than you'd think because most wholesalers are working from the same 3-4 list providers and don't realize the county source is free and faster.