All Forum Posts by: Ben M.

There are soooo many investors in TX and it's a competitive market. One of the best things you can do is make a lot of connections there.

• Connect with as many agents as you can and offers them a private finders fee if they bring you pocket deals (deals not listed on the MLS yet).
• Start creating a team of birddogs. Everyone you know and everyone you meet, tell them to keep their eyes out for vacant lots, motivated sellers, etc., and you'll give them $100 anytime you close on one
• Put out ads but make sure they are really different from anything else there so you stand out. Then occasionally a motivated seller will come to you.

Another way to look at it is, how can you make your offer stand out from the crowd, even if it is lower? When we make an offer on a MLS listing we try and find out what is important to the seller and see if we can add any value. We've had luck being able to offer cash & a super quick close / offering a lease back / putting large earnest $$ down / offering to haul away junk / etc . . .being able to help solve a seller's "problem" is sometimes more valuable than the purchase price and gets our lower offer noticed. Most of the time we get passed over, but we've also had luck & you never know what motivates people!

They are out there. Most of the deals we are doing right now were pulled right from MLS.

Depends somewhat on your price point. I was buying in the $150k ARV range for awhile. My first deal was from an MLS listing. It took 4 months...75 showings...20+ offers. I was competing with families with emotional buying...all offers were above list and many highest and best. I found a diamond in the rough though. Just had to be persistent.

But after that experience it seemed too hard to keep buying that way. I learned about wholesalers and never looked back.

I'll keep my reply simple - no! That's why I stopped skimming the MLS daily. I'd rather spend that same time finding other leads

Looking forward to seeing what others say.