10 Easy Ways to Find Off-Market Properties

For wholesalers, BRRRR'rs, flippers, and buy-and-holders, off-market properties are the deal flow that keeps a business running. If you don't know how to find them, you're stuck relying on the MLS, which caps your deal flow before you even start.

Let’s cover what off-market properties are and why they matter and walk through 10 ways to find them in any market.

What are off-market properties?

Off-market properties refers to properties where the homeowner is interested in selling, but their home isn't listed on the MLS. Usually that's because the home or its owner is in some kind of distress (bad tenants, lots of repairs needed, divorce, bankruptcy, etc.). 

This is an opportunity. The owner is motivated to sell and often they'll consider a below-market offer. Most people miss this opportunity because these listings never hit the MLS.

The best real estate investors don't just know how to find off-market properties, they invest marketing budget every month to do so. This creates a consistent deal flow that props up their business and keeps the investment opportunities coming. 

1. Hand-Written Direct Mail

Direct mail is the most common way investors find off-market properties. Nothing beats it for building a consistent, predictable lead flow.

Anyone can pull a list*, send a few thousand dollars in mailers, and generate leads*. But because of this, direct mail is competitive, and standing out* from the pile of yellow letters and postcards means sending something that doesn't look like everyone else's.

That's why we specialize in hand-written mailers with customizable designs to help you stand out in a mailbox full of plain white envelopes and generic templates. 

Personalization matters more than most investors realize. Adding a person's name to a mailer can increase response rates by up to 50% (Canon Solutions America).

And hand-written mailers take that further. Investors who switch to them consistently report the same thing: more leads than they can keep up with, because recipients open something that looks personal instead of another form letter.

"We've actually had to slow down because we've gotten more leads than we have time to handle ... We've had multiple people tell us that they get hundreds of letters but reached out to us because ours was hand written!" - Travis & Hunter, New Haus Properties

Want mail that gets opened instead of tossed? Check out our hand-written mailers*.

 

2. Niche Marketing Lists

If you're new to this, the obvious question is: who do you actually mail?

You may think you should just send mail to a certain number of people in the zipcode where you operate. But that's a quick way to waste a ton of money. Instead, you want to send more targeted direct mail campaigns.

Remember that off-market properties are typically owned by people who are in distressful situations  bad tenants, lots of repairs needed, divorce, bankruptcy, etc. (which is why they haven't listed on the MLS). Fortunately, there's an easy way to only send your direct mail campaign to people who fall into those "distressed" categories.

A few list types worth pulling:

• High Equity + Absentee + Vacant: the owner doesn't live there, nobody else does either, and they have significant equity in the property. That combination often means they're losing money and open to a fair cash offer just to be rid of the headache.
• Tax Delinquent: an owner who isn't paying property taxes may already see the property as a burden, and could be open to unloading it below market value.
• Free & Clear: owners with no mortgage on the property, for whatever reason, are sometimes ready to sell for a fair cash price. You can narrow this further with absentee, vacant, or tax delinquent filters.

3. Driving For Dollars + Door Hangers

Pilling lists gets you the same data pool every other investor in your marketing is mailing. If you want to find deals no one else is finding, try driving for dollars. 

Driving for dollars is process of driving around your target investment neighborhoods, looking for distressed properties, writing down their addresses, and adding them to your marketing campaigns (usually, direct mail). Spending just a few hours a week can help you find deals that other investors are totally missing out on. 

Here's the process:

1. Pick a neighborhood and track your route so you're not covering the same streets twice. A tool built for this (like DealMachine) keeps it organized.
2. Look for unkempt lawns, broken windows, cracked driveways, and rundown roofs. Any property that looks neglected goes on the list. If you're already out of the car, leave a hand-written door hanger too.
3. Add those addresses to your direct mail campaign once you're home. Now you're marketing to properties your competitors don't even know exist.

4. Follow-Up

The first three tips only work if you follow up. If you skip this step and none of the really rest matters.

You know most deals don't close on the first offer and distressed sellers especially need time and multiple touches before they're ready to move forward. Some deals take months from first contact to closing, and the investors who stay in touch are the ones who close them.

The way to fix this is automation. Set up a follow-up sequence in your CRM so leads keep hearing from you for months after the first contact, not just the first week.

A lead you paid for is worth working past the first "not interested."

5. Contractors

Contractors and builders regularly quote homeowners on repairs. Some of those homeowners, once they hear the repair cost, would rather sell the property outright than pay for the work. That's a referral opportunity.

Build relationships with contractors in your market. A referral commission gives them a reason to send a homeowner your way instead of just walking away after the quote.

6. Word-of-Mouth

Word-of-mouth is hard to engineer directly, but a few things help build it over time:

• Door knocking - introduce yourself, explain what you do, hand over a business card. It doesn't have to be a pitch.
• Frequent local spots - regulars at the same coffee shop or co-working space get to know you, and they'll mention you when it's relevant.
• Branding - a logo on your truck or your gear means people remember who to call when they or a friend need to sell fast.
• Local events and meetups - real estate meetups, entrepreneur meetups, and community events build relationships that turn into referrals later.

7. Real Estate Agents

Agents specialize in on-market deals, but they still come across distressed properties that won't sell well on the MLS. A referral relationship with a few agents in your market, backed by a referral commission, can turn those into deals for you.

Look for agents who already work with investors. They tend to be more open to sending distressed listings your way instead of forcing them through a traditional sale.

8. Search Engine Optimization

You know what's better than finding off-market properties? Letting off-market property owners find you. Search engine optimization (SEO) is process of optimizing your website and its content so it shows up in the top search results for the keywords related to your business.

For example, if you want people to find you when they search, for "sell my house fast," then SEO is a great way to make sure you're getting organic (aka free) leads from Google and other search engines.

A website built specifically for investor lead generation (Carrot is a common choice) comes pre-optimized for this and typically includes ongoing content to help you rank for more search terms over time.

9. Cold Calling

Cold calling works, though it takes practice and isn't for everyone.There are a lot of details to cold calling that we don't want to get into here, but you can check out our complete real estate cold calling guide here. It includes the tools, scripts, and tips you need to get started.

10. Wholesalers

If you're a flipper or buy-and-hold investor rather than a wholesaler yourself, working with wholesalers in your market can save you the work of sourcing your own off-market deals. Expect to pay an assignment fee, typically $5,000 to $15,000 above what the property would've cost you directly. Depending on the deal, that's often still worth it. Searching "we buy houses for cash in [your city]" is a quick way to find active wholesalers in your area.

Finding off-market deals is all about putting a system in place and being consistent. If you want help building that system, schedule a free strategy call with our team and we'll walk through what fits your market.