Off-market properties
What do you all find the best method is to find off-market properties for the purpose of investing? It can definitely be difficult in primary markets when a listing goes on the market and a bidding war ensues. What are some of the creative ways you use to look for an investment property?
[{"id": "ety34w6", "text": "\nCopy paste from another comment I made\n\nDirect mail. I just got done sending out around 650 solicitation letters about 5 days ago and so far I have gotten 8 calls. One of the calls is a gentleman with a group of multifamily buildings that is valued around 13-15 million dollars . Another old guy with an 8 unit multifamily valued around $750,000.\n\n\nNo saying whether these will go anywhere, but at least the phone is ringing.\n\nEdit: The solicitations I send are basically along the lines of \u201cwe represent a group of investors interested in purchasing properties similar the one you own located at (address). This is not a solicitation for a listing. Please call me at your earliest convenience to discuss the sale of your property\u201d\n\nOne of the agents I work with has buyers lined up for multifamily and commercial properties , so we shop the deal around to them first, if nobody is interested we at least have our foot in the door to try and secure a listing.\n\nAlso note that I will be hitting these same owners again in a little less than 2 months as long as the tax records indicate they haven\u2019t recently sold.", "replies": [{"id": "etzssua", "text": "What was your data source for the mailing list?", "replies": [{"id": "etzubn4", "text": "In miami we have access to a program called iMapp tax roll resolution as a part of our association membership. We can do searches \n\nsuch as\n\nProperty type=Multifamily \n\nLast Sale Date= less than or equal to 1/1/2016\n\nNumber of units=less than or equal to 125\n\nProperty County=Miami-Dade\n\nOwner Occupied=No\n\n\nThe customization of the search can go much further but you get the idea. You can then download the results as a CSL file\n\nI search for properties that haven\u2019t been sold in the last 5 years depending on the size.\n\nI then use mail-merge to create \u201ccustom\u201d letters.\n\nCoStar also provides similar lists but I like to build my own.\n\nFor non-realtors my advice is to make friends with a realtor who can provide access to these type of tools.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "eu0jdwz", "text": "So you lie?  And Reddit upvotes you?\nTerrible way to do business.", "replies": [{"id": "eu1pi3c", "text": "Where is he lying ?", "replies": [{"id": "eu1pmx0", "text": "&gt;\"This is not a solicitation for a listing....   \n&gt;  \n&gt;if nobody is interested we at least have our foot in the door to try and secure a listing.\"", "replies": [{"id": "eu1w7tw", "text": "The owners have been contacted, he has buyers lined up, and him saying that if that falls through, they have their foot in the door to possibly secure a listing .... that\u2019s what you\u2019re using as him lying ???? Wow !!!   I\u2019ll take him in my office any day of the week.", "replies": [{"id": "eu25s98", "text": "I\u2019m an owner of 100+ properties.  I fall for this trick 4x a year.  It\u2019s unethical at best.   I blacklist you and your company.  It\u2019s another reason people think real estate agents = used car salesmen.", "replies": [{"id": "eu27xxj", "text": "I\u2019m an investor.\nI think some brokers are great but that most are horrible !!!!\nBut to me this looks like a guy hustling to make something happen.", "replies": [], "depth": 7}, {"id": "eu28v8l", "text": "That\u2019s fine for you, but I have personally seen over 100 million dollars in sales that were done using this exact method. So just because you don\u2019t want to sell doesn\u2019t mean you are representative of the market.\n\n\nI didn\u2019t invent this strategy.", "replies": [{"id": "eu2mw8d", "text": "Everything I have is for sale.  I don\u2019t doubt the method works.  You cross an ethical line when anyone does it.  Whataboutism is not an excuse to cross that line.  \n\nI go through the drill thinking maybe this is real, the next thing I know the guy is asking for a fee.  It\u2019s great if you want a one time fee, but don\u2019t kid yourself you\u2019re building a business.", "replies": [{"id": "eu30mhi", "text": "I\u2019m building a business with our clients who buy property. If the seller is happy that\u2019s great, but my main concern is our clients who have done all their business through us.", "replies": [], "depth": 9}, {"id": "eu32vso", "text": "I see both of your points. He is trying to get business and is being creative at least. I understand where you\u2019re coming from but he could be doing a lot worse things.\n\nOn the other hand it is a bit of false hope in the sense he is a broker and would collect a commission.\n\nI personally started out in brokerage and am in asset management now. You gota give him some credit. If your property is not on the market you can\u2019t expect investors to be reaching out to you right and left. Anything north of $5M almost always has a broker and good brokers usually already have a wide pool of investors they have relationships with.", "replies": [], "depth": 9}], "depth": 8}], "depth": 7}], "depth": 6}], "depth": 5}], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "eu22zzx", "text": "Sounds like it\u2019s working for you. Must be time consuming though gathering all the data and compiling it though huh?", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "etyo1c6", "text": "I like to drive by vacant houses with tall lawns and write down their addresses and how much I would want to buy it for, then look up address on appraisal district to find owners name then an easy google search will normally give their phone number!  Bought a shopping center like this! basically half price!", "replies": [{"id": "etz3ndi", "text": "How'd you go from driving residential houses to a shopping center?", "replies": [{"id": "etzbnxs", "text": "It had a tall lawn, obviously.\n\nIn seriousness, shopping centers can show signs of decline/neglect just like houses can.", "replies": [{"id": "etzd2me", "text": "this is the answer. Drove by it every day and it looked like it needed some work. Thought the phone call to the owner lady wasn\u2019t going to lead to anything but then when she said the price was under 500k I was immediately going to buy.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}, {"id": "eu22re7", "text": "Yeah houses to shopping centers? Half price? What valuation method did you use to determine it was half price? Commercial is vastly different from residential.", "replies": [{"id": "eu2kyui", "text": "haha I think you\u2019re thinking too hard about this. Houses to shopping centers? Yes, I went from buying houses to buying a shopping center. You should think about raising the stakes if you feel comfortable doing so. If you see a shopping center that you know would sell for 1 million and it\u2019s off market but they want 500k, it would be considered worth half of the price that you would be able to sell it for. And yeah commercial is different from residential you are correct, but in this situation a lady inherited the center and it needed new roof and parking lot which I was happy to put on. Once these improvements were made you raise the rent and get the vacancies rented out using a local brokerage. It\u2019s a little different sure. I actually bought this property 50/50 with a friend who\u2019s father owns a commercial shopping center brokerage, so when his father flew down and said it was a great deal- we decided to buy it. Cash. I\u2019ve bought houses using appraisal district to find owner contact info the very same way as I did with this shopping center.", "replies": [{"id": "eu2novm", "text": "I understand the hustle you are talking about. I work in asset management and we have 11m sf of retail. The brief info you gave before didn\u2019t really sound like you knew what you were talking about. I understand now that it\u2019s an add value. I mostly work on anything 10m-200m so your supposed tactics wouldn\u2019t fly. Appreciate the input though. Will consider for personal smaller market deals.", "replies": [], "depth": 4}], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "eu05ktg", "text": "You can send an email blast to property owners and brokers outlining the property type and pricing you\u2019re seeking and some will respond. \n\nBrokerages will give you the emails of all their agents. Just call their office and ask the receptionist to email you a copy of their broker roster. \n\nYou can also scrape them from their websites. \n\nWe have a list of over 30,000 CRE pros and lanldlords in the USA at [Digsy](https://www.getdigsy.com/) . Shoot me a message if you need access contact@getdigsy.com", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]