If you can’t find houses to flip or wholesale, you don’t have a business. I’ve said before that finding good deals and getting them under contract is all it takes to be successful as a real estate investor. If you can do those things, you can make money.

Of course, that’s easier said than done… and one of the questions new investors ask more than any other is, “How can I find deals?”

If you’re new to this business (or even if you’ve been doing it for a while) and you’re finding yourself asking that question, listen up.  This article is for you.

I asked 18 active, professional real estate investors to share with me their #1 top acquisition strategy for finding and locking up rock-solid properties.  Their responses are pure gold… check it out!

Andy McFarland

Direct to seller marketing. I spend tens of thousands of dollars every month to find leads through direct mail, signs, SEO, PPC, networking, etc. Then the leads go through our system/team and we CREATE deals.

Andy McFarland is a self-made real estate entrepreneur who started with nothing and currently makes seven figures a year in his real estate business.

After getting fired from his last W-2 job in 2004, Andy went into real estate full time and has never looked back. Andy currently focuses on wholesaling properties in three different states; Utah, New Mexico, and Indiana. In 2015 alone, Andy did over 150 wholesale deals. You can follow Andy on his real estate journey by going to his website: www.iloverealestatestories.com or on his YouTube channel by searching for I Love Real Estate Stories.  Andy is a coach along with Justin Williams in the House Flipping Formula and 7 Figure Flipping programs.

Danny Johnson

Currently my number one way to buy investment properties is my house buying website. My website does several things for my real estate investing business:

Gives Credibility – Just having a website shows you are at least somewhat legit. Include a Better Business Bureau logo (if you are accredited, and you should be) and some testimonials and you will be seen as much more professional than your competition. Think about it, you are telling people you will pay cash for their house with your marketing. How are you going to do that if you don’t have a professional real estate investor website?

Allows People To Find More About How the Process Works – Many times, people are skeptical about all of the ‘we buy houses’ advertising. That’s why when you start to search for ‘we buy houses’ in the Google search box, it will many times give the suggestion ‘we buy houses scam’. People are skeptical and they have a right to be. See the point just made about credibility. Your website can educate people on the why, the how and everything else you want them to know about you and your business.

Gives People Another Way to Contact Me – Some people just don’t like to call strangers. They might not want to call me and would rather get on the internet and find out more about me and submit their information without talking to me.

Asks Them All The Right Questions – My website has a simple form them to fill out. Once they give me basic information, the next page asks a lot more questions that walks them through the details of their house and why they are selling. This way, I know most of what I need to know before I ever call them back and can be ready to set an appointment with them if my due diligence shows a deal can be had.

Allows Me To Beat The Competition – My website sends me a text message and an email as soon as someone sends me a lead. I know about the submission immediately and can call them, thereby likely keeping them from contacting my competitors. You see, when people get online to sell a house, they are simply looking for someone to say they are interested so that they feel they’ve done what they set out to do that day, get the ball rolling. If they just fill out a form, it’s really easy for them to go back to the search results and visit more websites and fill out their forms. If you can get in contact with them immediately and set an appointment to see the house, they will likely feel like they accomplished their immediate goal.

Danny Johnson has flipped hundreds of houses over the last 12 years in San Antonio, TX. He blogs about flipping houses at FlippingJunkie.com and has a best-selling book on Amazon entitled Flipping Houses Exposed: 34 Weeks in the Life of a Successful House Flipper. He also provides real estate investor websites at LeadPropeller.com.  And he’s Justin’s bestest friend in the whole world.  (Ha ha, Danny wrote this bio himself… thanks Danny!  Love ya, man! – Justin)

Holly McKhann

Our ONLY source of acquisitions is realtors and wholesalers that I have met through my networking.  I am a huge proponent of networking, as that has been my only source of deals for the last 100 homes we’ve purchased.  There is definitely a lot to learn about how to leverage your time in this very valuable skill and I share that in my free download at www.HouseFlipMasters.com.  In that download I share with you the strategies that have led to my huge success in not only acquiring properties, but also finding private investors, contractors, and other people necessary in your house flipping business.

Holly McKhann is a full-time real estate investor and works with her husband Scott, having done over 200 fix and flips together in Southern California over the past seven years.  Holly began her career as a CPA, working for Ernst & Young.  She also earned an MBA in finance.   Scott is a registered civil engineer with a decade of experience at public home builders.  Their blend of expertise and experience has attracted multiple investors, allowing them to expand their business.  You can check out everything they’re up to at HouseFlipMasters.com!

Holly and Scott love working from home and enjoying their freedom as entrepreneurs.  They have been married 24 years and have 4 children ages 13, 15, 18 and 21.  They live in Dana Point, CA and flip homes all throughout Southern California.  Holly is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Gabriel Garcia

Our number one strategy is just marketing for direct sellers and going to their properties and doing presentations.

Gabriel lives in Miramar, FL, and invests in Miami Dade, Broward, and West Palm Beach counties.  He’s been investing since 2012, and is currently focused on rehabs and wholesales.  He finished off 2015 with about 50 completed transactions and is aiming to double that in 2016. Check out Gabriel’s website, FloridaCashHomeBuyers.com, or connect with him directly on Facebook!

Dave Payerchin

Bandit Signs.  They’re not glamorous, but they work.  Also we have a reputation as a pretty strong buyer so we have other wholesalers/birddogs bringing us deals.

Dave Payerchin is co-founding partner of Columbus Turnkey Houses and a Licensed Realtor with Shoreway Realty group in Ohio.  His specialties are networking, raising capital, system automation, and developing/maintaining relationships.  Dave has formal training in several facets of real estate investing and has been successfully closing real estate transactions in several states (including Ohio) since 2005. Prior to joining Columbus Turn Key Houses  Dave worked as a real estate trainer and professional speaker.  His hobbies include rooting for the Cleveland Browns & Cavs, rooting for The Ohio State Buckeyes, spending time with his parents and his 7 nieces and nephews.

Shawn Wolfswinkel

MLS and Direct Mail are our top two acquisition strategies.  We purchase 8 homes a month and 4 come from each lead source.  We make 100 MLS offers a week and we send out 2398 mailers per week via direct mail.  We have one employee that makes the MLS offers for us under our brokerage and that same employee handles the leads that come in from the direct mail.  We are currently having the leads from direct mail be answered by Pat Live and inputted into our CRM.  Our employee follows up with all of the leads and makes an offer to each lead.   We also have an outside employee that meets with homeowners, views the properties, and walks them to make sure we have a deal.

Shawn Wolfswinkel has 15 years of experience in Real Estate. He purchased his first investment property at the age of 19.  Since then he has bought and sold over 700 properties.  He has continued his training every year, attending numerous seminars and educational functions to strengthen his expertise in Real Estate. He has been educated on wholesaling property, pre-foreclosures, rehabilitation and contracting, leasing and management, owner financing, Commercial real estate, financing, contracts, and state laws.  He currently owns 28 personal rental properties, buys and sells 100 homes a year through his Turnkey Company, TexasTurnkeyProperties.com, and manages 700 properties through his Management companies, Real Property Management Preferred located in Houston, TX and Real Property Management Albuquerque located in Albuquerque, NM.

Cory Boatright

Ugly postcards.

Cory Boatright is a social connector who believes in servant leadership.  He’s a serial entrepreneur and founder of Real Estate Investing Profits and Phenomenal Results Coaching. Between himself, his teams, and his students all over the world, he’s bought and sold over 75 million dollars in real estate by completing over 1000 real estate transactions.

Today he coaches high achieving entrepreneurs and their teams to getting phenomenal results in their businesses. Fast Company Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and even Harvard University are among a few leading organizations that view him as a thought leader and visionary. Cory’s biggest success was beating Thyroid Cancer. Today he’s using the life lessons in what he learned to inspire, impact and serve others at The GrafefulProject.

William Morgan

Direct mail marketing.

William has been investing in RE since 2003 and has performed 11 rehabs, 5 wholesales, and 2 buy and hold deals. He lives and invests on the Central Coast of California, in San Luis Obispo County and the surrounding areas, where home prices range between $400k to 600k or more. Properties vary widely from upscale coastal areas, horse county, wine country and rural. His primary focus is rehabs. Check out his site, http://www.williambuyshouses.com/.  William is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Sharon Vornholt

Direct mail marketing has always been my #1 source of leads.

Sharon Vornholt is the owner of Innovative Property Solutions in Louisville, KY.  She has been investing in real estate since 1998 and has been a full time wholesaler since 2008.

Sharon is the creator of the Louisville Gals Real Estate Louisville Gals Real Estate Blog and the popular podcast “Let’s Talk Real Estate Investing”.  She is also mentor and a coach who loves teaching others how to succeed in this business.  You can find out more about her at LouisvilleGalsRealEstateBlog.com.

Doug and Andrea Van Soest

Direct mail is still our best source.

Doug is a former appraiser and his wife Andrea is an interior designer and licensed realtor.  They began flipping houses in the Inland Empire area of Southern California in late 2008.  They quickly transitioned to flipping houses full-time and have been fix-n-flipping, wholesaling, and buying rentals all over Southern California ever since.  They are currently doing about 5-6 deals per month and just started a podcast called Spouses Flipping Houses.

Kristi Cirtwill

This year all my deals came through referrals. I tell everyone I know that I am in the business of buying distressed properties.

Kristi Cirtwill is an active real estate investor who has purchased over 125 properties in the southern California area to flip and hold since 2008. She lives in Cerritos and hosts food nights and plays music in her spare time. To connect with Kristi and check out some of the incredible rehabs she’s done, head over to Cirtwill Investments Inc! Kristi is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Randy Lawrence

Our primary strategy for acquisition is threefold: 1) leverage a great network of people for locating properties, 2) utilize the MLS, and 3) aggressively execute our direct to seller marketing campaigns.

Randy Lawrence is an indomitable entrepreneur with over 24 years of experience and four successful real estate investment companies. He is also a pastor and founder of multiple life changing ministries and in the last 15 years has impacted over 40,000 people. He has been featured in the St. Petersburg Times, Tampa Tribune, and seen on CBN, NBC and CTN as the “Transformation Expert” focused on transforming lives.  Randy is also the host of the Real Estate Preacher Podcast.

Alex Bejenaru

In 2015 it has been wholesalers and realtors. In 2016 I’m looking to have at least 75% of my business be self generated through my website or direct mail efforts.

Alex Bejenaru is a lifelong Southern California resident living in Yorba Linda, CA, with his wife and 2 kids.  He started his flipping business in February 2014 as Premier Pacific Properties, LLC (webuysocalhomes.com), and in 2015, he quit his full time gig as a residential loan officer to be a flipper full time.  In 2014 he bought 2 flips and is finishing up 2015 with an additional 9 flips completed and 2 properties wholesaled.

Andrew Herrig

Our number one acquisition strategy is marketing directly to the seller via our house buying website or direct mail to potential sellers with equity.

Andrew Herrig lives in Dallas, TX along with his wife and daughter. He has been investing in the DFW market since 2013 when he bought his first rental property. Andrew is primarily focused on his wholesaling business, but also flips and has a growing portfolio of rental properties. He has done 11 deals in the past two years, and is looking forward to scaling his business in 2016 and beyond!  Check out his website at http://www.andrewbuyshousesdfw.com.  Andrew is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

RJ Pepino

Probate marketing to attorneys and executors.

RJ is an experienced real estate investor who has closed over 150 real estate transactions and co-founder of Columbus Turnkey Houses. He is an expert in the Columbus market. He has had formal training in deal structuring, creative financing, and other residential real estate areas. He received his BA in Marketing Management from Youngstown State University in 2005. RJ attended Youngstown State University on a full ride tennis scholarship where he played #1 Singles and Doubles all 4 years. His hobbies include tennis, photography, Cross-fit workouts, and guitar.

Jack Bosch

Direct mail to owners of properties who haven’t paid their property taxes.

Jack Bosch is one of the Country’s foremost experts in Tax Delinquent Property Investing and more recently an educator in Real Estate Investing. Since 2002, Jack has been buying and selling mainly unimproved land and has completed more than 3,203 land deals.  Learn more at JackBosch.com.

Tom Bujnowski

Best strategy is working probates.

Tom has been investing in real estate for 13 years.  A former Catholic priest, he is married with 2 teenage sons and flips houses in the Chicagoland area. Tom is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

Delon Hall

The source of my deals varies based on my desired exit strategy. The majority of my acquisitions has been from my network. In the past, working as a wholesaler has allowed me to build reputation with sellers and investors as the buyer that can close, putting me first in line when they get their hands on a deal. My best friends next to my clients are my suppliers. When I’m not on the phone with a client/potential client, I’m reminding my network that I’m buying… whether they have inventory or not. As far as my agency and wholesaling company, I am shifting our lead targeting focus to online versus direct mail. My market is saturated by competition and I’m finding a lot of their mailers blanketing my target markets, so as the world shifts their attention online, so will my marketing. I am looking for the people that need to sell and sell fast, that go online for an instant response.

Delon Hall is a fix-and-flipper in Atlanta, who in 2016 will attempt to take on Chicago and Orlando as well. A wholesaler since 2008, Delon is also a buy and hold investor with 3 properties in NW Indiana, 2 in Chicago, and a package deal in the works in SW Atlanta.  He is also a licensed agent with a team of 2 staff and 3 agents. Delon is a member of the House Flipping Formula coaching program.

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