Everyone knows that the first thing we need to do to be successful in real estate investing is to find the Holy Grail of real estate: The Motivated Seller.

And when it comes to finding that beautiful motivated seller, there’s essentially two options: FREE and PAID.  Another way of saying that: TIME or MONEY.

Obviously, if you have more money than time, you’ll have more choices at your disposal. Direct Mail is most likely your highest & best choice. Hiring someone to find those motivated sellers for you would be another great option.  But this article is NOT about those options. We’ll save that for another time.

No, THIS article is for those of you without the means to pay much for your marketing. This article is for those of you who are currently ‘financially challenged’ (another way of saying broke), or who have more time than money AT THE MOMENT.

And please know that the methods you’re about to discover here can & should be used as often as possible, AND they can get you some great results FAST, you’ll definitely want to invest in direct mail as soon as you’re able.

Before we get started, I think I should cover an obvious point: You need to have a PLAN of ACTION to follow when you contact people with houses for sale. In its simplest form, you’ll need to get the information you need (Property Info Sheet), make an offer, then follow up. KEEP IT SIMPLE!

So are you ready to get some motivated seller leads for FREE?
Great! Let’s go to the Bat-Machine! (your computer).  Open up your browser, because you’re about to get a nice list of WEBSITES to check out…

Ok, let’s start with the 800-pound gorilla: http://Craigslist.org!

 
This is probably one of the best ways of finding sellers for free. All you do is go to Craigslist in your area & search for houses for sale by owner. When you see the results, just pick the ones you identify as possible targets, and contact them.  The great thing about Craigslist is that, in many cases, you have a few choices about how you can contact them: Email, Text, or Phone.

The next website you’ll want to check out is: http://www.ForSaleByOwner.com

What you’ll want to do is simply look for houses you like in the areas you’re interested in. Get in touch with the owners by phone or email.

Next on the list: http://zillow.com

This is a HUGE site & growing all the time. You may already be familiar with it. There’s a TON of data & valuable information here. Just look for listings that are being sold by owner. Then call, text, or email them and get the info you need.

Ready for more? Go here: http://homesbyowner.com

Just like the last one, you’ll want to look for houses that are being sold by owner and get a hold of them to get the required info. You can call, email or text them.

Here’s the next one: http://Trulia.com

Another valuable resource that will surely be worth your while.
TIP: After you click on a house you like, be sure to remove the checkmark from the contact box for agents in the contact form. There are a lot of agents who advertise on this site. You’ll want to focus on owners only. Use the form on the site to contact owners that way.

Another good one: http://RedFin.com

You can email sellers who are looking to sell by owner on this site. Same procedure: Look for houses you like, then contact the ones you find.

One of the best ones is here: http://FSBO.com

Calling, texting, or emailing sellers from houses you find on this site would be a great idea.

Next up: http://Fizber.com

Just follow the usual protocol here by looking for the For Sale By Owner listings. Then use the online form to send them an email.

http://Owners.com is your next website to use.

You should start to see a pattern here – look for the ‘By Owner’ listings and contact them.

Here’s another good one for you: http://Homefinder.com

Guess what you do here? Yeah, you know. Look for the listings being sold by owner, contact them, and make an offer.

So there you have a nice list of 10 sites that you can use for free to find people with a house for sale. The plan is simple: Use those sites to find ‘em, then contact them, get the information you need, and make an offer.

I know, I know. It’s a bit of work to do all that. It takes time. So when you get bored of manually combing through all those sites and decide that you’d like a better way of getting a ton of cheap leads, I have a solution for you.  You’ll need a few bucks for these, though.

First of all, here’s a great site I’ve found that scrapes a lot of those sites (and more) and delivers them directly to your email’s inbox each and every day: http://www.byownerdaily.com/investor  – if you use that link, you’ll get a bit of a discount.

I’ve saved the best for last. This last link is for a fantastic monthly membership site that also has a service that scrapes those sites and delivers them to you every day for houses in your area.  But the great thing about this site is that it has a TON of incredibly valuable real estate information & resources. And if you use this link, you’ll get your first month for only $1 AND get a fantastic wholesaling course & some other bonuses worth $821! Check it out for yourself: https://goo.gl/3ri2yy

So there you have it! You now have a nice list of very valuable websites you can use to browse for sellers in your area with houses of the type you’d like to buy. Use those sites to contact the sellers & go from there.  The good: They’re all free! The bad: It will take time to go through them to find the Pearls inside.

Or you can use the last two sites to have leads delivered directly to you every day, but it will cost you a few measly bucks.  Your choice.

Thanks for reading and I wish you much success in finding those motivated sellers to talk to and make offers for their houses.  Remember to keep it simple, and try to have fun in the process!

Until Next Time,

Tony Pearl