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Are you active with social media? If you have facebook friends you could put out a request that they let their neighbors know you are looking for unadvertised properties. If you have a twitter account, you could just tweet what you are looking for and the location. A really 'hungry' real estate agent could help a lot.
Just do it. There are many older folks that still read the newspaper, also as another poster suggested, use craigslist, the word may get out to someone that knows someone, never know, nothing to lose and everything to gain. You can go door to door and drop off a letter, if you have a few dollars to spare then, you can print some flyers/postcards and send a mass mailing via direct mail, i.e., USPS, Experian, etc. to people in the target areas of interest. In some jurisdictions names/address area available at county office and/or online. You can also post flyers on bulletin boards in libraries, laundry mats, supermarkets, community centers, church, ymcas, pet shops, town hall, etc., the possibilities are endless, you are only imited by your imagination, go for it.
The letter should be simple and genuine, first state that you are not a realtor/investor, explain how you and your wife are searching and interested for a suitable home in their area, make a list of things you'd like in the house, also state in the letter if they know of anyone that may be interested or would consider selling to pass along this information to them and lastly. your contact information.
This implies a very weak market.
Try renting instead of buying or choose a stronger area.
It's not that it is necessarily weak it is that there aren't a lot of buyers in the price range we're looking at. Lower price homes move okay but there is apparently a price above which the potential buyers are a bit more scarce (not that we're looking for a one-of-a-kind mansion).
It's not that it is necessarily weak it is that there aren't a lot of buyers in the price range we're looking at. Lower price homes move okay but there is apparently a price above which the potential buyers are a bit more scarce (not that we're looking for a one-of-a-kind mansion).
So you're looking to buy an expensive home in an area where expensive homes rarely sell? Are you planning on staying in it for the rest of your life? If you do have to sell at some point you may be setting yourself up for a lot of pain.
There are better options I think. In many MLS systems the Realtors can see expired listings. Ask your agent to run a search of the expired listings. This might help you locate something that was listed and not sold. You and the agent can proceed from there in contacting the owners. Also ask your agent if s/he can email all of the agents in the area. Many systems have a quick way to do this. I know when I worked as an agent I received emails looking for a specific type of property. Ask your agent to send out this type of email being very specific.
As well as doing both of these, your agent should be able to get specified lists from the title companies. I have access to two title company databases and can get lists that are extremely targeted. I can pull by so many criteria.
I just send out about 250 letters for a buyer and I received 12 calls off of that letter.
I think you'd be setting yourself up to be innundated by realtors and people trying to unload their houses, no matter how little they resemble what you're looking for.
I think a better approach might be to find a few areas/subdivisions that you like, find the owners' names from courthouse records and send letters to them.
My thought exactly. You can always change the house to meet your needs but not the neighborhood. By directly contacting the owners you can save them thousands in commissions which will look better in their pocket resulting in more pricing flexiblity for you. A good real estate lawyer to be sure all is done correctly and a few good inspectors.
To get names of owners in a particular neighborhood you are interested in, go to a reverse directory, which lists owners by house number on the street. Mail out to those addresses, and be sure to state you are a buyer not an agent.
To contact you, do not want to give your name, phone number or home address. Here are some ways to handle this.
1: A post office box number.
2: Phone. Not your regular home number. Go down to Walmart or other retailer and buy a voip phone service. I like NetTalk, which you buy for $43 which includes a year service. You then register the phone, and are given a number. For one year, you can have this phone service with long distance calls to US and Canada Free. When that phone rings, you know it is someone answering your ad, and no one can find who you are or where you live. You will find it works as well as regular land line service. But the good thing is, you know it is someone calling on your ad when it rings.
The good thing about this is, if you are looking for property in another city, you can have your phone number in any city in the whole country, down to a particular zip code. Example you can be living in New York City, and looking for property in Denver Colorado. Just get a Denver number. The sellers then call you as if you are local.
This is also great, if you are looking for a job in another city, and can apply with a local phone number.
I bought one of these phone services for one of my sons at Christmas. It worked so well for him, that we ended up getting ourselves one, and had our old phone number moved to this NetTalk service. Works perfect every time either placing or receiving calls and the sound is as good as the phone company for 4 months now. $39.95 a year instead of much more than that every month. Nice thing is, we don't get all the soliciting calls we used to get. We did get a new number. They also have a lot of extras that often cost extra with the phone company for free.
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