See How Easily You Can Find Detroit Houses for Sale Cheap

You may not like what I’m about to say, but if you’re trying to find Detroit houses for sale cheap, you gotta put some work in.

What I’ve found, is that if you sit back and wait for stuff to show up on the MLS, or you’re searching for FSBO’s in the newspaper or online, good luck.

In life, I’ve found that quite often, the path of least resistance is crowded (that may take a second to sink in).

And that’s definitely the case here.

If you’re serious about finding Detroit houses for sale cheap, you need to focus on two words:

Motivated. Sellers.

You gotta get off your butt and findpeople that are motivated to get rid of their

homes as soon as possible. You might be surprised to find out just how many people out there want to get rid of their houses that don’t have their properties listed on the MLS, online, or in the newspaper.

So anyways, here are some resources you can use to find Detroit houses for sale cheap:

Property Managers

Property managers who’ve been around for a while tend to know quite a few residential real estate owners.

And the more clients they have, the more client’s they tend to have that are tired of being landlords.

And even if they don’t have that many clients, you still want to contact them, because smaller property management companies quite often have clients (landlords) that don’t have that many properties.

And small-time landlords can be just as eager to get rid of their properties as the “big boys” with huge inventories.

So you might want to contact as many property managers as you can, and let them know that you’re interested in buying properties from their clients that are tired of being landlords.

To sweeten the deal for them, let them know that if you end up buying one of their client’s properties, you’ll give them an finder’s fee.

Or, since a lot of property managers are agents, you might offer to let them let them keep six percent of the commission, instead of just the three percent they’d get as the listing agent.

You can find some great deals this way, because a lot of the houses will need repairs. They might even come with renters already occupied, if that appeals to you (or your clients).

In fact, you might be surprised. If the owner is motivated enough, they may even offer seller financing.

Building Code Enforcement Department

Now before you say, “Aw, Alvin, I don’t want condemned properties,” hear me out.

Properties that get reported (usually by neighbors) aren’t always in terrible shape. In fact, a neighbor might report a house just because the grass is too tall.

Sometimes they report properties because they because kids in the neighborhood keep running into the vacant property, and they’re concerned about the safety of the kids.

Bottom line, there could be a multitude of reasons why a particular property ends up being discussed at the building enforcement meetings.

Find out when these meetings are taking place; they’re public meetings, so you can attend.

If you want to give this method a shot, you’ll have to be persistent, but you’ll definitely come across some deals.

All you need to do is pass out your business card and develop some rapport with the property owners that attend the meetings.

New Subdivisions

A friend of mine in the industry “hipped” me to this one a few months ago, I thought it was brilliant.

This one is great if you’re looking for a home to live in. Heck, it’s even good if you’re an investor, although I’d stay away from higher-end properties if I was just getting started as an investor.

Anyways, you might be surprised to find out just how many foreclosures are homes that were bought in just the last few years.

Too often, people financially go beyond their means and get mortgages on properties that they shouldn’t.

What you can do is put up some marketing tools in the area of the subdivision that you want to target, to let people in that subdivision know that you buy properties in their area.

Find local businesses (grocery stores are great) that have billboards that you can post your flyers up on.

If you’re persistent, you’ll find people that are stressed-out and overextended financially that are looking for help.

You might even be able to just take over payments on their low-interest, owner occupied loan.

You never know ’till you try.

Older Neighborhoods

New subdivisions aren’t the only place where people overextend themselves financially. People do it in regular middle-class neighborhoods too.

Too often, owning a reveals a lot of “hidden” costs that catch new homeowners off guard.

If you want to market yourself to these people that are in over their head on their new mortgages, befriend a real estate agent and ask them to print you a list of properties sold in the last two years that were bought with VA and FHA loans.

Then you can just mail out your postcards or letters to these people.

Best of luck.

Have you used any of these techniques before? If so, how did it work out for you? Leave a comment below.

For more tips on finding motivated sellers, be sure to download our FREE “Real Estate 101” book. Details are in the right column on this page.