The problem with being in real estate is that right now everybody and his brother wants to get in to it. They watch shows like Flip This House and Property Ladder and just assume that any old idiot can go out there and make a ton. While you don’t need to be a Harvard scholar to be successful in this business, you do need some knowledge and expertise to do this business well.

What these shows on TV don’t show is how the people that they are filming found their deals in the first place. That is the key. It is true in real estate and it is true in every business that you make your money when you buy. Whether you are selling rubber balls or houses, the key to making money is to buy it for a lower price than what you can sell it for. The difference between selling something like rubber balls and real estate is that it is a whole lot easier to buy wholesale products than it is to buy wholesale real estate. The key is knowing where to look.

To make money in real estate, you need an advantage over you competition. So why not just eliminate them! That is what you need to do—eliminate your competition. How do you do that? Easy. Quit looking under the same rocks as your competition. If everybody is calling through the paper to find deals, do you think it may be harder for you to find a deal there? The same is true with Realtors too. I am not saying that you won’t find deals there, you just have to divide your time according to the likelihood of you finding a deal where you are looking. So try to think outside the box.

1. Charitable Organizations

Did you know that one of the largest owners of land in the world is the Church. This is not because they are in the business of buying a selling real estate, but rather it is because a lot of the times, when people pass away, they leave their houses to the Church. The church is not the only recipient of this type of charitable organization. Maybe you should look in to making contact with the managers of your local Salvation Army, the pastors and priests of some local churches or even the financial planning departments of Universities. That’s right, many universities have entire departments geared to convincing their alumni to leave money and assets to the university in their wills. None of these entities necessarily want to own property. What they want is to sell the property as quickly as possible so they can have revenue to support the organization.

2. Marketing

A lot of people are sending out cards and letters and are putting out bandit signs. You need to be a little different from them in order to stand out of the white noise. First, understand that letters always work better than postcards. Especially when you take the time to hand address the letters. You see, people get all kinds of junk mail every day. If they receive a hand-addressed letter, their curiosity will be piqued and they will WANT to open it. As far as your signs go, remember how expensive they are. They can cost up to ten dollars a piece. If you put your signs on light poles in the neighborhoods, then code enforcement may take them down. You may as well have lit a bon fire with the money you just spent on signs. Instead, get more bang for your buck by putting the signs on vacant property. Now, if there is already a sign there that says “No trespassing,” then don’t put a sign there. That will be breaking the law.

3. Attorneys

Attorneys get paid by helping people solve their problems. Often times, those problems will have real estate involved. This is by far my favorite way to find deals. In fact, I have found most of my deals from probate. The thing about probate is that there more often than not will be an attorney involved. (Find out more about finding deals in probate at http://www.probaterealestatedeals.com) There are other types of attorneys that may help people solve their real estate attorneys. You may try to contact divorce, foreclosure and bankruptcy attorneys as well. Attorneys are easy to find, too. Just turn to the letter A in your yellow pages. Attorneys usually represent the largest section of the phone book. Call or send letters to each type of attorney that may deal with real estate.

These are just three different methods that are a little different from the way other people are fining deals. The intent of this article is to get your creative juices flowing. You may come up with some other techniques for finding deals on your own. If you do, just remember who helped you get started. LOL.

Happy Investing!!

Brandon Lambert