Ad #4 brings in sellers that are behind on payments – foreclosures, but also those that have two house payments. It brings in sellers with good debt and bad debt. This is a great ad to bring in lease option sellers.

      There are many types of ads you can run. Experiment with them in your area. Also use different types of papers. You can try your little local papers or your larger metropolitan area papers depending on your budget and your target market. Also, I have tried some in the For Rent section and some in the For Sale section depending on the ad.

      4.Tear-off Flyers in local drug stores, convenience stores, party stores – wherever you can get them posted. These tear off flyers can say the same things as the signs and ads. The tear off parts should have your phone number, website if you have one, and a short statement like “We Buy Houses.”

      5.Realtors® - to let them know what type of homes you buy and how you can help them sell their listings. This will be discussed in much more detail when we talk about working with Realtors® in later chapters. This is one of my favorite ways of finding deals. I currently find 90-95% of my sandwich lease options from Realtors.

      6.Long-term M.L.S. Listings – If you are not a Realtor®, then you can hire a Realtor® to do a search for you of listings on the market of over 90 days or 120 days. These are sellers that are getting motivated because their homes have not sold. Also, you can have them run all the expired listings.

      7.Out-of-State Owners – There are services in many cities that allow you to find all out-of-state owners, or owners where tax bills are sent to addresses not at the property (non-owner-occupied). Out of state owners are far away from their property and many times want to get rid of the far away headache and move on with their life. Also, they may not really know what the current market is anymore.

      8.Vacant Homes are an indication that someone is making a payment on a home that is not being used. Find the owner and write them a letter. You can write a letter right to the home and hope it gets answered, or find the owner through the post office, township tax records or hire a skip trace service (you know, a “private eye”). Skip trace services are great ways to find not only sellers that you want to find, but later missing tenants you want to find. They can be fairly inexpensive per search. Check around for a good company that gives good prices and reliable service. Also ask for a recommendation for a skip trace service from a Realtor® or a place that does background checks. You’ll start to hear a few names again and again, and you’ll be able to make an informed choice.

      9.Real Estate Investor Clubs or Associations (also known as REIAs) always have other investors with homes that they haven’t sold or want to sell. Network and let others know what you do. I have bought several very good deals from other investors, either because they had their hands full at the time with their own deals, or they were out of their area. You should be a member of a local real estate investor club and be regularly attending meetings. It is one of the best places to network.

      10.Corporate Relocation Departments have inventory of homes that have not sold. If the company does not do a corporate buyout, then the owners would be great candidates for a lease option. They have relocated and need to have someone in that home and making payments.

      11.Your Local Chamber of Commerce can tell you what businesses are leaving, who is coming in, etc. If you have many properties, they might also list you as a rental company and refer incoming people in the area to call you.

      12.Word of Mouth. After you have been in this business and networked over a few years, you will start to get deals brought to you by word of mouth. Someone knows someone that knows that you buy homes. I have bought some of my most profitable homes from word of mouth.

      There are many ways to find sellers and get lease option deals, but my favorite ways are:

      1)Calling Sellers right from Craigslist or the newspaper

      2)Working with Real Estate Agents

      Motivated Landlords

      Landlords can be great motivated sellers, especially if they are burned out. If the economy is slow, they might have higher vacancies than in a fast or hot market. In my experience, I have found there are two basic types of burned out landlords:

      1.The one that has watched a lot of late night TV and decided to make their millions in real estate.

      Unfortunately, there are many people that buy real estate with no knowledge or experience. They think they know it all after a high-powered, adrenaline-rushed sales pitch. There are, however, many state and federal laws that regulate this business. This type of landlord will fall for the professional tenants and their stories and experience, and often end up getting burned.

      Understanding how to screen tenants and select them is key not only to being a good landlord, but also the business of selling using lease options. By being a member of a local real estate group, investors will get the education and assistance they need to be successful as an investor. If you want to find a group in your area you can check the National Real Estate Investors Association website – in the back of the book for a group in your area.

      2.The second type of landlord is not really “burned” like the first type of landlord, but they are retiring and moving on with their life. They don’t need the money from the sale of a