How to Find Motivated Sellers

Tax delinquent, probate, code violation and pre-foreclosure lists

Owners behind on property taxes, estates in probate, houses the city keeps citing and owners with a foreclosure filing. These come from county and city records (see step 3), or a data tool builds them for you. They're still the core of most wholesalers' marketing, because each one points to a real problem.

Rough cost

Free to low from the county (some sell their lists). Data tools from about $99 a month.

Effort

Medium. Pulling, cleaning and updating the lists every month.

Main rules: Use your state's public records law, not FOIA, for city and county lists. Owners in foreclosure, and in some states owners on a tax sale list, are covered by equity purchaser laws with cancel rights and required contract wording. Talk to an attorney before you contact them.

Read my code violation list guide and my Tax Delinquent Blueprint review.

Driving for dollars

Driving or walking neighborhoods and saving run-down or vacant houses: tall grass, boarded windows, piled-up mail. Step 4 covers how to do it right.

That's how I started in the Detroit area: brute force. I drove neighborhoods, wrote down addresses and left door notes. It's slow, but it costs almost nothing and teaches you a market fast.

Rough cost

Low: gas and an app. DealMachine plans start around $99 a month if you want the app to look up owners for you.

Effort

High. Hours in the car, every week.

Main rules: Stay on public streets and sidewalks. Don't go onto the property. Check your city's rules before you leave notes or door hangers.

I use DealMachine for this. Read my DealMachine review.

List stacking, skip tracing and data tools

Stacking means layering signals, like absentee and vacant and behind on taxes, so you work the owners with the most reasons to sell first. Skip tracing finds phone numbers and emails for those owners. Data tools do both, and most outbound marketing starts here.

Rough cost

DealMachine from about $99 a month per seat, up to about $599 for its biggest package. PropStream about $81 to $99 a month, plus about 12 cents per skip-traced contact. Other tools run from about $119 a month up to several hundred.

Effort

Medium. Learning the filters, then cleaning and updating lists.

Main rules: Owning a phone number doesn't give you consent to call or text it. You still scrub against Do Not Call and check TCPA consent before any autodialed, prerecorded or AI call, and before texting.

My reviews: DealMachine, PropStream and Xleads.

Cold email

Short, plain-text emails to property owners, sent from separate domains so your main email stays safe. It's how I find sellers today.

My system: build the list in DealMachine, verify every address in ZeroBounce and keep only the valid ones, then send in Instantly. For inboxes, I recommend Instantly's Done-For-You Gmail mailboxes, a few per domain, warmed up for 2 to 3 weeks before you send. Keep it to about 15 emails per inbox a day, one simple question per email, and stop when someone replies.

Rough cost

Instantly sending plans about $47 to $358 a month. Done-For-You Gmail mailboxes about $5 per inbox a month, plus about $15 per domain a year. ZeroBounce from about $39 per 2,000 checks. DealMachine from about $99 a month.

Effort

Medium. Most of the work is the setup (domains, inboxes, warmup), then reading replies every day.

Main rules: CAN-SPAM covers commercial email, with no carve-out for emails to consumers or businesses. Treat seller emails as covered: honest From line and subject, identify the message as an ad, include your physical mailing address and a working opt-out, and honor opt-outs within 10 business days. State wholesaling disclosures apply to email too.

Want the whole system done with you? Meet Carl and the B2C Cold Email Lab. For the list, read my DealMachine review.

Cold calling

Calling owners from a skip-traced list, by hand or with a power dialer. It's still one of the most common ways wholesalers find deals, and it's a skill you can learn with a good script and a lot of reps.

Rough cost

Dialers about $89 to $299 per user a month, plus your list and skip tracing.

Effort

High. Calling hours every day, plus follow-up and scrubbing.

Main rules: Under the TCPA and the FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule: call only between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. the owner's local time, scrub against the National Do Not Call Registry at least every 31 days, and keep your own do not call list. Autodialed or prerecorded calls need consent. Florida, Oklahoma and Maryland cut off at 8 p.m. and limit calls to 3 in 24 hours. Courts disagree on whether we-buy-houses calls are solicitations, so treat yours as covered.

Chris and Heather Logan teach wholesaling over the phone with cold calling as the main lead source. Read my Virtual Wholesaling Made Simple review. Free: my cold calling script and calling rules.

Texting

Texts to skip-traced cell numbers through a texting platform. It's still common, but carriers filter more texts than they used to, and the rules are tight.

Rough cost

Platforms about $199 to $499 a month, plus 2 to 3 cents a text. High-volume plans run about $497 to $2,297 a month.

Effort

Medium. Registration up front, then fast replies.

Main rules: Texts count as calls under the TCPA. Autodialed texts need consent, and marketing texts need written consent. Do Not Call and calling hours apply. Honor any reasonable opt-out quickly. Carriers require 10DLC registration (a carrier rule, not a law) for business texts from regular numbers, which takes weeks. Washington bans commercial texts that promote real property, Texas requires registration for texting solicitations without consent, and Florida has its own consent law.

Direct mail

Postcards, letters, yellow letters or handwritten notes mailed to a list, usually several times. Once it's set up, the printing and mailing are mostly done for you.

Rough cost

Retail postage about $0.65 a postcard and $0.82 a letter. DealMachine postcards, printed and mailed, about $0.70 to $0.89 each. Handwritten services about $0.73 to $0.93 each.

Effort

Low to medium. Design once, then repeat mailings.

Main rules: Some states require a notice on your mail. Georgia requires a capitalized THIS IS A SOLICITATION notice at the top and solicitation wording on the envelope, plus extra lines if you name a price. Indiana requires its own statement, and New York City has rules for unsolicited offers. Never make mail look like it's from a government office, court or lender.

DealMachine sends mail right from the app: my DealMachine review. And if you like mail, the Community Card Playbook ↗ postcard course is worth a look. It's a side business, not seller marketing: you sell local businesses ad spots on a shared postcard, and you still have to sell the spots.

Heads up: I earn a commission if you buy through my link. Costs you nothing extra, but it helps fund my Starbucks addiction. ☕

Ringless voicemail

A recorded message dropped straight into voicemail without the phone ringing. It's still sold a lot, but it's riskier than it looks.

Rough cost

About $125 a month for a few thousand drops, or about 1 to 5 cents a drop.

Effort

Low. Record once and upload a list.

Main rules: The FCC ruled that ringless voicemail to a cell phone is a call under the TCPA. Because it's a prerecorded message, it needs consent, and written consent for marketing. A skip-traced list doesn't have that. Some states add their own recorded-message rules.

AI calling and texting assistants

AI voice agents or AI texting that make calls, qualify leads or follow up. Using AI to answer your inbound calls is one thing. Using it to cold call a list is another.

Rough cost

Add-ons from about $89 a month, or about 8 cents a minute plus the call.

Effort

Low to medium to set up. The legal risk is high.

Main rules: Consent warning: the FCC ruled that AI-generated voices are artificial voices under the TCPA. Outbound AI calls need prior express consent, and prior express written consent for marketing, the same as a robocall. Skip-traced numbers don't come with that consent, so don't point an AI caller at a cold list. AI texting falls under the texting rules above.

Door knocking

Visiting owners in person, usually to follow up on a list or a driving-for-dollars house. Not many people do it, so a friendly face at the door stands out.

Rough cost

Low: mostly your time and gas.

Effort

High. One door at a time.

Main rules: Many cities require a solicitor or peddler permit and enforce no-soliciting signs. Philadelphia keeps a do-not-solicit list. Respect no trespassing signs, leave when asked and never go inside a vacant house.

Bandit signs

We buy houses signs on corners and poles. It's an older method. You still see them, but not many people use them anymore, mostly because cities pull them down and fine for them.

Rough cost

Signs and stakes are cheap. Fines in example cities run about $150 to $500 per sign.

Effort

Low to medium. Putting them out, and replacing the ones that get pulled.

Main rules: Many cities ban signs on poles and in the public right-of-way, including Houston, San Antonio and Jacksonville, and Texas restricts signs along state roads. Check your local sign ordinance before you put one up.

Seller website

A simple we-buy-houses site with a lead form. Every inbound channel below sends people here, so build it first.

Rough cost

Investor website builders like Carrot about $99 to $119 a month for one site, about $299 for an agency plan.

Effort

Low to medium to launch, then ongoing content.

Main rules: If you'll call or text form leads with a dialer, AI or recorded messages, your form needs clear written consent wording that meets the TCPA. Add any disclosures your state requires in advertising.

SEO

Ranking your site for local searches like sell my house fast in your city, with local pages, helpful content, a Google Business Profile and real reviews. It's slow, but the leads keep coming once you rank.

Rough cost

Mostly your time, plus the website.

Effort

High, and it takes months to pay off.

Main rules: Keep your claims truthful. Some state wholesaling laws require disclosures in advertising or limit how you describe yourself (Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Illinois and South Carolina, among others).

Google Ads and Local Services Ads

Paid search ads on terms like sell my house fast that send people to your seller site. Leads come in quickly, and so do the bills.

Rough cost

No price list: Google prices clicks by auction. Agency figures put clicks around $25 to $80 or more in busy markets.

Effort

Medium to high. Keywords, negative keywords, call tracking and fast follow-up.

Main rules: Google's housing ad policy says US housing ads can't target by ZIP code, age, gender, marital or parental status. Local Services Ads' real estate category is for agents and brokers and checks licenses, so a wholesaler likely won't qualify. Check with Google before you plan on it.

Facebook and Meta ads

Paid social ads, often a short video or a lead form, shown to local homeowners. Good creative and quick follow-up matter more than anything.

Rough cost

You set the budget. Spend varies a lot by market.

Effort

Medium. Testing ads and calling leads back fast.

Main rules: Meta requires US housing ads to run in the Housing Special Ad Category, which limits targeting by age, gender and ZIP code. A we-buy-houses ad very likely counts, so choose the category. Fair housing rules apply.

Social media and YouTube

Regular local posts and videos: how selling as-is works, before-and-after houses, answers to seller questions. It builds trust, and the content keeps working for you.

Rough cost

Low: mostly time and editing.

Effort

Medium to high. It only works if you stay consistent.

Main rules: The FTC's Endorsement Guides apply to testimonials and paid endorsements. Boosted posts are ads, so Meta's housing category applies. State advertising rules apply too.

PPL (pay per lead)

Buying seller leads that a vendor generated, often exclusive to you and by county. You skip the marketing and pay for each lead instead.

Rough cost

About $30 to $75 or more per lead, depending on how local the area is.

Effort

Low to buy, medium to work. Call fast, before the seller cools off.

Main rules: Before you call with a dialer, use AI or text a bought lead, ask the vendor how it got consent. The form the seller filled out should include written consent that covers your business. A TCPA compliant label isn't proof.

Referrals and bird dogs

Contractors, property managers, attorneys, past sellers and bird dogs (people who find leads for a fee) who pass houses your way. Step 6 covers how to build the network.

Rough cost

Low. Referral fees or a thank-you, and your time.

Effort

Low to medium. Stay in touch so they think of you.

Main rules: Bird-dog payments vary by state. In some states, paying an unlicensed person for a real estate lead can count as brokerage. Ask your attorney before you pay anyone per lead. Lesson 2 covers the state rules.

Networking and JVs with wholesalers and agents

Investor meetups, local groups and agent relationships. A JV (joint venture) is when you split a deal with another wholesaler: one brings the contract, the other brings the buyer, or the marketing money.

Rough cost

Low: meetups, coffee and a deal split.

Effort

Medium. Show up, help people and do what you say.

Main rules: Several states treat publicly marketing someone else's contract as brokerage or require disclosures, including Kentucky, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Illinois, Oregon and Pennsylvania. Put every JV in writing.

Expired and withdrawn listings

Owners whose listing expired or was pulled without a sale. They already wanted to sell, and some will take a fast, as-is offer after months on the market.

Rough cost

Expired-lead add-ons from about $50 a month, plus your calling or mail costs.

Effort

Medium. Calls or mail to former listers.

Main rules: The same call, text and mail rules apply. Many of these owners are on Do Not Call lists, so scrub first. If the house is still listed, talk to the listing agent, not the owner.