In This Article
This text is offered by PropStream.
After I first began actual property investing, I assumed securing cash for a deal could be the toughest factor. (I imply, it nonetheless isn’t straightforward.) I rapidly came upon that cash isn’t the issue while you discover a slam-dunk deal. Now, discovering that deal is definitely probably the most difficult a part of the enterprise.
For many years, discovering offers meant driving for {dollars}, poring over courthouse filings, or spending limitless hours cold-calling homeowners who might or is probably not curious about promoting. In 2026, buyers who thrive are those that mix hustle with revolutionary know-how.
This is the place PropStream adjustments the sport. What as soon as took weeks of handbook analysis can now be achieved in minutes.
Traders can stack filters to construct extremely focused lead lists, then run on the spot comps to substantiate potential revenue margins. From there, skip tracing offers direct contact info, and automatic mailers or digital campaigns could be triggered proper contained in the system. PropStream consolidates the whole lead era course of right into a single, seamless workflow.
Your essential query is: How do you uncover properties that really suit your funding fashion?
The reply lies in going after the segments of the market the place motivation is already inbuilt. Listed below are 20 distinct lead varieties value concentrating on proper now, every paired with sensible steerage on how one can leverage them in your funding technique.
1. Auctions
Foreclosures filings and scheduled gross sales flag public sale properties for buyers.
Finest use
Establish properties approaching public sale, assessment official filings, and run comps to set your bidding technique earlier than attending a sale.
2. Financial institution Owned (REO)
If a property fails to promote at public sale, it typically reverts to financial institution possession.
Finest use
Pull REO properties straight, confirm financial institution or lender possession, and join with asset managers to barter bulk or discounted purchases.
3. Chapter
Energetic chapter filings typically level to distressed homeowners.
Finest use
Goal Chapter 7 or 13 bankruptcies, and cross-reference with fairness ranges to seek out homeowners more than likely to promote beneath strain.
4. Money Patrons
You may also like
These are critical consumers, excellent for wholesalers.
Finest use
Construct an inventory of current money transactions, segmented by location, and add these consumers to your most popular contact listing for fast flips.
5. Divorce
Divorces typically require the sale of marital property.
Finest use
Generate lists of divorce-related properties, and attain out with provides designed to offer certainty and pace throughout an advanced course of.
6. Failed Listings
Expired MLS listings are a transparent sign of motivation.
Finest use
Method sellers whose houses have didn’t promote on the MLS with various options, corresponding to all-cash provides or quicker closing timelines.
7. Flippers
Traders who purchase and relist properties inside two years are thought-about lively flippers.
Finest use
Monitor native flippers to establish developments, pull comps, and discover potential partnerships or wholesale alternatives.
8. Free and Clear Properties
These properties carry no mortgage debt.
Finest use
Deal with free-and-clear homeowners who can promote with out lender involvement, making negotiations extra simple and closings quicker.
9. Excessive Fairness
Fairness-rich properties give sellers flexibility.
Finest use
Goal high-equity homeowners who might settle for below-market provides or inventive financing choices, as they’ll nonetheless stroll away with a revenue.
10. Liens
Tax and mechanic liens create monetary stress.
Finest use
Prioritize homeowners with a number of liens, and provide to alleviate them of the burden with fast money gross sales.
11. On Market
Energetic or contingent MLS listings nonetheless provide alternatives.
Finest use
Monitor listings with prolonged market occasions or worth reductions and construction inventive provides, corresponding to subject-to financing.
12. Pre-Foreclosures
These are properties in default, however not but up for public sale.
Finest use
Contact homeowners as quickly as default notices seem, offering them with choices earlier than they lose the property to foreclosures.
13. Pre-Probate
Possession adjustments on account of demise can create distinctive alternatives.
Finest use
Attain heirs early with data-backed provides, emphasizing pace, simplicity, and reduction from the trouble of probate.
14. Senior Homeowners
Homeowners with many years of possession typically look to downsize.
Finest use
Method senior homeowners respectfully with options that assist them money out or transition into smaller dwelling preparations.
15. Tax Delinquency
Unpaid taxes are a transparent motivator.
Finest use
Deal with properties with a number of years of unpaid taxes, and current provides earlier than the county initiates lien gross sales or auctions.
16. Drained Landlords
Longtime rental property homeowners are sometimes burned out.
Finest use
Spotlight hassle-free exits and 1031 change alternatives for landlords prepared to maneuver on from tenant administration.
17. Upside-Down Properties
When debt exceeds worth, homeowners are left with a troublesome resolution.
Finest use
Pursue quick sale methods or inventive financing preparations to assist homeowners underwater on their mortgage.
18. Vacant Properties
Vacant houses deteriorate rapidly and put strain on homeowners.
Finest use
Skip-trace absentee homeowners and provide fast buy options earlier than the property turns into too expensive to keep up.
19. Vacant Land
Undeveloped parcels can develop into new offers.
Finest use
Analyze zoning, lot dimension, and placement to establish parcels with improvement or land- banking potential.
20. Zombie Properties
Vacant + pre-foreclosure = zombie property.
Finest use
Pursue these distinctive alternatives earlier than they’re repossessed and added to bank-owned inventories.
Last Ideas
Each actual property investor wrestles with the identical elementary problem of producing a gradual stream of offers. With out constant deal movement, there isn’t any pipeline to nurture, provides to make, or closings to have a good time. Traders who can systematically establish motivated sellers and transfer decisively will at all times keep forward of the competitors.
Knowledge platforms like PropStream eradicate outdated guesswork by turning tens of millions of scattered property data into actionable insights. Meaning extra clever concentrating on, quicker evaluations, and extra worthwhile choices—all in much less time.
The perfect use of your vitality is just not chasing random leads or ready for referrals. It focuses on the suitable properties in the suitable markets, at exactly the suitable time. Grasp that self-discipline, and the deal movement stops being your largest problem and turns into your most important benefit.
