The number one way to find a vacant house is driving for dollars. This is simply jumping in your vehicle and driving around neighborhoods looking for houses that might be vacant. This process can be automated (we’ll talk about that later…) and you’ll be able to have others do it for you once you start building your business.
For most of us, we are in our car driving somewhere at least once a day – whether it’s going to work, running errands, taking the kids to school, etc. Every day, we are probably passing by vacant houses that we aren’t noticing because our mind is elsewhere. Now that you think about, tomorrow when you are on your way to the store, start being more aware of your surrounding neighborhoods and what potential deals might be right in front of you.
Maybe you can take a different route to work or drive down a new side street on the way to the gym each day. Always bring a notepad and pen with you so you can write down the address of the potential vacant property. On a good day, you should easily be able to find at least 20 vacant houses to go home and research.
One suggestion is to print out a Google map of the areas you normally drive through and start taking new streets every day. Then once it’s been scouted, mark it on the map and take a different route the next day. Make sure you give yourself an extra 10-15 minutes every time so you can still get where you’re going on time.