One way to find motivated sellers leads is by going down to your local courthouse and looking up eviction filings. What better way to find a “tired landlord” than looking through filings for someone who is having to currently evict a bad tenant? The owners of rental property often buy a piece of property as an investment, thinking that it will be the same as buying stocks.

Many rental property owners think that they can just sit back and collect rent checks and the “investment” will just manage itself. Obviously, nothing could be further from the truth. When some landlords are awakened to the harsh reality of landlording by having to go through an eviction, they quickly decide that they no longer want to be a landlord!

After having to go through an eviction, many landlords are very open to a “creative” deal that allows them to get rid of their headache fast! These are good candidates to call or send a letter to, expressing interest in purchasing their property. What makes these landlords even better candidates for a creative deal is because they were already accepting “payments” on the house. Why not structure a deal where they continue to receive payments, but without the headaches associated with tenants?

You may be able to offer someone like this a lease option, agreement for deed or land contract, or even just a severely discounted sale price so they can get rid of the property. In any case, these people are far more likely to be willing to listen to your offer than the average homeowner. Your offer of taking over the payments on their house with no further involvement from them may be just what they are looking for after having to go through the eviction process. Many times, tenants will have done damage to the property, making the prospect of simply renting the house out again to another tenant seem very unappealing to the owner.

All you will need to do is go to your local courthouse. Ask where eviction filings are kept. In some areas, it is in a separate building. When you get to the right area, simply ask a clerk how to look up eviction filings. If you are lucky, they will walk you through the process and show you how to gather information that you will need from the case filings. However, if not, you may have to do some digging, but it is well worth it to generate some more leads for motivated sellers.

After you have gathered contact information on the owners, you can send them a letter or give them a call. Of course, since it is always preferred to have a seller calling YOU, you may want to stick with simply sending them a letter expressing interest in buying their property. After having to deal with an eviction, getting a letter from someone who wants to buy their “problem property” could be just what the owner was looking for!