Off market property leads are where the real deals live — and Janelle Carlson, who now closes 30+ deals a year, built her entire investing business on finding them.
Here’s what she learned — including the $35,000 mistake she made before any of it clicked.
Why Off Market Property Leads Beat Zillow Every Time
Off-market means not listed on Zillow or the MLS. No public listing. No competing buyers. No bidding wars.
When a property hits Zillow, dozens of investors have already seen it. The margins are thin. The competition is real. Janelle started pursuing off market property leads specifically because of the 2020–2021 market — when competition on listed properties made it nearly impossible to find deals that actually penciled out.
Off market property leads flip that equation. Motivated sellers. Almost no competition. Real margin.
3 Ways to Find Off Market Property Leads
1. Real Estate Agents With Pocket Listings
Some agents know about properties before they hit the MLS — sellers who want a quiet sale, estates being settled, landlords who want out without a public listing. Build relationships with investor-friendly agents and ask specifically about pocket listings. “Do you have anything coming up that isn’t listed yet?” is a question most buyers never ask.
2. Wholesalers
Wholesalers do the off market property lead generation for you. They find motivated sellers, get the property under contract, and sell you the contract for an assignment fee. You pay a little more than if you found it yourself — but you skip the direct mail and cold calling.
The key: build relationships with active wholesalers in your target market. Tell them exactly what you’re looking for. Close when you say you will. Reliable buyers get the first call.
3. Direct to Seller
The highest-margin off market property leads come from going directly to the seller yourself. Two main methods:
Direct mail — Send letters to targeted lists of property owners. Janelle’s number: 3,800 letters per deal. Not 100. Not 500. 3,800. And she sends to the same list 5–7 times before she considers it exhausted. One letter doesn’t work. Consistent touchpoints build the trust that eventually gets a call back.
Zero-budget version — Search Zillow for FSBO (For Sale By Owner) listings and For Rent listings. The owner of a rental property is often a tired landlord who’s been managing tenants for years and is quietly ready to sell — they just haven’t listed yet. Call them. Ask if they’d consider selling. You’d be surprised how often the answer is yes.
The Best Off Market Property Lead Lists to Target
Not all property owners are equally motivated. Janelle targets two specific lists:
Absentee owners — Property owners who don’t live in the property they own. They’re managing it from a distance, which means maintenance is harder, tenant problems are more frustrating, and the motivation to sell is often higher than an owner-occupant.
Lien lists — Properties with liens attached (unpaid taxes, code violations, HOA debt) are avoided by most investors because the paperwork is complicated. That’s exactly why they’re worth pursuing. Less competition, more motivated sellers, and if you can help a seller resolve the lien situation — you’re solving a real problem, which is exactly how good deals get made.
The 4 Pillars of Every Off Market Property Lead Conversation
When you reach a motivated seller, Janelle focuses on four things:
1. Motivation — Why do they want to sell? 2. Condition — How much work does the property need? 3. Price — What number are they thinking? 4. Timeline — How quickly do they need to close?
She won’t schedule a property visit until at least two of these four pillars are clear. If a seller can’t answer why they’re selling or when they need to close, they’re not motivated enough yet. Move on and call back in 30 days.
Remote Investing With Off Market Property Leads
Janelle lives in California and invests in Indiana and Ohio. She’s never in the same room as most of her deals.
Her remote setup:
- Local agent who knows the market and can walk properties
- Contractor she trusts to scope renovations accurately
- Boots on the ground — a local partner who can FaceTime her through a property in real time
She makes buy decisions based on FaceTime walkthroughs and photos. Not ideal — but workable when you have the right team. The team is everything.
The $35,000 Lesson Nobody Talks About
Before Janelle found 30 deals a year, she lost $35,000 on her first transaction to someone she trusted without verifying.
Her advice: when evaluating a mentor, coach, or partnership — confirm they are actively doing deals in the current market. Not deals they did in 2018. Not deals they talk about on YouTube. Deals happening right now, in today’s market, with today’s rates and today’s competition.
The real estate education industry is full of people teaching strategies they stopped using years ago. The off market property lead strategies that work today are being used by investors who are active today.
The Fear Factor: Why Ugly Properties Are Better Off Market Property Leads
Foundation issues. Mold. Roof damage. Structural problems.
Most buyers run from these. Janelle runs toward them — because the investors who won’t touch a property with foundation issues are the same investors who drove up the price on every clean property on the MLS.
A property with a problem is a property with less competition. As long as you scope the repair costs accurately and factor them into your offer, the problem becomes a discount. The fear is the filter.
According to BiggerPockets, direct mail campaigns targeting absentee owners and lien properties consistently generate some of the highest-margin off market property leads available — precisely because the effort required to work these lists eliminates most of the competition before the first letter is sent.
Use the Philadelphia Deal Finder to identify absentee owner and distressed property opportunities in your target Philadelphia neighborhoods before you start building your direct mail list.
Not financial advice — just someone doing a lot of research and asking a lot of questions.