Consider the possibility that driving for dollars is a waste of time.
To say that investing in real estate is capital intensive is kind of like saying that water flows downhill. Houses and buildings
and dirt cost a lot of money almost by definition.
These days, it seems like everybody and their mom wants to be involved in real estate investing, but of course not everybody has cash laying around to buy properties. One of the common ways to break into investing is wholesaling-- basically putting together deals other for investors who _do_ have a surplus of cash. You're using your time and energy in lieu of money.
A lot of real estate "gurus" over the past decades have been teaching that you should get started finding deals driving around town to look for junkers (run down or abandoned houses)-- also known as driving for dollars. I've done this myself, and I have found deals, but you are really just following the herd by doing it this way. There are other downsides too, for example, when you first come across an ugly house, you really know nothing about the owner's situation: Did they inherit it? Are they getting divorced? It is being foreclosed? Is it a vacant rental? And so on. All kinds of information that would help you to laser beam focus on their needs, to make getting a deal much easier.
Instead of driving for dollars, try doing something different from the crowd. Data mine for dollars. Do the "legwork" of sifting through probate records at the county clerk. Dive into the deed records to find people with loan modifications. Paperwork and documents are your friend. Not many people are doing these things, which means less competition, but you also have an information advantage. You know something about the seller before you ever even talk to them on the phone. If it's a divorce, they might need to liquidate for cash by a certain date so they can split the funds. If they are in bankruptcy, they might need to sell the house so they can convert from Chapter 13 to Chapter 7 (which allows them to wipe out unsecured creditors).
These are a few things to do differently on the buy-side. You also have to find buyers for your deals. Buyers with cash. I have noticed that a lot of newbie wholesalers find a deal and then post it on Facebook real estate groups trying to find buyers. Not only does this seem lazy to me, but it also seems ineffective. Those groups are full of other inexperienced wholesalers with no cash. Maybe there's an occasional real cash buyer, but your chance of them seeing your deal is pretty small given the signal to noise ratio on those groups. Instead, build your buyers list one at a time and contact them directly.
These are just a few thoughts about wholesaling and looking for deals, but if you want a deep dive, here's a link to the 15-page PDF: Tips For Wholesalers PDF
Please send me any questions, comments, and feedback you have.