Off-Market Deal Flow · Starter Kit
How I find off-market deals before they hit Crexi.
The five sources, the three filters, and the one outreach script that surface off-market RV parks, multifamily, and small businesses in the Southeast every week.
The five-source stack
Where I look before the public sites
Public marketplaces are useful for comps, but they are usually late. My first pass is built around operator fatigue, local professional networks, and small signals that show up before a seller hires a broker.
- Broker mining. Build a short list of brokers who repeatedly touch RV parks, small multifamily, STR portfolios, and owner-operated local businesses in your target states. Follow their stale listings, not just their new ones.
- County-records signals. Look for owners with long hold periods, out-of-state mailing addresses, recent code issues, inherited property, or debt events. Those are the people worth researching before mailing.
- Operator forums. Tired owners often ask operational questions months before they admit they want out. Watch communities where park, STR, and small-business operators complain about labor, insurance, taxes, and repairs.
- Professional intros. CPAs, attorneys, bookkeepers, lenders, insurance brokers, and property managers know who is exhausted before the market does. Give them a clear buy box so they know what to send.
- AI-assisted monitoring. Use agents to watch listings, permits, reviews, business registrations, county records, and broker emails. The goal is not magic. It is one ranked feed every week instead of 20 tabs you never check.
The three filters
- Motivation. Why would this owner talk now? Retirement, partnership conflict, deferred maintenance, financing pressure, burnout, or succession problems all count.
- Fit. Does it match your asset class, geography, size, financing range, and operating ability? If not, pass quickly.
- Path to yes. Can you make an offer structure the seller would actually consider? Cash, seller financing, assumable debt, earnout, master lease, or partnership are different conversations.
Weekly workflow
The 45-minute deal-flow sprint
Run this once a week before you open Crexi or BizBuySell. The point is not to find every possible deal. The point is to surface five owners or operators worth a human follow-up.
- 10 minutes: Pull stale listings, expired broker packets, and anything that has been sitting for more than 90 days.
- 10 minutes: Check county records for long holds, out-of-state mailing addresses, code issues, tax changes, or entity transfers.
- 10 minutes: Scan operator forums, reviews, and local business chatter for fatigue signals.
- 10 minutes: Score each lead from 1 to 5 on motivation, fit, and path to yes.
- 5 minutes: Pick the top three and send a short, specific first-touch message.
Lead scoring card
Owner / asset: [name, entity, property, or business]
Source: [broker, county record, forum, referral, review, permit, listing]
Motivation signal: [retirement, repairs, stale listing, inherited, bad reviews, debt, burnout]
Fit score: [1-5] based on asset class, market, size, price, and operating ability
Path to yes: [cash, bank debt, seller carry, assumable debt, partnership, master lease]
Next step: [research owner, ask broker, send intro, request financials, pass]
The first outreach script
Keep it human. The goal is a reply, not a pitch deck.
Hi [Name],
I am looking for [asset type] in [market] and came across [specific property or business]. I am not a broker. I am an operator and buyer looking for a long-term hold.
If you have ever considered selling, bringing in a partner, or just want to know what options might look like, I would be glad to have a quiet conversation.
Tamara
Follow-up if they reply
Thanks for getting back to me. I am happy to keep it simple.
Before we talk numbers, I would want to understand: why now, what you want to happen next, whether there is debt in place, and what a clean transition would need to look like for you.
If it is useful, send over the basic income, expenses, and any known repairs. I can tell pretty quickly whether it is in my lane.