The 47 Awesomest MLS Keywords for Real Estate Investors
In today’s Knowledge Bomb we’ve got some tasty distressed property leads in the oven, and we’re just about to serve up a ‘swipe & deploy' system for getting you more of them, and doing it easier and awesomer.
Basically I’m handing you a simple but potent recipe for routinely extracting qualified distressed sellers from your active MLS listings – or as I like to call it, MLS Awesome Sauce.
How do you make this spicy MLS goodness?
Well like any good recipe, it all starts with selecting the highest quality ingredients.
So let’s get cooking, shall we?
Recipe for MLS Awesome Sauce
WHAT YOU NEED:
MIX:
MLS Access + Keywords + Customization = Awesome Sauce
DIRECTIONS:
Our goal here is to uncover properties listed in the MLS that kind of smell like they might be a deal for investors like us, and to be as efficient and effective as possible in doing so. So rather than just potshotting around randomly or pouring through MLS listings on end, we want to systematically unearth key ingredients (choice keywords) in the listing that will give you clues that there may be a distressed property or distressed situation worth your time and attention.
Here’s exactly how I do it. And please note that your MLS may differ slightly from mine, depending on the platform your local board of Realtors uses. But the principles should be the same.
- Open your local MLS.
- Go to the search page, where you can input whatever criteria you might need or want.
- Enter your basic search criteria for whatever type(s) of deals you’re focusing on (area, price range, beds/baths, etc.)
- Make sure you’ve got search fields for listing remarks, like “Public Remarks”, “Realtor Remarks” etc. If not, then you may need to “add more search criteria”.
- Make sure that you’ve got the search criteria set to search for “contains (keyword)” and not “equals” or “contains all”.
- Input your top MLS investor keywords in the search fields for “Public Remarks” and “Realtor Remarks”. (see ingredients below)
- Save this search and setup a automatic daily ‘hotsheet' search to run for you based on these parameters.
This may go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: Don't skip step 7!
Look, I get it. I totally remember what it's like when my default norm was being a silly task monkey that repeats the same work over and over again. That kind of learned self-hatred can be hard to shake.
But stop it. Be a CEO, not a task monkey. CEOs know or learn how to leverage (i) people, (ii) systems and (iii) processes to make your business run better and your life easier. And in this case, that means setting all this up one time as a daily ‘hotsheet' that pings you whenever something fresh hits the MLS that matches your criteria and keywords. Every single MLS in the known ‘verse can do this.
Then as soon as possible, it also means training someone else on your team (your Realtor, Acquisitions Manager, or even your V.A.) to be the initial filter for each day's hotsheet and see what's really worth digging into further before putting it in front of you.
*saunters down from soap box*
OK let's hit those tasty keywords…
Awesome Sauce Ingredients:
Time for the good stuff. These took us a while to compile, and are the exact keywords we have setup in our search of “Public Remarks” and “Realtor Remarks”.
- probate
- inherited
- foreclosure
- short sale
- preforeclosure
- estate
- bring all offers
- junker
- must sell
- investor special
- special warranty deed
- quit claim deed
- heir
- heirs
- TLC
- motivated
- fixer
- fixer upper
- fixer-upper
- repairs
- as-is
- as is
- relocation
- rented
- tenant
- do not disturb tenant
- owner will carry
- owner will carry 2nd
- owner finance
- owner will finance
- personal rep
- personal representative
- estate
- trustee
- basement issues
- basement repairs
- basement problems
- foundation issues
- foundation repairs
- foundation problems
- structural issues
- structural repairs
- structural problems
- no FHA
- lease option
- engineer report
- price change
Ba-bam!
So there you have it. Now you possess the prized family recipe for MLS Awesome Sauce passed down to us from dear Great Aunt Maud who bequeathed it to us before moving on to that great real estate development in the sky.
Before you head out, just a few worthy footnotes you may want to be aware of.
1: Honorables
Besides the 47 fresh, all-natural, certified organic, non-GMO keywords in the list above, there were a handful more – 7 to be precise – that didn’t quite make the prime cut, but could still prove potentially useful. So here are the ‘honorable mentions' in case you want to include these in your search as well:
- Water issues
- Leak
- Water problems
- Not responsible
- Relocated
- Vacant
- Out of State
2: Float your own boat
Depending on the types of deals you’re focusing on, many of these keywords may not make sense for you to include. Just pick and choose those that do, and keep trying until you get the right results. Awesome sauce takes some practice to perfect, but once you do it is spicy and well worth it!
3: If your MLS is dumb
Some MLS systems are apparently still stuck in the early 2000’s and may not give you the option to select “contains (keyword)” in the criteria menu. If your MLS is dumb like this, you can often use wildcard characters to accomplish the same thing. These wildcard characters are typically ‘*' or ‘%' depending on your MLS system.
So for example…
Contains:
Remarks = ‘%Bank%'
or
Remarks = ‘*Bank*'
Starts With:
Remarks = ‘Bank%'
or
Remarks = ‘Bank*'
Ends With:
Remarks = ‘%Bank'
or
Remarks = ‘*Bank'
OK, that’s a wrap.
Got any thoughts on this? Maybe a tasty keyword or two we missed?
Leave a comment below. And don't forget to be awesome.
Wading through new waters catching the “fish” as I go!
…Gaining more confidence.
Great stuff!
I’m just gonna keep getting all your freebies like this letter. It’s all good.
Great Info As Always.
While it’s likely less lucrative then getting to them before they find MLS, if I get even one worthy deal this way, it’s well worth it. Thank you.
As always … appreciate this
The 47 MLS word list will come in handy to keep me motivated every minute of the day.
I totally love it!!
Keep it coming with the content. Greatly appreciate it!!!
thank you for providing the words to use to search the MLS
Thank you for the keywords
I have read and will use The 47 Awesomest MLS Keywords for Real Estate Investors in my development.
thank you for providing the words to use to search the MLS and internet to find work for
my investor business.
Your awesome sauce ingredients to search for my public remarks will help me search and locate my daily operational intent automatically.
I’m pretty pleased to uncover this site. I need to to thank you for your time due to this fantastic read!!
I definitely loved every part of it and I have you saved to fav to look at new
things on your blog.
Amazing bunch of key words for research use in home investing business. Thank you.
Sabastian
Amazing, but helpful list of key words.
Haven’t started with MLS or Realtors yet, but sure shall, shortly. Thanks for the helps.
I love this website!!
Thank you for sharing these real estate contracts! Great stuff to know!
Great info, looking forward to the next post, I will definitely try these words on mls and craigslist
Thank you for sharing the MLS Key Word List. I look forward to receiving this document. I would like to see a document or information how we can actually find the sellers information to contact them. I would like to partner with you to see the process and we can split the funds we get!!!!
JP
love love love this!!!
Susan K-A
Wonderful and thanks so much for sharing….
I’ve heard about this technique before so this is very helpful. Assume you can also use some of these same Keywords to search other online sites as well
Having the right keywords to use makes research much more effective…….thanks
THANKS FOR THE SUGGESTIONS!!!!!
Great stuff!
AWESOME!
AWESOME!
awesome key words and information
thanks
clara
Thanks for sharing this Patrick…as they say in “the cold country”…you dah man! 🙂
I have to accept, you guys are awesome. Incredible creativity. WoW! I want to thank you for having the sharing spirit. For being more of a giver than a taker. You are helping and blessing so many people. Thanks!
This is great since I really don’t understand everything yet.
Thank you
Great keywords! Here’s a few related to probate I don’t think were on your list. Executor, executrix, administrator, and administratrix.
Thanks for the suggestions, Kevin!
– Patrick
Wow…this is some killer content!
Too legit to quit. But seriously, this is great stuff I’ll share w/ my realtor partner mañana. Thx for being Awesome
Awesome sauce!
Awesome stuff, my friend! Thanks!
Awesome
Awesomeness!
The best tools AwesomeREI! Thank’s!
Nice scripts!!
Sweet!
This is great stuff, what I wanted to do but don’t have MLS access to writeup instructions, love your writing style too. Do you mind if I use this in my instruction manual for RE agents?
Heya, Terry…thanks for the warm props, man! I’m totally cool with you using it for your instruction manual, so long as you please mention where it came from. Thanks for asking!
I’ve been doing this wrong, thank you for this article. I was simply getting a list of foreclosures in my community from my realtor and seeping through the information, trying to come up with winners. Now I’m going to input key words into my requests in hope that this will produce a higher number of winners. Juan Robles
very useful thanks
Great Stuff
Can’t wait to see how this works for me!
Thank you Patrick
Now I can get Real Estate agents that are hungry to work for me!
Tony Avery
Cypress CA
Is there a way to download these instructions? I don’t seem to be having any success.
Hey Dan, there isn’t a download available with this post. You could try to copy and paste the text from the article into a document.
– Patrick
You just keep giving, don’t you? Thanks JP
You’re welcome, Dan! Glad you are loving this stuff!
Right on Target! Thanks Much! Greatly Appreciated!
I really appreciate the information you give us.
Thanks a lot!
Always appreciated. Thanks for the info.
If you are not a realtor, how do you get MLS access?
One way is to utilize any of the free real estate web sites that
provide access to listings that are on MLS. Sites such as
Zillow, Redfin, Realtors.com, and so forth. Hope that helps!
It sure does! Thank you so much!
I can’t find any of these swipes or how to download them. Do I need to call customer service to figure it out? Maybe it is because I am not so tech savvy.
Hi Donna, to get the swipe, you have to leave a comment on each post and then it is sent to your email. Please make sure to check your spam folder, just in case it ended up in there. Hope this helps!
Yes, ma’am! That helps a lot!
These teachings and swipes are great, if I could find out how and where to download all of this great stuff.
Hi Donna, the resources have been sent to your email. Be sure to check your spam folder.
Thank you! I got them.
Great ingredients for putting together the recipe!
Thank You For The Helpful Information.
These Are The Key-Word’s To Success
Patrick, thank you for always being thier with support , wisdom and the encouragement for me to strive for more…
Your the best my friend…
Sincerely,
RC Hogan
What do you suggest if I do not have MLS Access?
Hi Abby, we’re planning a full blog post just on this in the near future, so stay tuned.
Thanks for sharing!
Patrick. How about fire, fire damage, smoke, smoke damage? Even small fires with no structural damage frighten off 99% of buyers (and bring prices low, low, low).
Thanks for the suggestions PB.
– Patrick
Thanks Patrick, how do I get into wholesaling with out any money?
Hey Brian, you may want to look into Justin Wilmot’s 10-Hour Wholesaling business model. It’s a great way to completely offload all the marketing expenses to find deals… and you won’t need earnest money or proof of funds. Basically, you leverage wholesaler’s inventories and match them with your cash buyers… and then split profits with the wholesaler. To learn more, click on the “Awesome Products” tab in the navigation and click on 10-Hour Wholesaler.
– Patrick
Patrick, hope you don’t mind me answering this one. But feel free to add on if you’d like. I personally would start bird dogging first. Referring deals to cash buyers or other wholesalers is a good way to rack up on some cash. You can learn a lot about finding deals doing this. After you have a nice stream of income from bird dogging you can use a small amount to start locking properties under contract. Key thing is try not to put too much for EMD deposit. Look if you have any deals send them my way Id love to take a look at what you find.
http://www.investorwize.com
Nope, don’t mind at all 🙂
Good stuff!
– Patrick
That is great info that can be use for any business one is involved in.
Catherine, glad to hear that you enjoyed it!
– Patrick
Thank you for the real great info
You’re welcome Marjorie.
– Patrick
Completely incredible and down the detail.
My new equation is
MLS Access + Keywords + Customization = Awesome Sauce
Glad you enjoyed the knowledge bomb!
Thanks for joining in the conversation here 🙂
– Patrick
I love this concept and now I simply need to get access to MLS w/o me having a r.e. license. Your input greatly appreciated…
Awesome, Rodney. We’ll have a full blog post on getting MLS access without a license, coming soon.
Thank you , thank you again and again.
Easy to process. Sometimes less is more.
Especially when working a full time job.
Hi,I’m looking for list of rehaberst or investors, send me some if you want. Tnx . Vladimir Statsenko.
Hey Vladimir! We don’t dish out specific lists of rehabbers/investors, but you can totally find them yourself and it’s way easier than you probably think. In case you missed it, here’s 33 different ways you can do it! –> https://awesomerei.com/33-ways-to-build-a-ridiculous-cash-buyers-list/
You can contact me here at Wholesale Realty Investors, Curt
[email protected] Maryland
JP thank you for the Awesome Sauce!!!! I tried it on Zillow and it worked like a Charm. I found some many distressed property it is unbelievable. Now I have to find the funding to go with this.
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!
You’re welcome, Frederick! Awesome! 😉
Hey JP, what is this sauce for Zillow that is mentioned above?
Hey Corky, if you’re talking about Fredrick Austin’s comment, I think he’s just saying he used these same keywords in Zillow (instead of the MLS) and got some great results.
Liked! Thanks! Patrick! + bad roof + shingles missing + needs some + needs some TLC. RE Entrepreneur in PA, USA.
Hey Diane, thanks for the add’l keyword suggestions 🙂
– Patrick
Thanks for the keywords. I’ve just been searching Craigslist for a large shop or garage with a small house attached… for cheap. This gives me tons more ways to search. Throw more ideas my way anytime.
Patrick, I really, really am so happy you arrange for us to get this without having to shell out money we don’t have to spare at this time of year. This gesture has placed you right at the top of my list as “an AWESOME SAUCE” real person who cares about helping others. This is a tremendous thing you have done! You will get back a hundredfold for this.
Hey Brenda, the knowledge bombs we’ll be releasing here will forever cost you a grand total of $0 🙂
Put this info into action and let us know how we can help.
– Patrick
This is great, thanks Patrick!!
Thanks for the goldmine of information. I will surely soak it in. Need it on my way to millionaire.
Patrick Thanks for the key words. It all helps!! Oh by the way I can’t seem to find the docs that I can print, Can you let me know where? the name of my company is B&R Sterling Investments LLC. Bob (Charles) & Rose Brewer
Hey Charles, I’m not sure what docs you’re referring to. Email our support area and let them know what specific docs you need help with.
– Patrick
Awesome sauce 🙂 Thanks for that Knowledge Bomb! Looking forward to more…This budding REI looking to start with wholesaling/wholetailing (short-term goal) and eventually delve into acquiring rental properties and fix & flips (long-term goal) could use all the help he can get! **Bonus if I can find a mentor to show me the ropes 😉 **
Sounds like this will help me get back on my feet, after being ill for 2.5 years. I’m starting today
Welcome back, Bernard!
Okay Jp…I thought I was the only person on the planet that still uses “Awesome Sauce” – most excellent value guys. Thanks -Maria Hurtado, Mahogany Bridge Investments.
We’re bringing “Awesome Sauce” back Maria! Glad you enjoyed the post.
– Patrick
Great tip Great tip!!!
LEST DO SOME BUSINESS ; I’m Mr Ellis Valentine , Call me at (614) 420-6533
This was a fabulous email. I am not a Realtor or RE Agent with access to the MLS and assuming I cannot find a Realtor to load these keywords into the MLS and create a drip campaign for me, is there a workaround?
Hey Luke, glad you enjoyed it. I think the problem here is that you are already ASSUMING that (i) you cannot find a Realtor to work with you on this, and (ii) you cannot get MLS access. You’re already defeated! I challenge you to challenge these assumptions, and instead ask “How can I…?” I promise there are ways, amigo 🙂
i did’nt know Distressed Property leads was so plentiful now i can get leads every day practically.
If you can find the house leads, then I can find thelocal cash buyers there in Houston – Lets co-wholesale 50/50 under those terms…?
curt [email protected]
Great recipe for leads, thanks for serving up the information.
Digest the info and put it into action Greg!
– Patrick
Great Post….this will help a lot of people in our community….
Thanks for the info. Helps you to expand your thinking.
thanks for helping out , i sure can use any and all help. thank you STANN
Thanks
It sounds Awesome !!! Can’t wait to try it. carol P.S. My son David can’t wait to read it. He’s my partner , in this new adventure.
You have put together a great list. Thank you for this article
This is a awesome document! Thanks for the tips and the list of keywords.
Winston Crosbie
You’re welcome Winston!
Now take action with what you learned and go find some distressed property leads.
– Patrick
Thank you for such an extensive list. I think this list will make a difference.
It’ll make it difference if (and only if) you take action and use the what you learned.
As you take action Fenold, let us know if we can help with anything.
– Patrick
You forgot the couple that I’ve used for years, divorce and bankruptcy! Good luck on your searches!
Nice Troy! Thanks for the additional keyword suggestions.
– Patrick
Thank you for sharing this useful information. Working with investors, research is time consuming and this is one more tool that will be most helpful. Teresa
Thanks for the tips. l will make use of them.
You’re awesome.
I’m still trying to get the money together to join. How low can I get into the program, make a few bucks and upgrade to a more expensive plan until I reach the top.
Hey Bertram, what program are you referring to? help me out here 🙂
Thanks for some really useful tips on keywords. The graphics are great, too! You have obviously put some thought and experience into this.
Pat Henley
You’re welcome, Pat… thanks for stopping by! Glad you found it valuable.
Very helpful! Thank you for all the free and straight to the point information. You are the man. Much respect!!
Hey Bud, thanks for joining the conversation here. Happy to hear it was helpful.
More knowledge bombs coming soon…
– Patrick