Rising market conditions HELP!!

A couple things I would do to find investors. From the way you describe your market I would bet there a lot of investors that are already marketing for properties through bandit sign, craigslist, internet, ect. We can follow up with these investors and find out what they are looking for and what kind of discount they need to get into a property. These are the first things I would do to find and contact investors plus they are all free.

from Craigslist,etc and as Coach stated these are all free!

Also something you can do for free when searching online is look for properties for rent.
Not on the idea of getting info on the property for rent BUT the person renting this home is a Landlord AKA INVESTOR
Contacting them directly is a very solid way to find investors in the area that may be looking for more investment properties to invest in the area.
sure there will be rejection along the way but so what?
If you sit down and call 30+ (3-5 min call with each) You will definitely have some buyers on your list

There is a very good investors group in Jacksonville, that has many active investors. You expressed worry that they can find the same deals you can. That may be true, but no one has enough time to research everything, especially if they are running a business that requires time to fix properties, sell properties, rent properties, etc. Cash buyers need your help not because they cannot find properties, but because they do not have time to.
Additionally, I believe there is a landlord or property owner's association in northeastern Florida, and this would be a source for other landlord buyers.
Remember too, that you increase your value by looking for properties that other investors are not finding, so we encourage you to have bird dogs out there looking for properties. They're not hard to find, they just need to be people who canvas neighborhoods on a regular basis: pizza delivery, post man, UPS, Fed EX, pest control, landscapers, meter readers, etc. Let them know that you pay generous referral fees if they bring you a property on which you are able to make a deal. I suggest creating a flyer that explains specifically what you want your bird dogs to look for, and then you both sign it and include contact information. It isn't exactly a contract, but it will make the bird dogs believe you are serious and they will have a form that shows what to look for along with your contact information. If you have to pay someone $500 to make $5000, that seems like a good price for the lead, and you only have to pay for it if you buy the property.

www.jaxreia.com a great club i belonged when i lived there. i love jacksonville, fl i lived there in 1999. awesome place. you should join this club !!!!! i did a deal on rosselle street.

Thanks for identifying the investors group. I had an opportunity to speak at one of their meetings a few years ago, and I found them to be a well organized and active group, with some very experienced investors as a part of the group. Generally speaking, the state of Florida has a sterling organization of state investor associations, and it would be advisable for anyone in the program to attend and possibly become an active part of these groups. The potential for additional deals increases through increasing your connections with other investors rather than considering them as competition. Most investors are friendly and helpful, and they want the industry to succeed, so they are willing to help the newer people to learn legal, moral and ethical practices which strengthen the industry.

According to Movoto Real Estate’s State of the Real Estate Market report, the median cost per square foot for a home increased by 14.9 percent in July 2013 compared to July 2012, while inventory dropped by almost 16 percent year-over-year. At the same time, the median list price per square foot on a month-over-month basis held steady, while the number of homes for sale increased.

The fact that the list price has not increased on a month-over-month basis indicates that the inventory supply is starting to catch up with demand. Going forward, we expect prices to continue to move laterally on a month-over-month basis. Higher mortgage rates and increased inventory will keep prices from increasing at the same pace we saw in the first half of the year.

Right now, the real estate market is mixed. Sellers should consider listing their homes to take advantage of the increased price per square foot. Home buyers, on the other hand, should keep their eyes on the monthly change in list price per square foot. For the first time this year, the price did not increase, which could be a sign that the market is loosening and their buying power could increase.
Data Set

Movoto’s State of the Real Estate Market is broken down into two sections. We examine the overall list price per square foot and the inventory level across 38 geographically diverse cities. Each of these sections are further broken down for an analysis of data on month-over-month and year-over-year basis. Data used to compile the report is taken directly from the each city’s Multiple Listing Service.
Price – Year Over Year

Overall, the median list price per square foot increased in 36 of the 38 cities we track, rising 14.9 percent compared to the same time last year. In July 2012, the median list price per square foot sat at $157; this increased to $181 at the end of last month.

The three cities that saw the biggest jump in price were:

Sacramento: The median price per square foot for a home in Sacramento jumped up 64.5 percent in the last year. In July 2012, a home buyer could expect to purchase a home for $93 per square foot. Today they could expect to pay $153.
Phoenix: The median list price per square foot for homes in Phoenix increased from $91 to $127 over the past year. This is a 39.6 percent increase.
Mesa: A Mesa home will cost buyers $118 per square foot, a significant increase from $89. This is a 32.6 percent increase.

The cities that saw a decrease in list price were New Orleans and Chicago. A home in New Orleans is 2.2 percent less expensive than at the same time last year, while a home in Chicago will cost home buyers 1.3 percent less.

median-list-price-year-over-year-august-2013
Price – Month Over Month

Prior to July, the median list price per square foot increased for six months straight, a bad sign for potential home buyers looking to find a deal. July numbers indicate a halt to the price increase. In June the list price per square foot was $181. At the end of the July the list price was also $181. This is a 0 percent increase.

While this is good news for home buyers, our data indicates that, for the past two years, there has been little change in the price between June and July. For example, during the same time in 2012, the list price per square foot decreased from $158 to $157 per square foot. In 2011, prices remained flat from June to July at $154 per square foot. In other words, the fact that prices did not increase from June to July is seasonal.
Inventory – Year Over Year

Of the 38 cities we track, 32 saw a decrease in inventory levels compared to the same time last year. Overall, at the end of July there were 98,689 homes for sale, compared to 117,815 during the same month last year. This is a 16.2 percent drop in inventory. Cities that saw the greatest decrease in homes for sale were:

Detroit: Compared to a year ago, there are 45 percent fewer homes on the market. In July 2012, there were 3,464 homes for sale. At the end of last month, 1,906 homes were on the market. This is a decrease of 1,558 homes.
Sacramento: Sac-Town narrowly lost to Detroit. Compared to a year ago, Sacramento’s inventory dropped by 44 percent, going from 2,340 to 1,311. This is a decline of 1,029.
Boston: Compared to last year, there are 43.5 percent fewer homes on the market. At the end of July 2012, there were 1,429 on the market, while at the end of last month there were 807 homes. This is a decrease of 622 homes for sale.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Las Vegas saw an increase in the number of homes on the market. Homes for sale in Sin City increased by 23.3 percent, moving from 3,435 in July 2012 to 4,237 at the of last month. However, the list price per square foot for homes in the city actually increased. The combination of these two facts means that Las Vegas over-corrected during the downturn and had a large amount of home buyer demand.

Real Estate Inventory - July 2013
Inventory – Month Over Month

Across all major cities we track, there were 98,689 homes for sale, slightly more than 4 percent higher than at the end of June, which finished with 94,640 homes on the market. This increase of 4,049 homes marks the third straight month that inventory has risen. This is to be expected as we enter the busy part of the home-buying season, when home buyers are more likely to purchase real estate.

To place this in perspective, during the same time in 2012 and 2011, inventory declined across the cities we track, which is a good sign for prospective buyers going into the second half of this year.
MOVOTO

Alternative sources of financing are rely dependent on you credit in a lot of cases. If your credit is stellar you will not have a problem finding loans for buying or just fixing or for all.

If not, hard money is the best way to go. Interest rates are higher but the deal can be done. Coming from a mortgage background I prefer to work with independent mortgage companies rather that banks. Also Credit Unions are a great choice. Interest rates will probably continue to be up and down especially with the resignation of Bernake. Watch out.

Also you may want to explore seller financing on a property and possibly doing a sandwich lease. If you are not familiar with these here is a brief explanation: A lease in which a party rents property from the property owner and then subsequently leases it out to another tenant. In a sandwich lease, the primary party is both a lessee and a lessor, meaning that the party both collects rent and pays rent. Not all property owners allow this sort of arrangement.

Most people, as soon as they think of buying a property, begin thinking about the source of funding, and generally have not been exposed to multiple sources of funding. As Randy mentions above, there are alternatives. I am a strong advocate of seeking seller finance whenever possible for the following reasons:
1) It is the largest source of financing available in the world;
2) Sellers are not generally lending cash, they are lending you their credit in the form of an existing loan, or their equity, or both, which are being repaid over time rather than as a lump sum.
3) There is a potential new source of seller financing with each new property.
4) Many sellers are unaware of seller financing or the fact that they can typically make more money on the sale of their property by using seller finance.
5) Seller finance arrangements can be constructed to protect the interests of both sellers and buyers making this type of arrangement secure for all parties.
6) Seller finance can usually be done with a very low down (I usually am paying between 1 to 5% of the purchase price), and with no credit requirement from the buyer.