House 1- guy who works for me wanted a house, he found that one for me, it was a foreclosure that had not sold, in a long time he said he would fix everything if I let his family stay for a long time at a decent rent, the rent is actually steeply discounted for the house. They will probably stay forever.
House 2- a wholesaler I know had a contract on this house estate sale, he emailed me about it, saw it on his website, checked it out in person, bought it. Rented to a guy I have known for years and years who is a convicted felon (he had a tough time finding a nice place to rent) and he needed a house to rent in the school district for his kid. Rent is still below market by a fair bit but having a long term, low hassle tenant is worth it to me.
House 3- found off the MLS foreclosure , after a woman I know looked at a bazillion houses with the thought that they would rent it from me, she flaked out but the house was underpriced by about 10 K I think even with the amount of rehab needed, repairs were mostly busted plaster, paint and a hideous amount of junk and there was a lot of it that made the house show horribly. Now it looks stunning, 1934 brick Craftsmen style and the narrow plank oak floors have a mirror finish. House is huge. Ad was on Craigslist for less than 12 hrs, phone rang off the GD hook and I had a cash in my hand and a signed lease. I probably underpriced this one a bit at $1100 a month when I placed the ad but the tenant pays like a clock and the place is spotless, (I mean lawn is manicured, you could eat off the floors, and the inside is so well decorated it looks like a magazine ad). She loves this house and has said on many occasions that she wants to stay forever, I hope she does.
House 4- MLS foreclosure, I did not find it, tenant found it for me. The 55K was more than I wanted to spend but a tenant of mine who rented from me for 10 years in the same house got married and he and the new wife wanted another house. They looked at a bunch and they fell in love with this one. Since he bought the other house he rented for me 2x over by paying me rent for 10 years, how could I say no. He found this one and they fell in love with it, it was soo neat in layout and so huge, on 3 lots and 2600 sq Ft ft ranch. Unfortunately, tweekers had stolen almost all of the copper, the HVAC system, and a good chunk of the wiring. I hope they buy it, they are on track as it stands and the 119k sales price is a good 10-21K less than an honest appraiser would say it is worth. If not, oh well, will rent it out or sell it to someone else, I am not going to get hurt on it. (I play the RE game first and foremost in a fashion where it is hard for me to get hurt). I had to paid 4k over the list price to get it and there were multiple cash offers on the place, I mainly did this deal because my tenants wanted it so badly. I would live in this house gladly if I did not love the house we are in. Also, jacked up the rent a hundred a mo on the tenants old house when I re rented it.