Planning for retirement raises many questions. Have you considered how much it will cost, and how you’ll generate the income you’ll need to pay for it? For many, these questions can feel overwhelming, but answering them is a crucial step forward for a comfortable future.

Start by understanding your goals, estimating your expenses and identifying potential income streams. The Definitive Guide to Retirement Income can help you navigate these essential questions. If you have $1,000,000 or more saved for retirement, download your free guide today to learn how to build a clear and effective retirement income plan. Discover ways to align your portfolio with your long-term goals, so you can reach the future you deserve.

Get The Guide

If you're looking for great investment deals, the MLS probably isn't your best hunting ground.

That's not a criticism of agents or the MLS itself - it's just reality. The MLS serves a specific purpose brilliantly: it creates transparency, protects consumers, and ensures fair market exposure for sellers who want maximum visibility. For traditional buyers and sellers, it's exactly what they need.

But for investors looking for properties with problems? The MLS creates a different dynamic entirely.

The MLS Challenge for Investors

When a property hits the MLS, you're one of many investors seeing the same listing. Everyone runs the same numbers. Everyone makes offers the same way. That's not a strategy - that's a race to see who's willing to accept the thinnest margins.

Can you find deals on the MLS? Absolutely. Tools like Privy aggregate MLS data specifically to help investors identify opportunities faster than the competition - properties that have been sitting, price reductions, motivated seller signals. If you're going to hunt on the MLS, use technology that gives you an edge.

But here's the reality: most of the time, the best deals are found elsewhere.

Where the Best Deals Actually Live

Off-market. Almost always.

Not because off-market deals are inherently better properties, but because the circumstances that create genuine investment opportunities rarely align with MLS listings. Here's why:

1. No Competition Means Real Negotiation

When you're not competing against multiple offers, you can actually solve problems instead of just throwing money at them. You can structure terms. You can be creative. You can address the seller's actual needs rather than just offering the highest price.

2. Direct Communication Changes Everything

Want to propose seller financing? A lease option? A delayed close to accommodate their timeline? These conversations are difficult to impossible through listing agents who are (rightfully) protecting their sellers and working within traditional frameworks.

With off-market deals, you talk directly to the decision-maker. That doesn't mean agents aren't valuable - it means that for certain transaction types, direct negotiation opens possibilities that the standard process doesn't accommodate well.

3. Real Problems Create Real Opportunities

The properties that make the best investment deals usually come with complications:

These aren't retail transactions. They're problem-solving opportunities. And here's the thing: many of these situations don't translate well to MLS listings. The property needs work. The timeline is compressed. The seller's motivation isn't "get top dollar" - it's "solve this problem quickly."

How This Works (Ethically)

You don't need to be shady. You don't need to lowball desperate people or take advantage of anyone's ignorance.

You just need to offer legitimate solutions to real problems before someone else does. You're providing a service: speed, certainty, and convenience in exchange for a discount from retail pricing.

Many sellers in these situations don't even realize how valuable those three things are until someone shows up and says, "I can close in two weeks, pay cash, and you don't have to fix anything."

That someone could be you.

A Note to the Agents Reading This

If you're an agent, this isn't about cutting you out. Smart investors work with agents all the time - just on different types of deals. I've written before about why agents should actively cultivate relationships with investors - you bring solutions to sellers who need them, and you get transactions that other agents can't close.

Many of the best investor-agent relationships involve agents bringing off-market opportunities to investors they trust. You know your sellers' situations. You know who needs a fast close or who's overwhelmed by repairs. That knowledge is valuable, and investors will work with agents who understand creative deal structures.

The MLS is a tool - and with the right technology like Privy, it can be a productive one. Off-market is a different tool. Both have their place. Just understand which tool works best for which situation, and don't limit yourself to only one approach.