In this instructional video, Christian Osgood—who has purchased over 300 apartment buildings using creative financing—shares three practical, cost‑free methods to locate and acquire a real‑estate deal within six months. The first method is attending one or two local real‑estate meetups each month to network with owners, lenders, brokers, and service providers, turning an outsider into an insider. The second method involves regularly reviewing on‑market listings, underwriting them, and submitting at least two thoughtful offers per month to build credibility with brokers and occasionally secure a deal directly from listed properties. The third method is a disciplined outreach routine: making two phone calls to property owners daily and scheduling one coffee meeting per week, fostering relationships that lead to off‑market opportunities and trusted referrals. Osgood emphasizes consistency, low time investment, and the power of relationship‑based deal flow, concluding that adhering to these three habits virtually guarantees a purchase within six months.
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In this video, I'm going to show you the 3 methods that work best if you want to find deals fast, you want to find them for free, you do not want to create a whole new job for yourself. If you want to play the game at the highest level, find deals and buy a deal in the next 6 months, this is how you're going to find it. By the way, my name is Christian Osgood. If you're new to the channel, welcome. I've bought over 300 apartment buildings in the last 4 years, primarily using creative finance because I started with no money. If your budget is $0, a lot of these expensive prospecting methods you couldn't do if you wanted to. If like me, you want to move forward efficiently, buy a lot of real estate, or even just buy your first deal in the next 6 months, I'm going to show you the 3 things that people need to do to do that for free, spending the minimum amount of time possible. Number 1, meetups. 1 or 2 a month. Find local real estate meetups. If you're watching this being like, oh my gosh, this guy's going to just tell me just go meet with other people. It's the most obvious thing you can do and a lot of people don't do it. I have never had someone who asked me where to start who hasn't gone to a meetup ever come back and say, "Boy, that was a waste of my time." They get around people like, "Hey, I actually met 1 or 2 owners." You're going to find lenders there. You're going to find property managers there. You're going to find contractors, other owners, brokers. People all go to the community events. Get plugged into some of yours. There's all over the internet, just Google, real estate meetups in my area. You will find several. Traditionally, the bigger ones are better and the ones that are like, hey, it's $10 to join, usually a little bit better than the free ones. Either way, free or cheap, this is a cheat code to get around everyone, move from being an outsider to an insider. If you're not doing it, it's the easiest thing you can do to move forward the fastest and it costs little to no money. Number 2, Look at the on-market deals. Now wait a minute, I heard that LoopNet and all the deals online are bad deals. A lot of them are because other people haven't bought them. Properties go to insiders. If I know someone as an owner, I'm going to call them and ask them if they want to buy my property before I list it and pay a broker to sell it to someone that I don't know. Obvious, right? So the best deals typically don't get listed. They don't go on market. They trade to someone who they already know, like, and trust. However, these deals give you practice in underwriting, but more importantly, when you call the broker on these deals, even when they've been around a while, you get to practice getting good at the underwriting. You get to practice asking good questions. And what will happen, and this is what you need to do a few times a month, even if it's not what the seller's asking for, you're like, this isn't a good deal. You need to be able to answer what would a good deal be? Where would this deal work for me? Call the broker and say, hey, I know this isn't what they're looking for. Would it be offensive if we submitted an offer on this? Like, is it worth them taking a look at this? Because this is where I think it would work for me or another investor. And what will happen is two things. One, you move from a category in the broker's mind of people who want to buy real estate to potential buyers who are willing to write offers. You're already at the top of the stack. They're going to start sending you deals. Number two, occasionally the seller will actually say yes. And then you'll buy a property. You'd be amazed how many times you put together a deal and it's been around for a while. The seller's not accepted anything. You go, hey, this is where it works. And they go, you know what? We've been trying to sell this for long enough. Let's do it. I've had these come back with no counter whatsoever. They just signed my offer. Write 2 offers a month at minimum. Find enough deals to write 2 offers, real offers where you ask the broker, hey, is it worth submitting this? Don't waste people's time. I am not suggesting that you write 100 letters of intent. I'm not suggesting you write an offer every day. I think that is a stupid model. It's a bunch of busywork. You waste everyone's time. Write offers that have some chance, even a low chance, but have some chance of getting accepted 2 times a month for listed deals. You will meet brokers. Brokers will bring you more deals, and occasionally you will get that yes. Number 3, you're doing this all the time. This is the most powerful tool you have. This is why I've never ever asked anyone to sell property. You're going to reach out regularly to owners in your area who own the properties that you would like to one day buy. It doesn't mean you're trying to buy the property. In fact, I've never asked anyone to do this, but I meet people with coffee. I share my story. When I was starting, I wanted to retire my wife. My wife got injured as a kindergarten teacher. I've bought 2 duplexes so far. I need to go bigger if I want to retire her. 2 duplexes, 1 duplex at a time, it's not working. For me to get to financial freedom. You figured out how to buy bigger buildings. I want to know what the next step is. And they'll usually start with some guarded comment, "You know, I'm not selling." Awesome. Spent all my money on the duplexes, couldn't buy if I wanted to. I'm trying to set my game plan. You've done something I haven't. When you get through that conversation, you meet someone for coffee, you move from being an outsider to an insider. You also get all of their resources. These are people, if they own a lot of real estate, they typically have a lot of money. They have a lot of connections. They know the best lenders, property managers. Capital partners, other people in the market who might be selling. As a passive thing you run in the background all the time, I make 2 phone calls every single day to owners who I have not yet met or who I need to rekindle a relationship in the markets that I want to buy. I schedule 1 coffee meeting every week, so I get coffee every Saturday. I talk to 1 person about their business. If I'm not available on that Saturday, I will schedule a phone call. You can always find 15 minutes to talk to another owner in your market. If you're making 2 phone calls a day, whether they answer or not, you're just going to dial 10 people. If you can do that, it costs you nothing and you will move forward faster than anyone. And you can do this at every level. Years and years into a portfolio and hundreds of rentals later, there's always a bigger fish. There's new people you can meet. There's other people in your market who you don't know yet. Always be doing this. This will move you farther, faster, no matter where you're at in your portfolio. This is a steady thing that you do that does not take much time, costs absolutely nothing, and has got me the best deals I have ever purchased with the most creatively financed terms. Because they know, like, and trust you, they're willing to play ball. They're willing to spin the Rubik's Cube with you because they'd rather sell the building to you because you're now a friend. If you do these 3 things, you write at least 2 offers a month to deals that are listed and ask quality questions to brokers, and you consistently make just a few calls to owners in your local market to book one coffee meeting, which turns into, by the way, 52 meetings per year with people in your market who now know, like, and trust you. If you do this, you will buy deals in the next 6 months. There's almost a 0% chance unless you physically do not write the offer that you will not buy a deal. If you felt stuck, you're stuck in analysis paralysis, you've been wanting to buy rentals forever, make the commitment today. Hey, in the next 6 months, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do these tasks. If you get stuck, fortunately, you've already subscribed to this channel and you know exactly what to do. Go back and watch a video on the section you're feeling stuck on. If you want to reach out and you have a question, you can always ask me @ChristianOsgood on Instagram. I appreciate you guys. Thanks for watching the video. We'll see you on the next episode.
