The U.S. Real Estate Playbook for Canadians Pt 5: Finding Hidden Sellers

Apply for mentorship through the Fruitful Investing Academy at: https://investingintheus.com/apply

In Part 5 of The U.S. Real Estate Playbook for Canadians, I walk you through exactly how I find off-market deals in the U.S.—step-by-step. I show how we use PropStream (or PropWire if you want a free tool) to target motivated sellers like pre-foreclosures, failed listings, auctions, and my personal favourite—tired landlords. I break down how we filter by ownership length, equity, and property count to build high-quality lists that our cold-calling team can work through for months. 

Then I show how we skip-trace using free tools like TruePeopleSearch and how we consistently send out five written offers a day through DocuSign. In the U.S., real estate investing feels like operating downhill—faster, simpler, and more scalable than what’s possible in Canada with our tighter privacy laws. 

To back it all up, I walk through recent deals: 

A $95K “cat-pee” house now under contract near $237K after light renos 

A subject-to in Cleveland, TN with a 2.875% mortgage and a projected 37% ROI on $28K in 

A $16K–18K land flip in Florida 

A $17K same-day double close on a gravel pit in Georgia 

A Fort Lauderdale clean-and-list that netted $121K in profit including a forfeited $50K deposit 

I also dig into our risk management—buying land at 50–60 cents on the dollar and houses at 70% of ARV minus renos—and how we keep timelines short to protect against market shifts. 

And for the common objections: 

You don’t need U.S. status 

You don’t need tons of time 

You don’t need your own capital if the deal is strong 

We even partner with students who bring solid leads—funding and closing deals on a 60/40 split. I also cover why I avoid LLCs, how GPLP structures work, and how tax treaties protect Canadians from double taxation. 

If you're serious about building a U.S. investing business—or just want a few high-yield rentals—we’re helping investors go faster with training, live Q&A, and hands-on support. This playbook has already helped us close 30+ U.S. deals—and we’re just getting warmed up.

---

Andrew Hines is a seasoned real estate investor, business-builder, educator, and podcast host, well-recognized for his extensive experience in the field. Andrew graduated with an HBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business in 2008 and spent three years teaching introductory business at Western University as a Lecturer. He has been investing in real estate since 2011 and completing value-add projects since 2015, primarily in the luxury student rental space. Andrew started a project management company for building out new-construction townhomes in 2016 and has since built over 50 residential units throughout Southwestern Ontario. Andrew is an advocate for treating real estate investing like a business and uses his experience in his educational endeavors, coaching numerous investors on strategies to achieve financial independence and scale their portfolios effectively.