Own the deals other agents never see
Distressed Property Pro gives licensed agents a field-tested, step-by-step system for sourcing, pricing, and closing pre-foreclosures, probate listings, REOs, and auction deals — before they ever hit the MLS and long before the competition shows up.
"The agents who dominate distressed deals aren't luckier than you — they just showed up with a system when everyone else showed up empty-handed."— Dawn Olson
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Identify and source distressed listings before they hit the MLS using skip-tracing, probate records, tax lien databases, and driving-for-dollars techniques.
- Accurately estimate as-is value and repair costs on a distressed home to price it competitively and protect your seller client's net proceeds.
- Build a reliable cash-buyer and investor network so every distressed listing has a warm pool of qualified buyers on day one.
- Navigate the legal and emotional complexities of working with pre-foreclosure, probate, and inherited-property sellers with confidence and sensitivity.
- Structure and negotiate offers on REOs, short sales, and auction properties, including understanding bank timelines, addenda, and counter-offer traps.
- Build a repeatable, systematized distressed-property business — including marketing funnels, referral pipelines, and a personal brand — that generates consistent inbound leads.
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 20 lessons
The Distressed Property Landscape
Establishes the foundational knowledge agents need before prospecting or advising clients. Students learn what legally and financially defines a distressed property, why the niche represents a durable business opportunity, and where their professional and ethical obligations begin — creating a safe launchpad for every module that follows.
- 1.1Anatomy of a Distressed PropertyIncluded
- 1.2The Distressed Market OpportunityIncluded
- 1.3Agent's Legal Baseline for Distressed DealsIncluded
Finding Distressed Properties Before Everyone Else
Teaches the full prospecting toolkit for surfacing off-market distressed inventory before it reaches the MLS. Each lesson covers a distinct sourcing channel — public records, skip-tracing, physical farming, and probate court — and ends with an actionable campaign students can launch immediately. Sequenced from data-heavy to field-based techniques to build from desk research outward.
- 2.1Mining Public Records for Hidden InventoryIncluded
- 2.2Skip-Tracing and Direct Outreach CampaignsIncluded
- 2.3Driving for Dollars and Neighborhood FarmingIncluded
- 2.4Probate and Estate Prospecting Deep DiveIncluded
Evaluating Distressed Properties: Value and Repair Costs
Gives agents the analytical toolkit to accurately price distressed homes and protect their seller clients' financial interests. Progresses logically from establishing market value, to estimating rehab costs, to synthesizing both into a net-proceeds conversation — the three sequential steps of every distressed listing evaluation.
- 3.1As-Is Valuation: CMA for Distressed HomesIncluded
- 3.2Estimating Repair Costs Without Being a ContractorIncluded
- 3.3Net Proceeds Analysis and Seller CounselingIncluded
Working with Distressed Sellers: Legal Complexity and Human Sensitivity
Prepares agents for the emotional and legal realities of representing sellers in crisis. Each lesson covers a distinct seller situation — pre-foreclosure, probate/inherited property, and short sale — with equal weight given to compliance obligations and human-centered communication. Placed after evaluation so students counsel from a position of financial clarity.
- 4.1Pre-Foreclosure: Counseling Sellers Under Financial StressIncluded
- 4.2Probate and Inherited Property: Serving Heirs and EstatesIncluded
- 4.3Short Sales: Managing Lenders, Sellers, and TimelinesIncluded
Structuring and Closing REO, Auction, and Investor Deals
Shifts focus from seller-side to transaction-side mechanics, teaching agents how to source, bid, negotiate, and close three transaction types that dominate the distressed landscape: bank-owned REOs, auction properties, and investor-driven cash deals. Buyer/investor network building is consolidated here — immediately before the systematization module — so students enter that module with both deal-execution skills and an active buyer pool.
- 5.1REO Transactions: How Banks Sell and How to WinIncluded
- 5.2Auction Properties: Courthouse Steps to Online PlatformsIncluded
- 5.3Building and Converting Your Cash Buyer and Investor NetworkIncluded
Building a Repeatable Distressed Property Business
Synthesizes everything learned into a sustainable, systematized niche business. Students build the brand, referral network, lead funnels, CRM workflows, and performance tracking infrastructure that transforms individual deals into a predictable pipeline. Intentionally placed last so every system is built on fully-developed skills, not aspirations.
- 6.1Your Distressed Property Brand and Online PresenceIncluded
- 6.2Referral Pipelines: Attorneys, CPAs, and Community PartnersIncluded
- 6.3Lead Funnels, CRM Workflows, and Follow-Up SystemsIncluded
- 6.4Tracking Performance and Scaling the NicheIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
The Hungry New Agent
Two years in and tired of losing bidding wars — ready to compete in a lane where hustle and a system matter more than an established client book.
The Investor-Adjacent Agent
Already works with a few cash buyers and wants to systematize their distressed deal flow instead of relying on random referrals.
The Suburban Generalist
Has a solid traditional business but wants a defensible niche that performs even when the standard market cools.
The Probate Curious Agent
Has stumbled into one or two inherited-property listings and wants a repeatable process for sourcing and serving estate clients ethically and profitably.
The Rising Broker-Associate
Building their own book of business within a brokerage and wants a specialization that commands referrals from attorneys, CPAs, and estate planners.
The Market-Share Stacker
A competitive mid-career agent who tracks their numbers closely and sees distressed properties as an untapped inventory source to grow closed volume.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Dawn Olson
If you've been grinding on the same MLS inventory as every other agent in your market — writing offers that lose, chasing leads that go cold, and watching investors close deals you never even heard about — I want you to know that's not a talent problem. That's a niche problem. And it's fixable.
I built this curriculum because the distressed property space is one of the most durable, recession-resistant niches in residential real estate, and most agents either avoid it out of intimidation or dabble in it without a real system. They don't know how to read a probate filing. They can't walk a neglected property and back out a repair estimate with any confidence. They freeze up when a pre-foreclosure seller starts crying at the kitchen table. So they leave those deals on the table — and the agents and investors who do have a system clean up.
What you'll find inside Distressed Property Pro is not a motivational pep talk about "getting outside your comfort zone." It's a module-by-module operating manual. You'll learn exactly how to source properties through skip-tracing, public records, and probate prospecting before they ever hit a portal. You'll learn how to run an as-is CMA and estimate repairs without being a contractor, so your pricing conversations are credible and your sellers' expectations are grounded in reality. You'll learn how to counsel a seller who's three months behind on their mortgage, navigate a lender's REO addenda without blowing up your deal, and convert a cash buyer from your network before you even take the listing live.
The last module is the one that separates agents who do a distressed deal once in a while from agents who build a business around it. We go deep on referral pipelines with probate attorneys and CPAs, CRM workflows that keep you in front of long-cycle leads, and a personal brand strategy that makes you the known specialist in your market — not just another agent with a niche claim on your website bio.
If you're a licensed agent with one to five years of experience and you're ready to stop competing for the same inventory as everyone else, this is your playbook. Let's get to work.
— Dawn Olson
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- 6 modules, 20 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed