Buy when times are hard. Buy when blood is running in the streets. Buy after a flood, blizzard, riot. During such times, insurance firms and banks have properties they don't want. Owners are also desperate, as they suffer the anxieties of having to feed a white elephant.

Winter and summer are real estate's dead seasons. Check the units in the spring or fall. At the start of winter or summer, bid on what is left. In the summer, sellers who don't have their houses sold by June start worrying if they'll be out in time for their children to change schools. In the northern states, November and December are panic times for sellers, especially if the house is vacant. Thoughts of heating bills and water problems loom large. Any buyer looks good at that time of the year. During the winter, sellers tend to price their properties more realistically because there are fewer buyers. Because there will be less demand for mortgage money during this time, affordable mortgages may be easier to get.

Try to find a motivated seller, someone who wants to sell for such compelling reasons as divorce, death, a job change, or old age. Brokers generally aren't too candid about the seller's motivations. And, as agent to the seller, the broker doesn't have to reveal these motivations if that is what the seller wants. However, you should get a sense of the seller's desperation by his reaction to your first offer. 

In some states, in the eyes of the law, the broker represents the seller until a purchase agreement has been signed. At that time, the broker is also obligated to act as the buyer's agent. Even though the law is changing in this regard, I question whether the broker can truly serve two masters, since he has a financial interest in representing the seller's position.