last season i ended up purchasing a few accounts off a friend at the end of the season when he went away to college in august. it's a solid 30 minute drive down there, however the money is good. i was just tacking them onto my normal route and it was making for a long day. i decided to bite the bullet and do some targeted advertising (read: lawn signs) and attempt to expand. i don't have the exact number on me right now, but as i recall i've got at least 6 new customers all within 1/2 mile of 2 other very profitable accounts. I did about 10 cleanups in the area which were also very profitable.
Now i've got enough work down in that town to warrant an entire day down there. It also leaves me with about 15 miles of road to fill in with customers. I know many people on here are very against buying accounts, however i think it worked out very well for me.