Real Estate Investor Tool Box?

[Terry Lee]

Ok so I am a newbie and I want to farm a few areas near my house but I am not sure where to start.  I'm not a licensed agent, so I feel like I don't have access to the data I need to make an educated decision on where to start knocking, mailing and calling.  A buddy mentioned he knew a few non agent home buyers using a 3rd party service provider called "monsoon", I did a few searches and found no option for no agents.   

So my two questions:

1. Any ideas or suggestions on how I might get the data I need?

2. If you were mailing in a zip code where median listing was $325K and Average Sales Price is $260K and you wanted to wholesale properties to rehabbers.  Where would you start?