Ways to learn your market without MLS access

[Dwight Bailey]

I'm in the process of doing some groundwork to learn my market. I'm a new investor & I'm building a relationship with a successful investor that's in another state. His advice to me was to learn my market first! He told to try to gain MLS access from a realtor and find a realtor with a flipping background. How can I build rapport with a realtor to get this access? What other things can I do to learn my market?

Thanks in advance