Houston, Texas newbie here!

[Matthew Sutton]

Good evening everyone.  I finally took the first step to my learning curve in real estate investing.  I've spent several years building up enough liquid cash to be able to do some things in the world of real estate.  I know it is something I want to test the waters at.  I can't turn off the house flipping/hunting shows on tv.  My father was a professional contractor his whole life.  I get sucked into anything creative.  I love to design things and see a beautiful finished project.  I've been self employed for 12 years, so I feel like I can manage the task of being on my own managing this thing.  

I'd love some advice on a few things.  I always get caught up in how to find the right properties to flip.  I know I have a bunch to learn about everything in regards to it, but I'm curious about a couple of things right out of the gates.  That will get me over my first hurdle.

1.  How do you best suggest finding properties that are undervalued?  I casually look through the foreclosures on Zillow and stuff, but they only seem to be listed around 5% off the estimated value.  How do I get a 100K valued house for 50K?  Auctions, tax liens, or what?

2.  How do the taxes work?  If I have a property I buy in May and can sell it in October.  How do the property taxes and insurance work?  Do I just pay at the end of the sale or end of the year?  Do I only pay for the few months I had it?  So a 12,000 yearly property tax would be 6,000 out of my pocket for the 6 months I owned it? 

I've got many more, but I'll wait until I do some more research on this site to find the answers.  Like I said, I've got a lot to learn.  Thanks for any advice in advance!