Direct mail questions

[Nate Beidleman]

I am brand new to BP and ready to get started in to pursuing wholesale deals and buy and holds. I am curious to know the best methods for direct mail.  I am learning my way around listsource.com right now and I don't want to put money into an ineffective list. 

 I have generated some absentee owner lists but I only pull up 77 owners in my county. Is that normal or are there some better filters I should be using?

Do you use listsource.com to find multi-family  and finding rental properties?Or are agents a better way to get rentals?

What are some of the filters you add when looking for wholesale deals?

Any advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks a bunch!