Getting Started: Use Agents or Wholesaler?

[David Eiges]

I'm a new investor from Pasadena looking to invest in Southern California (right now I have my eye on Los Angeles and Riverside).  To get started, I see myself getting my feet wet with self-managing small multi-families with the possibility of living in one of the units.  At this point, I could afford a conventional loan on a single property.

From everything I hear (podcats, books), full-time investors are doing most of their deals off-market.  However, for a newbie, how should I get started?  In my mind, there are two big barriers to doing off-market:

1) At low volume, there isn't justification for me to do my own marketing.  Nor would I be able to pay all-cash.

2) Lack of ability to pay all-cash on a property would prevent me from purchasing from a wholesaler.

So, does this mean that in order to get started I should be working with an agent going through MLS or as a first-time purchase is it feasible to still work with a wholesaler to get an off-market deal. Would that require utilizing a hard money lender?

I'll caveat all of this by saying that I am well aware that it is a seller's market, and Idon't plan on buying while prices are high.  Some great data sources I used were redfin's data center blog, google's public population estimates for cities, and talking with other investors.  I'm trying to do my research so that when there is opportunity I'm ready to go.