getting started with performing notes

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I've owned a couple of rental properties before. I've been thinking about buying another, but a friend suggested I look into notes instead. I'm most interested in buying performing 1sts for cash flow, and I will be buying with my own cash.

I've found some interesting small notes on sites like loanmls that seem like a good place to start, but I'm uncomfortable making any offers because I don't know what the process should be like.

Say I make an offer that they accept, then what happens? Is there a purchase contract like a normal real estate sale, so I know they're not going to sell it to someone else while I'm doing my due diligence?

Would I use a title company to do the transfer? Is this something any title company will handle?

I've seen talk about note brokers, should I be starting out with a broker to help me through this? If so, how do I find one? All I've found is people who want to buy notes or people who want to train brokers.