@Chris Bojanowski I gave some feedback on the past results of the Will county tax lien auction for the last few years on another thread; here.I did some playing with the results data again and this time I did the average rate of return by "Building Type" as listed in the county records.

Since this is the case, how are firms able to collect pre-foreclosure data in Texas?

Local Market knowledge will be the key to success, although nothing substitutes hard factual data; but for example you can know right away that a home in a certain part of town typically sells for a certain amount, which is helpful right off the bat.  

Do not operate off them- either the for sale or the rent data.For Sale Data Accuracy– I have found that this data tends to be more outdated than realtor.com.

There are cities that probably cash flow better, are a bit more affordable than another but if you look at the data, the migration of people, company and jobs to southern and warmer climates continues unabated.  

Once you have the data then run the numbers (including inflation) to see how long it would take for you to accumulate $100K from the property.  

You could go to a list broker, like Melissa Data and get the names of investors and then direct mail to them. 

Happy Holidays.My team and I are compiling a list of websites and data sources that we can turn to to determine whether a particular market / MSA (Metropolitan Statistical Area) is worth investing in. 

The site should have, among other things; information about the home, the neighborhood (schools, shopping, etc), interactive virtual tours (where you can actually navigate through the property similar to google street view, not just the traditional "virtual tours" which are essentially glorified slideshows with background music/narration), video of a drone aerial property survey, CMA data and pricing justification, links to any press on the property, and a way to easily/discreetly inquire about the property or schedule a private viewing.Something else that I find is almost always advantageous is using the avenues provided by the neighborhood you are in to help sell the home.  

@patrick diamondI was thinking about induction cooktop and jumbo toaster-oven: I like that idea.I'll look into the website you suggested on short-term rental data.