You have to sift through the noise and eventually you find a few diamonds in the rough.  

Find a BRIGHT EYED- FULL TIME- NEW REALTOR and tell them you want a automated email every day with1) New Listings.2) Price Reductions3) Foreclosures, Estate, and Corporate ownedKeep sifting and you will find deals..

But you do have to sift through a lot of garbage in the process.

You just got to sift through the dirt to find the gold. 

I've been patiently waiting, and sifting through direct mailers waiting for lenders to start offering to pay closing costs on a refinance with FHA loans.

. - people willing to accept a laughably low offer) because you'll have to sift through more of the "general population" of property owners to find the motivated ones, but they're definitely out there.

I will be sifting through it all and looking into all of your suggestions.

This is a numbers game in more ways that one, and one of those ways is that you have to sift through a bunch of bad deals to find one good one.

So first, I'm new; keep that in mind.Started direct mail marketing 2 months ago and have sifted out a couple leads and saw a couple houses.  

W2 people, it takes me a fraction of one business day to preapprove them.Self employed people, it often takes me a week or two because I have to sift through all their lies and misrepresentations to the IRS, and there are three or 4 phone calls and requests for additional documentation that I have to send and get back....HONEST self employed people, who are a very small minority, it takes a fraction of one business day, just like the W2 people.