@Rick S. so would this service pull a separate bureau than a bank or indirect lender?

@Chris Mayfield First, you can find a listing of all cash sales from the MLS, so check with your realtor for that information.Second, you realize that focusing on areas with heavy investor activity puts you in direct competition for finding deals, right? 

Just a clarification... you can "buy from the bank directly" only in an indirect sense, since the SC foreclosure process requires that the sale be conducted by the county Master in Equity (see http://www.sccourts.org/selfhelp/FAQMIE.pdf) and open to the public per SC code.

I have done or I am doing business with them directly or indirectly.

Indirectly: Good diet, plenty of sleep and excercise.

Upgrading things truly is throwing money away in our market, but we are operating in the very bottom of the market.Agree that you can make the word a better place directly or indirectly through real estate investing. 

Whenever I do everything myself and dont have subs, I pay 12-18/hr for my guys depending on experience, then 20-25/hr for state certified, then a little more for the working foreman/superintendent, so thats a big help too , but i add +35% indirect cost for my work comp, employer share and office overhead.

So first of all the definition: Cap rate is short for capitalization rate; which means an indirect measurement on how fast the income produced by the property can repay the amount that was invested (assuming you paid cash for the property).

My learning curve is still pretty steep in direct mail.  

It's always good to add-value and finding deals is a great way, you're going about it the right way.If you are interested in direct mail or getting into investing, you should think of systems and software to help simplify your life and free up more time to do the most important thing FINDING DEALS!