Not sure if this is helpful or not, but I attended the Milwaukee REIA meeting in January, and they laid out the average cost of direct mail vs what they call hustle (scouring facebook, craigslist, drive for dollars, etc.).

I'm a new investor in the Orlando area, and have been scouring the market now for a few weeks, looking to buy a primary residence asap, as my lease ends in Feb. 

Some mentees will act as a bloodhound for the mentor, knocking on doors, driving for dollars, scouring the internet, making cold calls, or performing other services that help the mentor find new deals.

If my new mortgage is above low 6%, I'm putting money down.Having cash available has value if you are actively scouring so closing quickly nets large discounts and saves you from having to get mortgage 1 on a solid brrrr. 

I scour the internet daily and drive around every chance I get.

You can scour the forums here to see all kinds of metrics and tools for helping you see if an area is expected to grow as well.Another way to hedge your bet is to try and find a home you want to live in that would be able cover its carrying costs if you had to rent it out. 

I've scoured the internet and can't find a concrete answer.

I pay for skiptracing because it's a much better use of my time than spending hundreds of hours trying to scour public data which is less accurate.

Become a realtor, read tons of books, bigger pockets, and scour the internet for lots of free info.

you can check my post .lolI mean, I'm not gonna go scouring the forms for it.