If the property is vacant, you will attract a larger pool of buyers as not everyone looking for a house wants to use it as a rental. 

Look for distressed properties or FSBO signs.

Is the process the same as buying property in Canada?

Focus on absentee owners and start with the ones who live the farthest away and only own one property in the area since they have the least use for the property.You can also drive for dollars, looking for anomalies of disrepair and then look them up in the tax records and use a site like Spokeo to do cheap skip tracing.

Lenders that don’t require an appraisal will perform a desktop appraisal but will typically have a very conservative view on the value of the property to protect the company’s investment.

If the difference is too much then they will purchase multiple properties using all of the proceeds.

local REIA groups are filled with investors looking to buy properties.

They are asking me to call them… see message below:“We are very interested in your property and would like more information, particularly about the proximity of the amenities to the location.

When we looked at what his cashflow is currently, and then considered what he would net out of a sale post tax, he decided to keep owning the properties.

$1,500-$1,600 is about the going rate for a 2/2 in most average areas of BR, but I can see where some neighborhoods would get more.Another thing to think about - if the property is sitting vacant right now and you have ready and willing (and qualified) tenants, then the opportunity cost of waiting an extra month or two is $1,550/month.