In terms of the lady spending all her time reporting violations... yikes.There are a few maps online that show the unincorporated areas of pinellas county down to the street, and then you can cross reference the county zoning website.

Recommend Googling for recent projects, then looking them up at the city's online site to find out who the architects are.

These "bandit" signs are everywhere in NYC and I have yet to ever come across someone who has called them to actually sell their property - most people I know have looked up something online and landed on an option through that route. 

Then I paid $25 to some online background check agency to find out if the owner had any other liens/bankruptcies/judgments against them and also got their contact info from there.

You can also check meetup.com or search Facebook for real estate investment groups, clubs, or meetings in your area.I'm in a small town where networking is impossible, so I do it online through facebook groups and BiggerPockets.

So many people out there ,  that have online courses.

There are a lot of online sources out there versus going to the local courthouse.   

In the old days, I would advertise in the Fresno Bee, and in the local freebee advertising rag.Nowadays, everything seems to be going online. 

Courses online are relatively cheap and there's some brokerages like kw that have offered free online courses with no obligation to join afterwards.

.-- All the info you need is available online from the local assessor, and pay attention to what the local community has tacked on to the mill rate.