As a rental agent in NYC, I can say that one gift that people in my office give renters are subscriptions to Time Out NY.

If you work with a direct lender, that is one who loans their own money without the constraints of outside investors, banks, subscription agreements etc., then they can make their own lending rules (within the bounds of the law).Many HML's, as these, do their own valuations and can often close much quicker than one who must wait for an appraisal or BPO.

You will likely need to hang your license with a broker and pay the MLS subscription dues.

Someone mentioned using a paid subscription service... ??

I believe AgentPro247 is capable of generating these lists too, but it requires a Gold subscription (which is a bit more pricey) - whereas ListSource is pay-as-you-go. 

I'm contemplating a subscription to LoopNet in order to locate land and/or properties for development.

But at the end of the enrolment process, and just before you give them a credit card # they state that they don't actually look into any of these investors to see if they are legit or not, they state that some may not return your calls and that some may not actually be lending out any money, then they say that along with the $97 sign up fee you also have to pay $30 every month to keep your subscription updated.

Last rental though, one of the tenants worked for Walmart, and it was impossible to get through to them, they subcontracted out employee inquiries and that sub required a paid subscription!

These are licensed and registered people and firms.According to the SEC and FINRA a "broker" is any person engaged in the business of effecting transactions in securities for the account of others.Events or actions such as helping a company sell shares to raise capital, engaging in other activities like participating in presentations and negotiations, making recommendations to investors concerning securities, receiving transaction-based compensation (i.e. commissions or finder’s fees), and continuing or regular involvement in sales of securities are evidence of activities rendering a person a broker.The term ‘‘security’’ means any note, stock, treasury stock, security future, security-based swap, bond, debenture, evidence of indebtedness, certificate of interest or participation in any profit-sharing agreement, collateral-trust certificate, preorganization certificate or subscription, transferable share, investment contract, voting-trust certificate, certificate of deposit for a security, fractional undivided interest in oil, gas, or other mineral rights, any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege on any security, certificate of deposit, or group or index of securities (including any interest therein or based on the value thereof), or any put, call, straddle, option, or privilege entered into on a national securities exchange relating to foreign currency, or, in general, any interest or instrument commonly known as a ‘‘security’’, or any certificate of interest or participation in, temporary or interim certificate for, receipt for, guarantee of, or warrant or right to subscribe to or purchase, any of the foregoing.Finders can avoid registering as a broker by limiting their activities to:Introducing prospective investors to a company without engaging in negotiations.Not recommending the company’s securities to prospective investors.Basing their compensation on a flat fee that is not contingent on the closing of a securities sale.You can find most of this on line on the SEC website.

I have a subscription in my home town and in every city I invest in.