You can choose to get the cashbuyers first(bka reverse wholesaling) which will assist you in your property scouting.

A real estate bird dog (deal scout or real estate jobber in some circles) is someone who gets paid a referral fee (based on a joint venture agreement with a real estate investor) to locate distressed property deals and prospects. 

one of my deal is similar with 5% vacancy, I do neighbor scout to see the vacancy rate with 9%, but he said it high.

Just trying to figure out what rehabbers did when they were looking for their first deal, if they scouted properties themselves before contacting a realtor, or had any other suggestions.I want to work with a realtor only when I have a small realistic set of houses to view.

I was interested by it and that led to me scouting out properties/short sales for my family and convincing them to buy.That identification of opportunity secured my parents retirement, and then some, as we (due to dumb luck) bought multiple properties in the HQ2 Crystal City area between in 2010-2017.Fast forward to my RE investment growth, the property I closed on yesterday was at 80% of appraisal, and a model match was just listed on the market for 130% of our final sale price (identical condition as ours).

@Sean Chua Check out Neighborhood Scout and CrimeGrade. 

It's easy to view MLS listings, but having someone local to scout out potential deals would be very helpful.

I also have various friends who work on boats, the seaport is a marketing client of  mine and there is a school for sea scouts less than two miles down the waterfront. 

I got through my first scout!

Most of this info is found on Trulia, a great pay-site would be Neighborhood scout just to have a good source to check any properties you're getting serious about.