STRs were hot pre-covid and during the lockdowns - now bookings and revenue are down. 

ACTUALLY (insert mansplaining guy here) Plenty of title companies provide pre-foreclosure data but you are gonna have to call a ton of companies and learn how to ask.

Softwares can have differing "freshness" of data based on locations they support.For example, one software may update their pre-foreclosure list for Akron, Ohio 1x a week and another 1x a month.

Also, with the amount of people hunting pre-foreclosures (wholesalers, agents, individuals, funds, etc.) and scooping them up to flip them, I don't see how the supply could outweigh the demand in the near future.

Will an agent help us get pre-approved/find funding or do we need to figure that out on our own?

We just had the CMA sent to us and we have the ball rolling with a lender for pre-approval - we have not begun shopping for a property yet. 

The demand we have is very high so every property is pre-sold in advance.

But, the point is you want to understand the rates/terms of the loan you are using to make sure that you are not paying a lot of additional costs or pre-payment required to get the cash out a few months early. it may very well be worth it but you want to compare apples to apples. 

TIA I look at these things the most when looking for BRRRR cities - Rent-to-Price Ratio: Look for cities where the average rent is high compared to the average mortgage cost- Population and Job Growth: Focus on cities experiencing steady population and job growth, higher than national average- Availability of Distressed Properties: Look for cities with a supply of pre-foreclosures, short sales, and abandoned propertiesNormally bigger cities in those states should do well, houses are still somewhat affordable (comparatively) and if you do a big rehab it'll pay off

I never had to do it but I would assume you could just cash the money in a bank if they asked pre-closing.4) If you're considering reaching out for more information, feel free to let me know.Lastly, regarding the policy with Mass Mutual (or NW Mutual too), it may not be advisable to use them for your intended purpose.