I would agree with @Casey Mericle that finding “deals” through a realtor is going to be tough because of their natural tendency to want to sell at retail.  

Jonathan, no offense to any of the other posters but their answers come from what would be considered “general in nature” since they are not local to your market and likely do not know the current market conditions of your area. 

The methods you've mentioned are ways to find wholesalers so naturally that's what you're getting.Building a buyers list wouldn't be done through those methods.

Here in FLorida, in the 2010-2015, I sold almost exclusively SF investor homes (about 200 of them, to investors from Cali, and abroad), and as values rose, and ROI's dropped, I found the natural progression was toward multi, to get worthwhile returns for my clients. 

A lot of it just comes naturally.  

So at the most you're only a year behind where you would naturally pass that entrance exam. 

Also have money in reserves to cover loses you would naturally incur as you build the knowledge you need to own the property.

Originally posted by @Steve Vaughan:  I don't think that wholesaling seems easy but as you mentioned it seems like more of a natural progression to move towards as an agent since im already doing similar things as a wholesaler as a realtorIn fact after hearing from you and others here it seems like i shouldn't really change much other than perhaps who im marketing to!

Owners need to learn to look past the score and focus on what is inside the credit report - late pays, active collections, judgments, repos - anything of that nature spells D-E-A-D-B-E-A-T.

Check with your tax professional about your individual situation and nature of your expenses.