There are several meetup groups you should check out.Other than that you can and should look for off market opportunities; read on BP about the techniques to locate distressed owners and how to deal with them, research your market THOROUGHLY to understand what's a good deal (or any market you think about getting in).

They can often close in days rather than weeks like the banks.As for your other questions, as you seem totally new to wholesaling, your best bet is to read read read through the forum, there is tons of advice and you will find many people have different techniques when it comes to wholesaling.First, yes Get a property under contract and then look for a buyer.You can either double close on the property, which is basically a 3 way closing where you buy and sell the property at the same time, or you assign the contract to the buyer and  then you don't need to go to closing.

There are some folks with very high incomes that use the negative cash flow property as a tax reduction technique, but only because they can afford to carry a negative cash flow property while they wait for appreciation to get them out of the hole they are digging.  

So, care, prudence and estate planning techniques must be used in devising a note for an elderly person. 

For those that have tried this, as it is an old technique, how has it worked?

On the right side of the bath is the toilet sink and a small stall shower.Since the main bedroom's closet backs to the bath wall and is only about 4 feet wide, would it be more benefical for re-sale to enlarge the main bedroom's closet by utilizing the space the stall shower takes up(inside shower is about 26"x26") and making the tub a tub/shower combination or is it more important to keep the small stall shower so the bathroom has both a tub and seperate shower.If the closet was enlarged we would put double doors in to the closet and tile the alcove around the tub if it were turned into a tub/shower combination.

If you make sure that all of your assets are encumbered to the max, and a few other techniques, you can be sure that there is nothing there to levy on in the event of a lawsuit judgment.  

Once you learn the "wax on, wax off" technique, then you can expand to flying ninja kicks... if that makes any sense ;-)I would highly suggest starting with preforeclosures, as there are literally HUNDREDS of them within a 100 mile radius from you.

I can’t help but wonder though, how realistic are such techniques in a real world scenario.

Look up lease option or lease purchase this would be one technique I would look at using to access buyer that the MLS or agents just don't have at their finger tips.Jim